Netflix upgrades its app for the iPhone and iPod touch

19 Sep 2012

Streaming giant Netflix has turbo-charged its iPhone and iPod touch app with new features that make the app more comparable to its popular iPad app.

Netflix, which in recent weeks added Irish films as well as RTÉ TV content to its library, said millions of its members use their smartphones to watch films and TV programmes anywhere, anytime.

The company says its new iPhone and iPod touch app is more immersive than the previous version, with access to more titles and galleries.

Netflix’s director of product innovation Chris Jaffe said a new Netflix experience for Android phones is on the way.

Indeed, on first perusal, the updated iPhone app is very much akin to the iPad version, with galleries that slide along with a swish of your finger, as well as access to the latest programmes you’ve been watching.

Users can continue watching movies or programmes where they left off.

Tapping the browse menu gives a more extensive list of genre galleries that show even more titles organised into categories.

A simple tap on any title presents all the information for that title and a double tap on the title starts instant playback.

The move follows a recent upgrade to Netflix’s main player.

The app is available right now for iPhone and iPod touch devices with iOS 5 and will work with the new iOS 6 operating system, which will go live from Apple today.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com