Netflix is a great service when you want to spend a night on the couch, but what if you have a long plane ride ahead of you? For years, Netflix subscribers have dreamed of the ability to download movies or episodes of their favorite TV shows to accompany them on a long trip off the grid. Now that dream has finally arrived, and we’re here to help you make that transition offline go as smoothly as possible so you can simply sit back and enjoy.
For now, downloading titles for offline playback is limited to the Netflix app on iOS and Android mobile devices, or the Windows 10 Netflix app on PCs (Windows 10 Mobile devices aren’t supported for now). Follow us below to figure out how to get downloading so you can get off the grid, and take your Netflix along for the ride.
Getting your download on
Step 1: Get up to date
First things first, you’ll need to make sure your Netflix app has been updated to be ready for downloading. If you don’t have your device set to auto update, for iOS devices you can simply click on the app in the app store to get version 9.0.1 or later, while on Android devices you can do the same at the Google Play store where the version varies by device. For Windows 10, select Store from the taskbar or start menu, then click your user icon, and select Downloads or Updates. From here, select Check for Updates and your Netflix app will be updated.
Step 2: Choose your download quality
Netflix offers two different quality levels for downloads: Standard and “Higher,” the latter of which is seemingly high definition (720-1080p resolution), though Netflix doesn’t specify there. Standard uses less space on your device and downloads faster, while Higher takes a bit more space. Which one you’ll want to use will depend on how much free space you have on your device, and what kind of device you’re using — a Standard title may look fine on a phone, while Higher may be necessary for your tablet of laptop. To choose, select the menu icon on the left, then scroll down to App Settings. From here, under the Downloads heading, click or tap Video Quality and select your preference. We’ll get into more details on how much space Netflix downloads take up later in this article.
Step 3: Pick your poison
Not everything on Netflix is available for download, but the company has made downloadable titles easy to find by arranging them in a special section called simply “Available for Download.” To get there, click or tap the menu button in the upper left and it’s the first option below the Home section. If you’re searching for specific titles simply look for the download icon, which looks like an arrow pointing down to a line.
Step 4: Get downloading
To begin downloading, simply select the download icon on the show or movie you want to watch. There is one thing Android users will need to be aware of here: Netflix can only download titles to the same storage space in which the Netflix app is stored, so if you want to download to an SD card, you’ll need to make sure to download the Netflix app there as well.
Step 5: Watch your downloaded titles
Once titles are downloaded, they are stored in the “My Downloads” section, found by selecting the menu button in the app’s upper left hand corner. The My Downloads folder is located just above the Home section. A title’s running time as well as how much space it uses is listed next to the title. To play a downloaded episode, simply click or tap on the video thumbnail.