Is Netflix testing a new 'Smart Downloads' feature on Android?

'Smart Downloads' appears to be a new feature that showed up out of nowhere on my Android device. I'm currently watching season 2 of Van Helsing on the popular streaming platform and today, I went to check the status of the episodes I downloaded to watch offline when I saw a new feature on the 'My Downloads' page.

I check for app updates every day and Netflix is one of those apps that almost never publishes detailed change logs. The last time they did, according to my records, was in April of last year.  Anyway, there's a new feature on the 'My Downloads' page that will automatically delete watched episodes and download the next ones. Netflix will do that only when your device is connected to Wi-Fi. However, it is not clear how many episodes Netflix will download.

'Smart Downloads' is not enabled by default. To activate it, tap the hamburger menu at the top left corner of the app, then select 'My Downloads' and 'Smart Downloads' should be there at the top.  Use the toggle to enable it. 'Smart Downloads' can also be enabled in the app settings.

Since I only just noticed this feature, I cannot tell how well it works. I will update this post after I experiment with it. Also, 'Smart Downloads' doesn't seem to be available to everyone. My wife did not have it on her phone despite the fact that we use the same account. 'Smart Downloads' appeared about an hour later though. A friend and frequent Netflix user also confirmed not seeing 'Smart Downloads'. I'm running Netflix version 5.13.1 on my OnePlus 5T. The only difference on my wife's Samsung S7 Edge is the OS API. Mine is 26 while her phone has version 24. [Update] 'Smart Downloads' showed up on her phone about an hour later.

You can download Netflix in the Play Store for free and let me know if you see 'Smart Downloads' in the app. It appears to be a server-side update.

SoundCloud for Android now supports saving songs to a storage card for offline listening.

SoundCloud is available on Android in three packages with the first one being free and giving access to 120 millions songs "from emerging and established artists." If you subscribed to the free offering, you will not be able to listen to your music offline as opposed to SoundCloud Go and SoundCloud Go+ packages. If you subscribed to the latter two packages worth $4.99 and $9.99 per month, you will be able to download your songs to the storage card if your device supports it.  

Check out the complete SoundCloud offers below before heading to Google Play Store to download or update the app:

SOUNDCLOUD FREE:

- Over 120 million tracks from emerging and established artists
- Get suggested tracks based on your likes and listening habits
- Discover incredible music in each genre with SoundCloud charts, from all-time greats to the newest and hottest tracks
- Connect with friends and interact with your favorite artists directly
- Create playlists for parties, workouts, on the way to work, or whatever mood you're in

SOUNDCLOUD GO:

- Discover, stream, and share a constantly expanding mix of music – anytime, anywhere
- Over 120 million tracks from emerging and established artists
- Take your collection offline, everywhere you go
- No ads, for an uninterrupted listening experience
- Support artists – a percentage of all revenue from SoundCloud Go is paid to creators on the platform
- All for just $4.99/month*

SOUNDCLOUD GO+:

- Upgrade to Go+ for a fully expanded catalog of over 150 million tracks, including superstars from major labels and indies
- Take your collection offline, everywhere you go
- No more 30 second previews — all music on SoundCloud, including premium Go+ tracks, is fully accessible to stream and save offline
- No ads
- Support artists – a percentage of all revenue from SoundCloud Go+ is paid to creators on the platform
- 30 days free, then $9.99/month**

Unfortunately, the 30 days free offer is limited to users in the United States.

Netflix replaces 5-stars ratings with thumbs to improve personalized suggestions.

In an update rolling out today, Netflix is retiring the familiar five-star rating system and replacing it with the much simpler thumbs-up and thumbs-down mechanism. In other words, you will either like or dislike a movie, with nothing in between. The five-star rating had the advantage of letting users moderately like something. However it was more of an indication of what customers in general liked or disliked, not really helpful to improve your personal experience. With the new thumbs rating mechanism, Netflix will use your ratings "to help you get better suggestions" and push those suggestions to your homepage within the app.

The new rating system will, according to Netflix, tell them "that you like something and want to see similar suggestions. A thumbs-down lets us know you aren't interested in watching that title and we should stop suggesting it to you." Furthermore, "using thumbs helps us learn more about your unique tastes so we can do a better job suggesting stories we think you'll love.", Netflix said in a blog post. The streaming company also claims they saw a 200% increase in ratings activity when testing thumbs rating.



