It’s fair to say that content discovery on Netflix isn’t as good as it should be—we’ve all scrolled the homepage in a desperate hunt for something to watch. That said, you shouldn’t overlook Netflix’s search tool. It’s not flawless, but it’s more powerful than you likely realize.
You can search by more than just title
To begin a search, select the magnifying glass icon. You can, of course, search for a movie or TV show by its title, like “A House of Dynamite” or “Stranger Things“. However, there are some other terms you can use:
|
Search topic |
Example searches |
|---|---|
|
Genre |
Action, Romance, Sci-fi |
|
Language |
French, German, Spanish |
|
Name |
Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Milly Bobby Brown |
|
Quality |
Atmos, UHD |
This means that if you fancy watching a mystery film, all you need to do is type “mystery” into the search bar. Or if you want to see the masterful Helen Mirren at work, just type her name.
There are some important limitations to be aware of:
- You’re only searching the Netflix catalog. A search for “Brad Pitt” shows anything Netflix has that stars Brad Pitt, rather than his entire filmography.
- Searching by name only works when the person is credited on Netflix. For example, although Brad Pitt appears in Friends and the show is on Netflix, it doesn’t appear when searching for his name because he’s not credited in the headline cast.
- You can’t string search terms. For example, “Brad Pitt thriller” returns no results, rather than a list of Brad Pitt’s thriller movies.
- Some quality settings are only available on a Netflix premium plan. While you can still search for something like “UHD” on lower plans, it only plays in whatever quality your plan supports.
- Not every result is relevant. The most relevant results appear first, but Netflix populates the rest of the list with whatever it wants to promote. Annoyingly, it sometimes even sprinkles these among the more relevant results, so double-check the movie or show’s details before you watch.
Discover the power of hidden categories
Through Netflix’s main navigation, you can go to separate pages for “Series” and “Films”. Once there, use the “Genres” dropdown on web or the “All Categories” dropdown on mobile to filter by genre.
Alternatively, scroll down the page to view the genre rows. You may have noticed these rows can be very specific, like “Critically-acclaimed 20th Century Period Pieces”. Netflix has over 36,000 of these categories, but they’re hidden. The way to access them is to know the secret codes; each category has its own numerical code.
Netflix doesn’t publish these codes, but you can use websites like Netflix-Codes.com to find some of them. For example, “32392” is the code for classic musicals. When you have a code, put it on the end of the following URL: www.netflix.com/browse/genre/
For example, appending the “32392” code would create the following URL: www.netflix.com/browse/genre/32392 Visit that page to view all the classic musicals on Netflix.
Unfortunately, this only works on a web browser because you can’t plug these codes into Netflix’s search. However, you can browse the category on the web, find what you want to watch, and then search for the title on another device.
Netflix is testing an AI-powered search
Earlier this year, Netflix began testing a new way to search. It lets you search using conversational phrases, as if you were talking to a friend. You can select from example prompts or input your own, like “something funny and upbeat” or “I need a good cry”. You can then scroll through the suggestions, refine your search further, or start over.
This experience is opt-in for a small group of iPhone and iPad users. To see if it’s available for you, open the Netflix app, tap the magnifying glass icon, select “Learn More”, then select “Try Now”.
If you decide it’s not for you, go to the search page and select “Switch to Standard Search”.
Netflix has given no indication on how long this feature will be in beta, let alone if it will become a permanent feature for everyone. The company has been known to introduce and then remove functionality, so nothing is a given.
Netflix’s search isn’t perfect
Netflix’s search does more than it might seem on the surface. You can search by genre and an actor’s name, and the secret category pages are handy. That said, it’s not perfect. I’m glad that Netflix is testing a more powerful search tool because it’s long overdue, and I hope it’s available for more users soon. We shouldn’t have to rely on third-party services to search streaming services.
- Subscription with ads
-
Yes, $8/month
- Simultaneous streams
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Two or four
Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.