Netflix was ahead of its time when it introduced the “Are you still watching?” prompt, specifically designed to avoid people missing out on content or wasting internet data and energy. A new leak suggests Google may be working on a similar feature for its streaming devices, such as the Google TV Streamer and older models.
Looking into the Google TV Home app (version 1.0.815784074-735113), the folks at Android Authority uncovered code that reveals development of an “Are you still watching?” onscreen message. “Just checking in. This channel will stop playing because you haven’t used the remote in a while,” another string found by the site reads.
As you would expect, this prompt will also let users “Keep watching,” while dismissing the message will likely have the same effect. So far, these three prompts are all that we know about this particular feature.
Still a lot of unknowns, but we know enough already
Although most of its details are not yet known, these lines of text offer enough information about how it would operate. What we would like to know, though, is exactly how long it will take for these messages to appear on the Google TV screen. Netflix’s similarly named feature displays prompts after 90 minutes of non-stop viewing or watching three episodes of a TV show in a row without interacting with the video player.
As Android Authority notes, the mention of “channel” in one of the strings suggests Google TV’s version may function exclusively while viewing channels. Alternatively, it’s possible that this is just an early version of the text and that Google will make the necessary changes to the phrasing when it’s ready for prime time.
Ideally, users should also be able to turn it off from the Settings page if they prefer having their Google TV run uninterrupted. We are also curious to see if this upcoming functionality will work alongside similar features offered by streaming services like Netflix or YouTube TV. It’s clearly early days, so we’ll likely have to wait a while to learn more about Google’s plans for its broader rollout.
Would you like to see this on your Google TV device?
