Netflix just loaded up one of its most useful features at the worst possible time

Coinciding with the big controversy over the ban on Netflix account sharing, the company decided to eliminate an important feature, reigniting debate over whether it’s worth paying for the streaming service.

[Netflix más barato o incluso gratis: la compañía se plantea cambios por la nueva competencia]

How many times have you opened the Netflix app on a regular basis, but found you didn’t know what to watch? Surely on many occasions, because in its time Netflix realized that this was one of the most common problems on its platform. The solution originated as a random mode for Netflix, which evolved using algorithms.

Say goodbye to Netflix random mode

Although it changed its name over time, the function fulfilled the same role. It was accessible with a button in the app’s side menu, or as recommendations along with the rest of the series and movies on Netflix’s homepage.

Initially, this button did just that, start shuffling content on Netflix; so that we can let luck choose the next series to “swallow”; moreover, the function won smart features, based on the content we had already seen to show us series and films that we might be interested in but that we may not have known. It was a way to discover Netflix’s huge catalog, since it’s often easy to miss releases.

Netflix shuffle mode

netflix

It’s over. A Netflix representative confirmed to The Wall Street Journal the removal of this feature, which will no longer be available to any users; The reason, he says, is that the “low use” who received the function

. In other words, not enough people are using it to warrant its presence in the app.

While that’s probably true, perhaps Netflix should have picked another week to remove this feature. Right now, everything Netflix does is scrutinized by users unhappy with their latest decisions; especially in Europe, where in addition to its high price compared to the competition, we must add the additional cost of additional accounts when we want to add more users away from home.

This is the worst time to announce that, in addition, you are removing things that some users liked.