With the Delta variant wreaking havoc, plenty of people across the nation are choosing to spend more time inside and socially distanced. And that means plenty of time spent watching streaming platforms.

With that in mind, here are four top ways to maximize your streaming experience in 2021.

1. Travel the globe via your screen

Many streaming platforms (including Netflix) use geo-blocking restrictions, which means certain content isn’t available in certain countries. If you’re fed up with your home screen’s suggestions, try traveling to a different country’s content catalog.

Here’s how it works: the content you see is based on your IP, a unique digital address that also indicates your device’s physical location. To skirt geo-blocking restrictions, you need to shield your IP address or change it to a country of your choice. You can do this by using a VPN.

Want Australian Disney Plus? Switch to an Australian server, then open up your account.

2. Change your subtitles

Love foreign films but hate straining to see the tiny subtitles? If so, join the growing number of people who are supersizing their subs. Both Disney Plus and Netflix allow you to change your subtitles’ size, language, and color, and the former even allows you to adjust the font. 

Local favorites Hotstar and Zee 5 aren’t quite as generous, but there are several language options. 

3. Add reviews to your Netflix

If you stream Netflix from a Chrome browser, you can take advantage of a nifty plug-in that displays ratings from both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes (two of the net’s most-trusted rating sites) right on your Netflix platform. Just hover your cursor over a title, and you can see a star rating from the sites. You can find the extension here.

It’s quick, easy, and it saves you from having to search for reviews separately. Win-win!

4. Enable parental controls

Do you share your streaming accounts with small people? If so, you can take advantage of your platforms’ parental control settings and make sure they’re not watching anything inappropriate for their age.

How you’ll do this exactly differs from platform to platform, but as a general rule, you’ll want to make each child their own account within your account and then set an age limit for what content each kid can view. You can even lock the adults’ accounts with a password on some platforms so that kids can’t leave their own home screen and enter yours.

We hope these tips help you get more from your streaming platforms in 2021. Happy viewing!