Netflix offers a wide selection of content and thanks to its mobile apps, it is possible to enjoy movies and your favorite TV shows on the go. If you started watching an episode of a TV series at home, you can continue streaming it while you are commuting to work. Not long ago, an internet connection was always required in order to stream videos using the mobile app. However, you don’t need to look for WiFi or use your data plan anymore because now Netflix offers you the possibility of watching movies, TV series and more, even if you are not connected to the internet. The feature was previously available for users of one of Netflix’s main competitors, Amazon Prime Instant Video. With the latest update, Netflix subscribers can also enjoy the freedom of watching content offline.
The first thing you need to do in order to be able to download content from Netflix so that you can watch it anywhere, is to make sure that your device is running the latest version of the operating system. Android users that have expanded storage need to keep in mind that media will be saved to the same location as the Netflix app. This means that if you want to save a series to a SD card, you need to move the Netflix app to it first. Another thing to keep in mind is that not all shows are available for download. Below are the steps that you can follow to watch popular shows like House of Cards and Stranger Things on your smartphone or tablet, without an internet connection.
- After updating the Netflix mobile app, you should see a new option in the side-menu screen that says “Available for Download”. This shows you all the content in Netflix that can be downloaded and watched offline. You can also browse through all the TV series and movies that Netflix offers and the ones that can be stored on your device will have a downward-facing arrow symbol next to them.
- The downside of the app is that there is no option to download all episodes of a TV series at once. If you want to watch an entire season or all the seasons of your favorite show, you will need to download each episode individually. Just tap the download symbol next to it and as the episode is downloaded, you will see a bar at the bottom of the screen, showing the progress of the download. You can also see how many episodes have been queued to download.
- The next step is to adjust the settings. By default, the app only allows you to download content using a WiFi connection. If you try to download using mobile data, a warning message will appear. This is designed to help you to avoid using up your data plan, but you can make changes if preferred. Just go to App Settings, located at the bottom of the side-menu. There you can also adjust the video quality of the downloads to reduce the amount of phone storage that is needed.
- Now you can watch the episodes saved to your device. You just need to select “My Downloads” from the menu tab. Every episode is organized by show and you can start watching by selecting the episode you want, in the same way as you would when you are using the streaming option. After watching an episode, you can delete it by swiping left. If you select “Find More to Download”, you can go back to the show’s main app entry and see more options.
