Whatever streaming service you’re using, you can rest assured the people behind it are going to do whatever they can to keep you watching it for as long as possible. Even just another five seconds of viewing time per day quickly adds up across the long term when you’re talking about millions of viewers, let alone ad-supported accounts.
However, this can lead to crappy user experience. There you are, absorbed in the final moments of a show or movie, and before you know what’s happening, you’re thrown into the next episode, or shown an ad for a different show altogether.
The X post below provides a particularly egregious example, as the final moments of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho are rudely interrupted by a promotion for The Big Bang Theory. I’ve got nothing against The Big Bang Theory, personally,—but it undeniably spoils the mood Hitchcock was aiming to create.
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Unfortunately, the degree to which you can control this sort of nonsense varies based on what streaming service you use, and it’s not always possible to turn it off entirely. Still, here’s what’s possible on the most popular streaming apps out there.
How to turn off autoplay on Netflix
Credit: Lifehacker
Netflix will quickly show you something else you might want to watch as a show or movie ends. Depending on what you’re watching, you can either select Watch Credits or click or tap back to the minimized credits window to keep on watching to the end.
In terms of something automatically playing, this should only happen with successive episodes of a TV show. To stop it on the web, hover over your account avatar (top right), then choose Manage Profiles, then your profile, and uncheck the box marked Autoplay next episode in a series on all devices.
Over in the mobile app, you need to tap My Netflix, then the menu button (three lines, top right): From there pick My Profile, choose your profile, and you’ll see a toggle switch for Autoplay next episode.
How to turn off autoplay on Max
Like other services, Max automatically shrinks shows and movies on screen as they draw to a close. There’s no setting to disable this: All you can do is select the minimized window again to return it to full-screen mode.
On TV shows, you may see a next episode prompt on screen as your viewing draws to a close—and if you’re quick enough, you can select this to cancel it. To disable this permanently on a computer, click your profile icon (top right), then Settings and Playback, and disable Auto-play next episode on this device.
In the Max mobile apps meanwhile, you need to tap your profile picture (top right), then the gear icon (top right), and you’ll find the Auto-play next episode on this device toggle switch under the Playback menu.
How to turn off autoplay on Disney+
Credit: Lifehacker
On Disney+, once you get to the credits at the end of a show or movie, they’ll be minimized so that something else can be advertised to you. The only way to keep on watching the credits is to click or tap on the minimized window to bring it back. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to be done here.
You get a bit more control when it comes to stopping successive episodes of TV shows from playing. On the web, click your account profile picture (top right), then choose Edit profiles and your profile, and disable the Autoplay function.
It’s just about the same process if you’re using a mobile app: Tap your profile picture (bottom right), then Edit profiles and your profile, and you’ll again see the Autoplay toggle switch, which you can turn off.
How to turn off autoplay on Hulu
If you’re on Hulu, you’ve got the same problem as elsewhere: You can’t stop the end credits and final scenes from being minimized. All you can do is select the shrunken down window again to restore it.
There is a setting you can access for stopping the next episode in a TV show or a recommended movie from loading up automatically, however. On the web, click the gear icon (lower left) while you’re watching something, and disable Autoplay.
If you’re in the Hulu apps on mobile, tap Account (lower right), then choose Settings and disable the Autoplay toggle switch. Note that these settings are device-specific, so you’ll need to do this everywhere you’re watching.
How to turn off autoplay on Apple TV+
Credit: Lifehacker
The annoying behavior shown off in the X post earlier in this article is the work of Apple TV +. Sadly, aside from selecting the minimized window to enlarge it again, you can’t do anything about these promotions. Maybe if we all email Tim Cook about the issue, something might change.
What you can do is stop next episodes and promo trailers from starting automatically when you’ve finished watching something. If you’re in the macOS app, open the TV menu and choose Settings, then turn off Auto-Play Next Video on the General tab.
If you’re using Apple TV + on your iPhone or iPad, you need to head to the main Settings app, then choose Apps and TV. Scroll down and you’ll find the Auto-Play Next Video toggle switch, which you can turn off.
How to turn off autoplay on Amazon Prime Video
Lastly, we’ve got Amazon Prime Video. As you might be expecting at this point, you can’t stop the end of shows and movies (usually the credits) from getting shrunken down—all you can do is select them once they do to re-embiggen them.
As for autoplaying the next episode in a TV series after you’ve finished the current one, there is something you can do: On the web, click your account profile picture (top right), then Account & Settings, then Player, and turn off Autoplay.
If you’re using the Prime Video apps for Android or iOS, then you need to tap your account profile picture (top right), then tap on the gear icon on the next screen (top right again). That’ll get you to the Auto Play toggle switch.
