14 DAY TRIAL // Much like it happens on Google, each time you look for something on the platform, that search will get added to your profile. This means that instead of ads, Netflix will suggest similar content for your viewing pleasure.
The video streaming service now wants to help you out a little so you can hide some of your viewing habits by introducing a sort-of incognito mode.
According to a Netflix spokesperson who spoke to GigaOM, the “Privacy Mode” is already in beta testing, which means that it could land on your desktops soon enough. The feature basically allows you to look at whatever content you want while hiding it from your logs, recommendations and even keeping it a secret from your friends.
“At Netflix we continuously test new things. In this case, we are testing a feature in which a user watching a movie or TV show can choose to view in ‘Privacy Mode.’ Choosing that option means the program will not appear in your viewing activity log, nor will it be used to determine recommendations about what you should watch in the future,” said Cliff Edwards, the new corporate communications and technology director.
Not only will this come in handy to hide your own guilty pleasures, but it can also be helpful for the times when you let someone else use your account to pick a movie to watch one evening or if you forget to switch to your own profile on a family account.
Don’t get too excited about this, however, because Edwards says that nothing is set in stone just yet. In fact, they may end up never offering it to the general public if things don’t go as they want them to. Testing will last a few months, so even if Netflix does decide to go on with the plan, which frankly has very high chances to do, it may be fall by the time the feature is widely introduced.
There is already buzz online about the new feature, which can only mean good things for Netflix.
On top of thinking about new features, Netflix has also been recently preoccupied with fighting the FCC-proposed set of rules regarding net neutrality, which can only be described as anything but protective of the open Internet.
The company has also been quite vocal about the troubles it’s had with Comcast and Verizon and the streaming speeds customers have on these networks.