As the most popular streaming platform worldwide, Netflix is one of the best streaming services for a good reason. Not only does it offer a variety of excellent original programming as well as beloved third-party content, but the user interface is one of the most user-friendly in the industry.
Navigating the service’s deep content library is a breeze; and although the powerful Netflix recommendation algorithm is not perfect, it tends to hit more than it misses. If you’ve spent a lot of time on Netflix, you may think you know all the secrets and shortcuts of the platform, but there are actually some hidden features you may not be familiar with.
These features can help improve your viewing experience, or even give you the ability to play a game instead of watching something. Below you will find all the Netflix hidden features you need to know about and how to access them.
Hidden Netflix Features: Access Games
While Netflix is primarily known as a place to watch movies and TV shows, did you know that the service also gives you access to a plethora of games?
You can access these games via the Android or iOS app. Just open the The Netflix app and type “game“in the search box. There is a whole range available, including Stranger Things 3: The Game. Just select the one you want to play and Print “get games“to start the installation process.
Once installed, you can access the games as you normally would on your mobile device instead of having to open the Netflix app every time. However, you will lose access to all downloaded games if your Netflix subscription expires.
Hidden Netflix Features: Enhance your experience with extensions
One of the best ways to enhance your Netflix experience is to install third-party extensions. If you watch Netflix through the Google Chrome browser, Chrome Web Store offers hundreds of useful extensions to choose from.
One of our personal favorites is Netflix party (opens in new tab), which allows you to host remote viewing parties with friends and family. This extension syncs your selected content to make sure everyone is watching at the same time, and there’s even a chat feature to share your reactions.
Hidden features on Netflix: Discover secret categories
If the default Netflix categories aren’t quite specific enough for you, the platform offers an extra number of content groups that can be accessed via secret tags.
For example, if you type 7424 In the search box, you will be greeted with a whole host of anime content. This is not the only secret category – enter 47465 and you will get a lot of western movies while 48744 will give you a collection of classic and modern war movies to choose from.
If you want to be even more specific, code that 12762 will take up the service’s offer of basketball movies and documentaries, or 10256 will give you slapstick comedies. You can see one complete list of codes here (opens in new tab).
It should be noted that not all of these codes will work in every region. In addition, Netflix has an annoying habit of changing codes regularly, so some of them may no longer work.
Hidden feature on Netflix: Spin the roulette
While Netflix offers its own “play anything” feature if you feel indecisive, we find the network tool Netflix roulette (opens in new tab) a much better option if you can not decide what to see next.
The tool pretty much does exactly what you expect, by randomly selecting a program or movie from Netflix’s content library that you can watch. Where Netflix Roulette gets the advantage over the platform’s own randomizer, is that you can filter by genre or even IMDb rating to ensure that you always get something you actually want to see.
Try it next time scrolling through Netflix aimlessly. You can even add additional services to the mix, such as Amazon Prime Video or Disney Plus.
Hidden feature on Netflix: Search by keyword
The Netflix search feature can be surprisingly useful in helping you discover content within specific categories. If you do not have a particular series or movie in mind, why not try using keywords like “Netflix” or “4K” and see what you stumble across?
If you enter these terms in the search box, every original Netflix movie / series available and all of the service’s 4K content will be displayed. You can also search for terms like “HDR” or “Animation”. These are fairly broad keywords, but they can be used to narrow down Netflix’s overwhelmingly large content library.
Hidden feature on Netflix: Control with a keyboard
If you normally watch Netflix via a computer or laptop, you do not need to use a mouse or trackpad to control your content. Netflix has built-in keyboard shortcuts that are well worth remembering.
Press the space bar to play / pause, and you can fast forward or rewind for 10 seconds using the left and right arrow keys. The up and down arrow keys will also control the volume, and if you need to mute quickly, just press the M key. You can also use the F key to expand to full screen, and exit full screen using the Escape key.
Now that you’ve discovered some of Netflix’s hidden features, take a look at our selection of Disney Plus hidden features and hidden Prime Video features you may have missed. And if you’m planning a movie or series binge, check out how to download TV shows and movies from Netflix to your device.