Netflix on your phone just got a whole lot more personal

iOS users are the first to get Netflix’s friendlier, more personalised phone interface

My Netflix in iOS
(Image credit: Netflix)

Good news for everyone who watches Netflix on their phone or tablet: the interface is about to get a whole lot better with some great new personalisation options. The update is already available in the Netflix app for iOS, and it’ll be coming to the Android app in August 2023. It’ll presumably come to other platforms including the best TVs eventually, but so far there’s nothing official to suggest it’s coming soon.

The mobile app for iOS now has a new button, My Netflix, and according to the streamer it’ll take you to “a one-stop shop tailored to you with easy shortcuts to help you choose what you want to watch.”

What does the new My Netflix tab do?

The new tab is effectively a personalised home page, but it doesn’t replace the existing home page: it replaces the Downloads tab instead. The goal is to reduce the amount of time you spend trying to find something to watch by bringing personalised content to you.

When you tap on My Netflix you’ll get quick access to the shows and movies you’ve downloaded as well as a carousel of the shows and movies you’ve given a thumbs-up to, with prominent Share icons so that you can recommend them to others. 

In the screenshots provided by Netflix you can also see that there are three sections: My List, which is your to-watch list; the self-explanatory Trailers You’ve Watched, which links to the appropriate shows for each trailer; and My Reminders, which is where you can flag upcoming shows. You’ll also get a list of titles that you’re currently watching and titles you’ve recently watched.

According to product manager Edith Chao, who wrote the Netflix blog post, the more you use Netflix the more personal your My Netflix page will become: “Keep in mind that the more you interact with and tell Netflix what you like, such as saving more action-thrillers like ‘Extraction 2’ to My List or giving a thumbs up to every season of ‘Bridgerton,’ the more you’ll see on the My Netflix tab.”

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com).