Netflix launches Smart Downloads feature over Wi-Fi for Android users

**Netflix** ’ first Indian original series, Sacred Games is out and as is evident, by various memes and posts on social media platforms there is an evident excitement about the show. Turns out Indian users are among the top downloaders of content on their mobile phones according to a recent report. Keeping the download trend in mind, Netflix has also launched its Smart Download feature for Android mobile and tablet users. According to Netflix’s  blog post, the Smart Downloads feature will make sure that the next episode that you have put on download, gets fed into your phone/tab automatically over the Wi-Fi, after the last seen episode is deleted.

How does one use it? This feature is available only for Android mobile phones and tablets. This feature can be enabled by pressing the Download button which will give you an option to verify if you can see Smart Downloads option as ON. The download occurs only over Wi-Fi. How does it work? Say you have downloaded the first three episodes of a season. After you are done watching the first episode, the Smart Downloads feature will put the fourth episode on download, provided you are connected to Wi-Fi. At the same time, it will delete the first episode that you have watched, without you having to do anything. This automatically clears storage space on your Android devices. You have the option to disable it as well if you want the watched episodes to stay on your phone or tablet. There are ways to do it from the Downloads section as well as the Settings menu by simply switching off the Smart Downloads toggle. But what’s in this for Netflix, you ask? Well, this possibly gives Netflix the power to nudge you to watch more of its shows — read, binge-watch. It gives Netflix a lot of data about viewing patterns, as well as download patterns of users. But it is also an intelligent way to ensure that you have the shows you want to watch ready on your phone or tablet.