Catching up on your Netflix queue while flying to Grandma’s house for Christmas is a dicey proposition with spotty airplane Wi-Fi. And if Grandma is a little old school, well, forget about it when you’re staying at her place. Until now.
Just in time for the holiday travel season, the streaming-video service on Wednesday unveiled a new “available for download” feature on its Android and iOS apps for smartphones and tablets. The feature is not available for desktop users accessing their accounts on a web browser.
“Airplane mode. Road trip mode. Stuck-in-the-subway-for-20-minutes mode. Your favorite stories are now available for download any time,” the company announced in a tweet from its @Netflix account.
While not every title in the service’s vast catalog is available for download, many popular selections, such as Netflix original series “Stranger Things” and “The Crown” are. Kids movies like 2015’s “Minions” and 2014’s “Paddington” are also available for download, as are some popular TV network series like CW’s “The Flash” and “Supergirl.”
The rollout for the feature is global, so while Netflix catalog selections vary by country or region, the ability to download favorite content will transcend national borders.
“Netflix execs had previously raised the prospect of allowing downloads for offline viewing, but they had suggested the company would first launch the feature in countries with constrained bandwidth infrastructure,” Variety noted Wednesday.
Airplane mode. Road trip mode. Stuck-in-the-subway-for-20-minutes mode. Your favorite stories are now available for download any time. pic.twitter.com/g7QZA3TyE8
— Netflix US (@netflix) November 30, 2016
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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