Secret codes and shortcuts: 15 ways to use Netflix like a pro
Netflix is the UK's favourite streaming service – around three in five households have a subscription, as of the start of the year. It's all grown up – offering ads, sports, video games and live programming – but it's basically looked the same since launch while all its rivals caught up. So, the streamer is launching a full redesign on May 19. The current set-up was built for streaming shows and movies, according to Eunice Kim, the company's chief product officer, but the new look is supposed to be more flexible.
There's more on-screen information about each programme, the navigation buttons have slid from the left-hand panel to a row at the top of your screen and the recommendations – it is claimed – will get better at responding to what viewers want.
The new recommendations 'will pull in more signals' chief technology officer Elizabeth Stone told Vulture – including noting which shows you give a thumbs up to, which trailers you watch and which actors or genres you search for. Previously, it might take 24 hours for the recommendations algorithm to adapt to this info. It's now going to be faster.
Which is welcome news for those of us who flop in front of Netflix almost every day and are starting to find it a bit annoying. The recommendations can be way off beam, despite all the tech sucking up our data. The algorithm often seems to show us whatever it is the company spent the most money on recently. And why is it always trying to persuade us to play mobile solitaire, watch the wrestling or tell us what it deems binge worthy?
But you don't need the new interface to take back control of your viewing. There is so much more to the streamer's library than what's visible when you log in. At best, you're being shown the tip of the programming iceberg stored in the system. Unless, that is, you take positive action including one or two things Netflix absolutely disapproves of. So: here are our tips for using Netflix like a pro.
1. Netflix secret codes
Watch on your laptop using a browser to use Netflix's own numeric genre codes. These can be incredibly specific. The code for comedy is 6548, but there are separate codes for musical comedies, dark comedies, political comedies, satire, screwball, slapstick and on and on. There are some 36,000 codes including a lengthy list of movie genres including Deep Sea Horror Movies (45028), Witchcraft and the Dark Arts (81552046) and Feel-good Sports Movies for Ages 8 to 10 (855).
There are even codes for 90 Minute Movies (81466194) and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (81614959). Netflix adds to this list all the time – recently Jools Lebron curated a Very Demure, Very Mindful selection (81931239). All are listed at sites like Netflix-codes.com or cloudwards.net. Type www.netflix.com/browse/genre/XYZ into your browser, where XYZ is the code of your chosen genre, and discover titles like slasher flick The Revenge of Robert the Doll, alien horror sex comedy Spaced Out and the appropriately named MILF.
2. Use the codes on your phone
You can't search for any codes from within the app, but if you find a show/film/documentary deep in the Netflix basement using your laptop, just add it to My List for later viewing.
3. Pick the right browser
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