Regret streaming that? How to delete what you watched from your Netflix history

June 10, 2022

By Kim Komando

You tried out that Netflix show everyone raves about, and you didn’t like it. Now it’s influencing every recommendation that pops up on your feed.

You’re seeing titles you’d never watch in a million years, spoiling the browsing experience. Let’s fix that. Tap or click here to find out how to unlock international Netflix to access more movies and shows.

This brief guide will help you correct a few things:

• Movies and TV shows you delete won’t appear in the recently watched section.
• Things you delete will fix your recommendations.
• You won’t have to see them in the “Continue Watching” tab on your screen.

Ready to fix it?

First, log in to your Netflix account

It’s best to do this on PC since it’s much easier to navigate and because typing with a TV remote is essentially 21st-century torture. Pull up your laptop, log in, and head to Netflix settings and account management.

Select a profile

You likely have a few profiles set up for various family members. You need to tweak individual settings to fix your recommendations, so click on your profile.

Double-check that you’re on the correct profile before you change anything. In your settings, you’ll see Viewing Activity. If you share your password, you might find accidental recommendations in your viewing activity.

Viewing activity

When you open the viewing activity, you’ll see a small icon of a circle with a line through it. Click on that. You can specifically hide episodes and movie titles by doing this.

Thankfully, if you watched a 13-part show, you’ll be given the option to hide an entire series after removing a single episode from your viewing activity.

If you want to start fresh, you can always click the Hide All option and wipe your Viewing Activity back to the stone age.

A few last-minute Netflix tips

• Don’t do this on a Wi-Fi connection that isn’t in your home (or at least password protected). Public Wi-Fi users can intercept your data and steal your login information. Tap or click here for a more secure option.
• Be very picky with what you watch in the 24 hours after you change your viewing activity, otherwise, you could accidentally add something recommended due to those unwanted titles.
• Download a few episodes of a show you like or a movie so you can still watch Netflix and avoid messing with the recommendation refresh during those first 24 hours.

Finally, peace at last

This is all you need to realign the stars in your viewing history. Remember that previous titles still affect your recommendations for up to 24 hours, even if you can’t see the title anymore.

We know you’re not into every movie that Tom Cruise has ever been in, but it may take until this time tomorrow to wipe those off your feed.

You may also like: Stream like a pro: 7 Netflix hacks you’ll use all the time