In this photo illustration a computer and a mobile phone screens display the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP)
Cover In this photo illustration a computer and a mobile phone screens display the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP)

Admit it. Falling asleep in front of your show only to wake up during the last episode of the season can be a little annoying. This scenario could soon be avoided thanks to a new feature in test phase. On the Netflix Android application, subscribers will be able to test a timer on their favorite series to avoid letting the episodes scroll by.

15, 30, 45 minutes or until the end of the program. These are the four different durations offered by the streaming platform to its subscribers before automatically closing its mobile application on Android. According to information collected by The Verge, Netflix is testing a new timer feature with a select group of Android users. This is an interesting new feature that could prevent a series or a movie from being played after the user has fallen asleep in front of the screen. While the platform already uses alerts to ask a subscriber if they are still watching its content, this timer will allow the subscriber to schedule pausing the content being streamed ahead of time. This is a way to better conserve the phone's battery but also to limit the time spent in front of the screen while monitoring one's viewing time.

Netflix did not specify the number of people involved in this test. Currently available on Android phones, the American giant is already planning to offer the timer function on other devices such as TVs as well as on the web platform. However, Netflix will decide to implement the new feature only if the results of the test show genuine interest from subscribers.

For the time being, only adult accounts are concerned by this test. The "timer" will also display the remaining seconds before the application shuts down while allowing the user to extend the timer with the "snooze" function like a real alarm clock.