Windows 11 users, beware: A new Netflix app has arrived for the OS (as previously promised), but it's sadly no step forward for those who enjoy watching the streaming service on their PC.
Windows Latest noted that the redesigned Netflix app is now available for download via the Microsoft Store, but it's a downgrade in many ways.
For starters, instead of a proper app, it's now simply a web container – in other words, it just launches the Netflix.com site in a separate Edge container. So you're basically running the website (in Edge) in what looks like an app window.
The second big blow to the new Windows 11 app is that Netflix no longer offers the option to download content. That option used to allow you to watch your favorite shows later, offline, but you can forget about that now.
Analysis: All in the name of consistency, apparently
The ability to download was one of the Netflix app’s main strengths, and as you can imagine, it’s seen as a big loss. What doesn’t help is that the app itself feels very basic, and in fact, as Windows Latest points out, it’s poorly designed. Right-clicking anywhere in the new Netflix app gives you access to a menu to open a link in a new Edge tab, so it’s painfully transparent that this is all running in a web container.
Netflix has already said that the new app is designed to offer a “consistent, quality experience” and that the “new version will now include access to live events, support for ad-supported plans, and more.” So if consistency is the main goal, why remove the download and offline viewing feature that is present in Netflix’s mobile apps?
As you might guess, most of the online reviews have been pretty (always, ahem) negative. And if you were hoping to avoid the new app and stick with the old Netflix client with its download functionality, well, sooner or later the old app will stop working. In other words, you'll be forced to upgrade very soon.
All in all, this is a little puzzling, particularly given the seemingly shoddy implementation of the web container, which seems rushed, to say the least.