I never rated anything in Netflix. Will the thumbs mechanism get me started? We'll see with time. 

You can download Netflix in Google Play Store.

Source: Netflix

Apple Music for Android gets new design and provides lyrics for you to sing along as you listen.

Having to Pay Apple to stream music on my Android device is kind of a bummer to me and I have Google to blame for not opening up their Music service to my region. The funny thing is that I've never used Apple Music app on the iPad I once owned, but with Google still denying me access, I had no choice but to subscribe to Apple's service to listen to music and I like it. Should Google finally open up their music service in the region, I'm just going to ignore it. That aside, lets look at the update Apple published to the store today.

This is a major update which raises the version number to 2.0 and the most striking change is the app design which is similar to Apple's Music app for iOS. Apple just does not give a damn to Google Material design. Anyway the latter is not a requirement to get apps published in Google Play Store, but are guidelines for developers, should they choose to use the material design. 

In addition to the design change, Apple Music will now also show the lyrics for the songs we listen to and which be be helpful as we sing along.

The Hamburger menu has also been revisited. It now shows less categories. In fact, the entire app looks less cluttered, making navigating titles fast and easier.

Here's the complete change log:

An all-new design brings greater clarity and simplicity to Apple Music:

Now Playing. Read lyrics for songs as you listen.

Library. Navigate your music easily and see the Downloaded Music you can play offline.

For You. Get recommendations for playlists, albums, and more—based on music you love.

Browse. Listen to new music first, plus playlists for any mood or activity.

Radio. Tune in to Beats 1 shows or listen to stations for any genre.

Download or update Apple Music in Google Play Store and get an individual membership for $4.99.

Netflix on Android gets a new icon and that's it.

Old Icon

New Icon

What do you write about when the most popular movie streaming service updates its app on Android with just a new icon redesign? This is what Netflix did with its latest update. A new icon that changed from "Netflix" with a white background to a simple "N" with a black background. Add to that some bug fixes and you get a change log.

Grab the update in Google Play Store and enjoy the new shiny icon, courtesy of Netflix.

Netflix introduces cellular data controls in its Android app.

This year Netflix went global making thousands of movies and TV shows available to the world. The company did not sleep on its laurels and enjoy the incoming stream of cash, instead they analyzed how much people are streaming on their devices and "what kind of mobile data plans they have". I use a monthly 1GB data plan and never used it to watch Netflix, but according to them and their study, if I enable their new tool to control how much data I use when streaming, I should be able to stream "about 3 hours of TV shows and movies per gigabyte of data." Netflix says that "In terms of bitrates, that currently amounts to about 600 Kilobits per second. Our testing found that, on cellular networks, this setting balances good video quality with lower data usage to help avoid exceeding data caps and incurring overage fees. If you have a mobile data plan with a higher data cap, you can adjust this setting to stream at higher bitrates."

In order to take advantage of this new feature and set your cellular data usage, select "App settings" from the menu and choose "Cellular Data Usage". From there, you can select a higher or lower data usage. Remember, the default is automatic and, as stated above, will let you stream 3 hours of TV shows and movies. Something I'll definitely try as soon as possible.

Update Netflix for Android in Google Pay store.

Chromecast for Android renamed to Google Cast.

Chromecast, Google's media streaming device, has been updated today and while not much has changed besides the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, the app has been renamed to Google Cast. I don't know the reasons for the change but the app will now show under G in your app drawer after downloading the update. You can still use the term 'Chromecast' to search for the app in the Play store. In the end, it is just a matter of getting accustomed to the name change. 

Download the update on Google Play store.

SoundCloud introduces Stations as a new way to discover tracks.

SoundCloud today announced the debut of "Stations" which it presents as a "new way to discover the tracks you've never heard anywhere else." In other words, users will create stations based on their search term, content stream or collection to generate an endless stream of "awesome audio" from over 100 million tracks, according to SoundCloud. The Stations are then accessed in Collections along with Playlists and Likes.

The update is already available for download in Google Play Store.

Source: SoundCloud