Code found inside Netflix’s iPhone app indicates that the
streaming service does not plan to allow users of its soon-to-be launched ad-supported version to download content for offline viewing.
Text in the app, found by developer Steve Moser
and shared with Bloomberg News, states “Downloads available on all plans except Netflix with ads.” Ad-free Netflix subscribers can download content to view it offline in
situations where online access is unavailable or spotty.
The with-ads code also suggests that, like most with-ads streamers, Netflix’s won’t allow skipping ads or using
playback controls during ad breaks.
Netflix didn’t comment on the code findings, and its plans could change before the launch, set for early 2023.
But the early signs
point to a strategy of taking a “no frills” approach to the with-ads tier designed to get viewers hooked on Netflix and motivated to pay for subscriptions to the no-ads tier, notes
Bloomberg.
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