Netflix's ad-supported plan likely lacks playback controls, offline viewing

Back in June 2022, Netflix confirmed that there would be an ad-supported tier for viewers looking to pay less and don't mind advertising. Now, it looks like advertisements aren't the only compromise these viewers might have to make.

According to Bloomberg, a certain developer called Steve Moser dug around Netflix's iOS app and found lines of code indicating how ad-supported users of Netflix won't be allowed to download shows or movies for offline viewing. This restriction is not in place for regular and existing users of Netflix, where offline viewing is available to a limited number of episodes and shows stored on the device.

Other lines of code discovered also saw that the ads would be unskippable, and playback controls are unavailable during advertisement breaks.

While plans may change, Netflix has already declared that it's currently working with ad-sales partners and also said that not all Netflix content would also be available to ad-supported users.

The streaming giant also lost subscribers for the first time in a decade and saw a 20 per cent dip in stock prices as a result of that announcement. 

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This article was first published in HardwareZone.