(Photo by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Following a successful test last year, Netflix on Sunday confirmed it is rolling out the ability for users to vary the speed at which they watch content on Android phones and tablets.
Everyone else will have to wait as the company begins piloting the feature on iOS and the web.
Whether you're catching up on the latest season of The Umbrella Academy or settling in for your fourth rewatch of The Kissing Booth 2, Android users can choose to languish in or sprint through the experience—from a sedate 0.5 times slower to a brisk 1.5 times faster.
Features like skip intro, play next episode, and variable playback speeds can, according to a Netflix blog post, "be sensitive within the creative community." The streaming platform, however, is pressing ahead "for several reasons": "Most important of all, our tests show that consumers value the flexibility it provides."
The move is especially welcome among deaf viewers and folks who have difficulty reading (or are trying to learn a new language) and may need to slow down the captioning, as well as the blind and vision impaired, who are used to listening to digital audio much faster.
"We've also been mindful of the concerns of some creators," Netflix said, revealing that it has capped the range of playback speeds, and requires users to vary the pace each time they watch something new (versus fixing the settings).
"It's also worth noting that extensive surveys of members across several countries who watched the same titles with or without the feature showed it didn't impact their perceptions of the content's quality."
Not everyone is convinced, though.
When the initial test was announced last year, a number of actors and directors took to Twitter to complain that speeding up or slowing down a scene is tantamount to "taking control of everyone else's art and destroying it, as Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul, whose film El Camino was distributed by Netflix, argued.
(Photo by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Following a successful test last year, Netflix on Sunday confirmed it is rolling out the ability for users to vary the speed at which they watch content on Android phones and tablets.
Everyone else will have to wait as the company begins piloting the feature on iOS and the web.
Whether you're catching up on the latest season of The Umbrella Academy or settling in for your fourth rewatch of The Kissing Booth 2, Android users can choose to languish in or sprint through the experience—from a sedate 0.5 times slower to a brisk 1.5 times faster.
Features like skip intro, play next episode, and variable playback speeds can, according to a Netflix blog post, "be sensitive within the creative community." The streaming platform, however, is pressing ahead "for several reasons": "Most important of all, our tests show that consumers value the flexibility it provides."
The move is especially welcome among deaf viewers and folks who have difficulty reading (or are trying to learn a new language) and may need to slow down the captioning, as well as the blind and vision impaired, who are used to listening to digital audio much faster.
"We've also been mindful of the concerns of some creators," Netflix said, revealing that it has capped the range of playback speeds, and requires users to vary the pace each time they watch something new (versus fixing the settings).
"It's also worth noting that extensive surveys of members across several countries who watched the same titles with or without the feature showed it didn't impact their perceptions of the content's quality."
Not everyone is convinced, though.
When the initial test was announced last year, a number of actors and directors took to Twitter to complain that speeding up or slowing down a scene is tantamount to "taking control of everyone else's art and destroying it, as Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul, whose film El Camino was distributed by Netflix, argued.
