Netflix app becomes slow on Apple TV

Absolutely it should be fixed. It's a major defect.

I don't know how much of the thread you have read. I did solve the problem by turning off video preview on the account (described above by someone) but it took several weeks before that setting migrated to the Apple TV box.

As far as it taking hours to come back after a reset, that is evidence of a memory management issue, possibly persistent caching or poor garbage collection of the video previews.

This app should not meet Apple approval standards with a bug like this.

Delete the app from the Apple TV and reinstall it. That worked for me.

I have been experiencing same issue, and closing all background apps helped indeed...

thanks so much!

I haven't experienced any issue nor seen reports from others. That being said it would be Netflix's responsibility to fix any issue, and wouldn't have anything to do with Apple since they had no part in developing the app.

You can try force quitting the app as well as deleting and reloading it from the app store, but if it the issue continues then you will need to persist with Netflix.

I started to have same issues just about the same time. This weekend I connected my Apple TV 4K to a guest network where it is the only device (using router rt-ac87u). Suddenly I’m not having any issues.

I have the same problem with ATV4k, but additionally with iOS and iPadOS. Netflix streams fine through Safari on iOS/iPadOS but not through their respective apps. Had a long chat with frontline Netflix support who, after consulting his second line tech team, suggested I contact my ISP. Nice guy, he agreed that this was unlikely to be fruitful. Looks like Netflix have some work to do on their app.

I have this issue too on Apple TV 4th generation. Restarting or closing other apps from the background helps for 30 seconds or so, but then scrolling in the Netflix app slows down to a jerky-crawl very quickly.

It's impossible to browse the content without giving up in frustration within a minute.

Netflix needs to fire their developers (and their ATV project manager) and get some that can code responsibly, without memory leaks, bugs, or whatever other issues are causing this.

No other streaming app I have (iTunes, hulu, Disney+, YouTube TV, YouTube, etc.) has problems like this.

Hopefully the more people who post here and contact Netflix, the more likely they'll fix it, but it really seems like they don't care.

I waited for about 24 hours...then I uninstalled the Netflix app, reinstalled it and logged in.

Finally, those pesky previews stopped.

Now, to see if that also helps with the original problem of Netflix slowly getting more and more sluggish until unusable...

It doesn’t resolve the issue permanently, but closing all the background apps has worked for me. Here’s a good walk-through on how to clear your background apps on AppleTV 4

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-close-apps-on-apple-tv

Netflix has been unbearably slow on my Apple TV since this summer. Lately it’s gotten worse. The app barely functions. I have to restart my device 2-3 times now before each watching session or it won’t scroll, show episodes, or play content.

I've had exactly this same problem with Netflix through Apple TV. Off and on for months since this past summer. It's particularly bad at the moment. When I called Netflix, they had me delete, then re-install the Netflix app. That seemed to help for a couple of days, but the slow-as-molasses interface returned today. It could be fine later tonight, or not. Other apps (Hulu, HBO) are fine. Just now I was cueing up a show on Netflix and the Netflix red circle of death started spinning. I waited a minute, nothing. Came back 5 minutes later and show had loaded. What a mess!

Hmmm. So part of it might be Netflix's interface with the videos going all the time (a really annoying interface, BTW), or now a suggestion that there's something (missing?) in Apple TV's OS that can't handle Netflix code. Somebody's got to get their act together. Does Apple actually pay attention to comments on this forum? Apple and Netflix should be working on this problem together instead of tossing the ball back and forth.

What they both like to do is divert the blame onto internet speed, which is really annoying. My Comcast/Xfinity connection running through a UniFi router and UniFi AP signal extender provides more than enough speed.

At any rate, Netflix loads fine through the Netflix app built into my TV (Vizio P65-E1), but it's a clunky UI and I much prefer the Apple Box's UI. But I guess that's what I'll be using until this is resolved.

This slowdown in the Netflix app didn't always exist; it used to be fine. So it's either Netflix's more complicated new UI with all the moving images, or something amiss with the Apple Box's OS...or both. Ugh.

Andrew, I agree with all you say, particularly about being polite to frontline agents - and being persistent. After 40 mins on a further call just now, and an attempt to take me back to the very beginning of the fault resolution process (‘have you tried rebooting your router?’), it’s clear there are no answers to this. If Netflix can be successfully streamed everywhere but on their apps then it’s not the router at fault and it’s definitely not the ISP.

In reply to my persistent questioning I was eventually told that there is a known problem with the apps that is being worked on. However when I was asked for my email address ‘so that my supervisor can contact you’ I recalled your experience. I challenged the likelihood of contact, at which point the assurance that I would definitely be contacted was downgraded, first to ‘we may contact your and then ‘we may not actually contact you’. I therefore have to question whether anything is being done about the app or whether, like the initially promised email contact, it’s just a device to reassure me and thereby end the call. A bit like agents in other large company call centres all over the world, in fact.

My Netflix problems have only kicked off in the last few days, in fact since the Netflix app was updated on iOS/iPadOS. Too many people are having problems for it to be coincidence.