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How to check if your device supports Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Netflix today released a new interactive spinoff of its popular original series Black Mirror. Titled Bandersnatch, the new movie is causing some controversy in terms of how a user views the content.

How to check if your device supports Netflix’s interactive content

At this point in time, Netflix interactive content is not available on Chromecasts, the Windows app, browsers that rely on Silverlight or any variation of Apple TV including Apple TV (4th generation) and Apple TV 4K. It’s unclear if these devices will ever be supported, but apps on these platforms will likely need to be updated to support the new type of content.

However, you’ll be able to play interactive content on “smart TVs, streaming media players, game consoles, and iOS devices” according to Netflix’s official support document. Make sure both your device and the Netflix app is up to date to ensure the best performance.

Notably, Android is also missing from the list of compatiable devices, however, it’s a bit more confusing here. Netflix says that certain interactive content will be available on Android, and will vary depending on the version of Android you’re running, in adition to the version of the Netflix app.

Playback on Android is only supported with Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout (Android 6.11 or later) and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Android 6.19 or later).

However, if you still want to watch the new Black Mirror movie on Apple TV, you can optionally use iOS’ built-in screen mirroring feature. Just note that you’ll get letter/pillarboxing using this method.

Netflix seems to be unclear on what shows and movies with interactive content will have a linear version (a version without any interaction, plays like a normal epsiode). Currently, roughly 50% of its interactive content is available in a linear version, and the other half is not.

Episodes that have a symbol shown above indicate that your device can play this content. If not, you’ll have to unfortunately play the content on a different device.

Learn more about Netflix’s interactive content here.

For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:


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