It can be quite frustrating to access Netflix without a subscription for a specific movie or series. It’s easy to find yourself clicking through your profile for hours because not a single recommendation fits. “The murderer”? I have already seen it! And besides, I just want to see something lighter! What about Adam Sandler? But why does Netflix only recommend ‘The Black Diamond’ to me? I just want something fun!
The streaming service has already recognized the problem itself, but does not really know how to solve it. For some time now it has even been possible to simply have a title selected at random, so that you no longer have to spend forever making the selection. The so-called shuffle button was abolished again at the beginning of 2023 – because too few people were using it. Because just Look, nobody wants that. Usually you have a certain idea, but you don’t know exactly what it is. That’s where a hack comes into play…
The Netflix Hack: Use the Profiles!!!
A streaming service employee revealed this Netflix hack to me about eight years ago. We sat together at the time for a so-called background conversation, which was mainly about Netflix’s plans in Germany. When I complained about the poor algorithm and the recommendations that never matched my current mood, I was told that they knew the problem – and could fix it themselves with the so-called profiles.
Most of you should only use the profiles, so that there is a nice separation within the household about who should watch where in Series A and who should continue to watch where in Series B. But It is much better not to separate the profiles based on people, but on the basis of genres or moods.
As you can see, I focused more on genres. But You can also create your own categories – from feel-good movie to end-of-the-world atmosphere.
Don’t know how to create profiles? It’s simple: if you launch Netflix in the Internet browser of your choice, you can easily edit it, add new ones or delete unused ones using the “Manage Profiles” button on the homepage. (By the way: if you’re wondering why I have the English view in the screenshot (“who’s watching?”) and you might have the German view at home, be sure to read the article to the end, and you’ll still get it a Netflix hack!).
But the most important thing is: you still have to ‘work’ a little to get better recommendations. Simply creating profiles is not enough. You also have to ‘assess’ the films and series in your own way:
Important: Score correctly (!!!) with your thumb!
When you set up a new profile, you go through it once, Give everything that doesn’t fit the profile a thumbs down. ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Jaws’ also get a merciless thumbs down in my comedy profile.
In return it evaluates Plus, anything you know fits the profile with a thumbs up, regardless of quality – so it’s also a miserable comedy. The really good comedies that you also like get two thumbs up. It takes less than five minutes per profile and the recommendations will be much better next time. When I go to my ‘Comedy’ profile, I almost only get recommendations for comedies.
If unusable titles creep in again, you’ll get a thumbs down. And above all, it is of course important: if you have seen a film that fits your profile, always (!) give at least a ‘thumbs up’ – even if it was bad.
An important limitation makes the hack a little more difficult
Unfortunately, there is one very unfortunate limitation to the system. Netflix has limited the maximum number of profiles to 5. I would actually still need profiles such as thrillers, true crime and other documentaries.
The problem is of course greater if you do not want to get confused with the progress of series that you watch separately in a household with several people. Unfortunately, child profiles also take away one of the five slots. You then have to do a little trick: for example, create two personal profiles, one for children and then at least two for particularly popular genres/moods. In any case, you have good recommendations for that.
And the last limitation. Of course, you still have to say goodbye to 100% suitable recommendations. In my comedy profile on the homepage you can also find ‘Comedies’, ‘Crime Comedies’, ‘Hollywood Comedies’, ‘Comedy Series’, ‘Award-winning Comedy Series’ and ‘Ensemble Comedies’ as categories. However, standard Netflix categories such as ‘Currently Popular’ or the top 10 lists with current hits such as ‘Bodies’ and ‘Sly’ will remain. Every now and then, despite all my “training” in the profile, I still find a category that doesn’t fit, and “historical films” are shown in my comedy profile. But still: the vast majority are comedy recommendations – just as I want in this profile.
Another hack: a lot more content on Netflix
If at the end of the article you are still wondering why my overview page says “Manage Profiles” and not the German “Manage Profiles”! I changed my Netflix profiles to English. Because In the German version, the streaming service ‘hides’ hundreds of films and series from you, because there is no dubbed version. But if you have no problems with subtitles or still prefer the OV versions, it is best to set your profiles to “English” to be able to find them (this can be done separately for each individual profile).
In my streaming tip for “Kim’s Convenience” I told you how to do that – and at the same time I recommend you a great comedy series, at least in the first three to four seasons, which is far too unknown because it is missing from Netflix Synchro hidden from the German public.