Reed is one of the accounts testing the new Picture Credit: Netflix
It’s going to be a busy end of the year for new product tests on Netflix. The streamer, from today, is testing a new version of its TV app that moves the main menu back to the left-hand side of the screen, where it sat for years. The test comes around 18-24 months after the streamer moved that menu to the top as part of its first major TV redesign in over a decade.
What’s Changing in Netflix’s New TV Test
The headline change is the menu, which moves from the top of the screen to the side. The thinking is that this makes it quicker to jump to whatever you’re in the mood for.
In the assets we’ve seen, the menu sits as a slim rail of icons on the left of the screen and expands into a full panel when you move across to it. That panel holds your profile and Switch Profile option at the top, followed by Search, Home, Shows, Movies, Games, and My Netflix. Our understanding is that options here could expand over time.
The second change is arguably the bigger one: where video plays. Netflix still shows video for the title you land on, but it’s no longer inside the title tile. It now plays much larger, near the top of the screen, with the title’s logo, genre, season count, maturity rating, and synopsis laid over it.
Taking video out of the tile frees up space in the rows below, so more titles fit on screen and rows should be easier to scan. Each row in the assets shows six tiles at once, with labels such as “New Season” and “#1 in Shows” carried over. The menu will also sit alongside what Netflix dubs “modules,” i.e., special rows such as the top 10s and special categories like the Netflix and Chills row you may have seen over Halloween.
How It Compares to the Current Netflix TV Experience
This test evolves two of the defining changes of the current design, and those changes weren’t universally loved.
Netflix began testing the current interface in June 2024, removing the left-hand menu in favor of a top bar and replacing static tiles with boxes that expand when selected.
The design was officially unveiled in May 2025, with a global rollout beginning on May 19. Early reaction, as expected with major change, came with some criticism, with fewer visible titles among the main complaints. Netflix said at the time that members preferred the bigger boxes. The other major menu change was the removal of categories and New & Popular. These have since re-appeared in a specialist row of categories but they don’t look like they’re heading back to the main menu anytime soon.
This isn’t a full return to the old app, though. The rounded tiles, adaptive background colors, and My Netflix hub introduced with the current design all remain in the assets with the new layout being akin to an XMB and, at least in my opinion, easier to navigate back to the main menu (even if it was just a back button back up to the top, heading to the left (or start) of a row feels more intuitive and given that it follows you, like it’s an easy option to go back).
What Happens Next?
This is only a test, so there’s no guarantee it reaches everyone or that it stays in this form. For context, the current design took around 11 months to go from first test to global rollout.
It’s also not the only interface work underway at Netflix this year. We covered a redesigned TV video player test in July and a visual refresh of the desktop website in June which has since been mostly rolled out globally.
Have you got the new navigation on your TV? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
