It’s happened to all of us. You log into Netflix, start to watch a movie or series and for whatever reason, it’s just not for you so you stop. In the days of VHS, you’d just rewind the tape and be done or, with DVD, just eject the disk and move on. But on Netflix, the streaming service bookmarks your spot leaving you with a row of “Continue Watching” items that, while helpful sometimes, has also been the source of consternation for many. Now, though, Netflix has given users something they’ve wanted for years: the ability to clean up their “Continue Watching” section.
As reported by Collider, Netflix has rolled out the feature on mobile, television, and web versions of the service and it’s a pretty straightforward process to make use of it. All a user has to do is select the title they want to remove from the list, scroll down a list of options until they find the “Remove from Continue Watching” option—it’s the “x” on the far left. Select that option and it’s done. That movie you didn’t finish or that series you didn’t stick around for the end credits for is gone and no longer haunting you — and making it easier for you to keep track of the programming you really do plan to come back to.
Giving users the ability to clean up their “Continue Watching” list is just the latest feature release that addresses long-running user request. Last year, Netflix announced that it was rolling out a shuffle feature called “Play Something” that would let users turn over the choice of programming to Netflix’s algorithm — meaning that the feature doesn’t choose randomly from the entire catalog or let users create a playlist and instead bases its choice on things you’ve seen before. Some examples of what “Play Something” might give you include a new series or movie similar to something you’ve watched previously, an episode or movie you’ve already seen but might want to watch again, or an episode you’ve started but haven’t finished, picking up from where you left off. It’s not clear how that last option will work with the new control over “Continue Watching” that users have, but it’s likely that if you remove something from your list, it won’t pop back up.
The new option to edit your “Continue Watching” list is available now.
Are you excited Netflix finally introduced the ability to edit the “Continue Watching” list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.