Streaming video on your smartphone has a big benefit over watching on your TV, and that's that you can take your phone and the video just about anywhere. One downside, though, is that the phone has a touchscreen that you might accidentally press and skip forward or backward in your show. A new Netflix feature aims to help you avoid that.
The Netflix app for Android has added a new "Screen Lock" button. Spotted by 9to5Google, this feature will remove all of the on-screen controls so that you don't accidentally scrub forward or backward, pause, or anything like that if you happen to touch the display.
Instead, you'll just see a "Screen Locked" on your display when you touch it. You can tap that once to get an "Unlock controls?" prompt, which will make the playback controls reappear if you tap it again.
This feature has been rolling out in the Netflix app for Android over the past few days, so if you don't have it yet it should appear soon. It doesn't appear to be live in Netflix's iOS app yet, but it certainly could appear there soon.
This is a nifty little feature that can help ensure you don't accidentally move to a different spot in your show and then have to spend a minute or two scrubbing back to find your place. It could also be useful if you give your phone to a child to watch a show because it'll prevent them from accidental timeline controls.
Is this Screen Lock feature live in your Netflix app?