Netflix has a new interface on the iPhone — and it’s so much better it’s difficult to know where to start.
The newly updated app, which is available as a free download via the App Store as before, still gives people quick and easy access to the top-notch TV shows, movies, and documentaries available in that huge library. But now the app’s actually fun to use in-between, too.
The new Netflix interface is, dare we say, full of whimsy?
Getting jiggy with it
Perhaps the biggest example of that whimsy is in the way the app flows, bounces, and maybe even jiggles around when it’s interacted with. You can get a good feel for what we’re talking about by watching a video posted to Twitter by Janum Trivedi, a senior software engineer at Netflix when the interface was being designed.
Just watch as Trivedi flicks content away and it bounces around. Magical!
This last year, I’ve been leading a UI refresh to make Netflix feel more fluid, delightful, and polished.Today, all that work shipped!Huge thanks to @nebson and @b3ll for helping bring this to life ❤️Details below, but try it out yourself! pic.twitter.com/cZFb7c42FdJanuary 16, 2023
According to the designer, improvements include:
- New billboard layout responds as you move your device, with a subtle lighting effect
- Beautiful wallpaper gradients that are created on-the-fly from the art
- A new card transition that’s fully interruptible/interactive
- New launch/profile animations, haptics, and more!
Trivedi says that the user interface refresh had been on the go for a while with the aim being to make it “more fluid, delightful, and polished.” We can definitely see how that was the case and we can all probably agree that it was time well spent.
Some of the interactions remind us of the way tvOS app icons can be wiggled using the Apple TV’s remote control, which is pretty ironic considering how poor the Netflix Apple TV app can be at times. Perhaps now we dare cross our fingers that the Apple TV app will get a similar amount of love going forward.
Maybe Netflix could make the rest of its apps less miserable too?
And after that, who knows. Maybe Netflix could make the rest of its apps less miserable to use, too.
The updated Netflix app is probably ready and waiting for you if you have automatic updates enabled. If not, go and grab it now! This might just be the best iPhone experience we’ve seen in a while.