Here's how I would build the perfect streaming service

Key Takeaways

Disney+ offers fun profile options and a well-organized home page.
Netflix boasts the best algorithm, helping you find titles of interest.
Apple TV provides the best aesthetic and navigation.

From Disney+ to Kanopy, Shudder to Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video to whatever the HBO service is calling itself today, there are a lot of streaming services. And there are more than a couple that have fallen by the wayside; remember Quibi? Neither do I. While they all offer a lot of different content, with some that have specific looks and tones, it’s the interfaces that I find most fascinating. The aesthetic, the speed, and the search function, the carousel algorithms, and so many more elements all make up an important component of a streaming service’s quality. It’s not just what’s on the screen that needs to be good, but how you get to watch what you’re watching that’s vital.

Netflix set a great standard with some game-changing features, but not every service is the same (Crave, for Canadian consumers out there, has by far the worst, laziest interface ever created), but most have a couple standout elements. If only they could be combined into a perfect streaming service.

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Disney+ offers the best profile options

Personalization options and familiar characters

That Disney+ offers a slew of profile options and a bunch of different avatars is a lot of fun. I feel like it took a while for this cute, basic feature to be introduced to most services, but yes, I want a character or actor as my profile picture. I enjoy having it when I open up my app, and I enjoy looking at other profile pictures as well. And I also enjoy changing them seasonally. It’s simply a fun way to start your entertainment journey, and it doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

It’s a small thing, but these little personalized touches are what separate a fine streaming service from a great one. Some still, inexplicably, don’t allow for pictures to be used for profiles, just employing a first initial atop a colored background (be better, Crave).

Disney+ also allows the most profiles simultaneously at seven, which is helpful for anyone with a large household.

Disney+ also features the ideal home page

Intuitive layout and easy access are vital

Disney+ is off to a good start. If you’re a service with a lot of content aimed at a lot of different people, you had better have a good home page. With a big banner displaying new and timely content and buttons below to jump to various studios is clever and practical. I also like that the icons for each studio have their own animations when you highlight them. Disney+ is also savvy with its side menu; it doesn’t appear while you have the banner highlighted, and only reveals icons when you start scrolling below. It’s only when you move over to the left that the full menu of options appears.

You also don’t have to go too far down on the page to pick up where you left off on any show, as some streaming services like to bury it so you have to scroll through more content. It does help to know what you want to watch and where you have to go. While Disney+ has a great home page that makes sense of all its different studios and content options, once you leave, and especially if you try the search function, the pages get a little muddled.

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Apple TV+ provides aesthetic and carousels

Setting the standard for pretty things

Apple TV Plus Showing Dark Matter preview on Samsung TV

It shouldn’t come as a major surprise considering the attention to detail Apple places on making its devices attractive, but Apple TV+ looks great. It’s glossy, pretty, and moves so fast that the whole UI experience feels breezy and simple, just like its many products. It has the right colors and tones that make opening up the app and navigating its catalog less daunting or serious than other apps. For some reason, so many streaming services have a dark and claustrophobic feeling to them; many are also simply overcrowded.

Apple TV+ also just does a great job at making their shows, based simply on the pictures and posters they employ, look genuinely compelling.

Apple TV shows are all kind of mid, actually

Apple TV+ can’t keep masquerading as a prestigious, streaming service full of hidden gems when it’s really just like all the others: mostly mediocre.

Netflix offers the best algorithm and browsing

Making sense of a giant catalog

The first and still the best service for grouping shows you might want to watch and give them a curious name is Netflix. Maybe it’s because I’ve had it for so long, but I think its recommendations for things I want to watch are quite good, and the names of each of its various carousels are often amusing. I feel a lot more confident browsing through Netflix’s library than I do others when I’m in search of something new, which is also likely in part due to the fact that Netflix just has such a vast library of titles.

While I’m not a fan of the most recent update that fairly dramatically changed the design, I still trust the UI and algorithm more than others, and having a dedicated page to shows I’ve watched, want to watch, and might want to watch, is proving useful. Netflix also has one of the best search functions that helps you pinpoint not just titles, but actors, directors, and genres you might be looking for.

Do you still watch new shows on Netflix?

Earlier this week, Netflix confirmed that only 5 weeks after debuting the modern Greek gods-inspired series Kaos (which earned mostly positive reviews and had a star-filled cast led by Jeff Goldblum as Zeus), the show had been canceled. This was remarkably fast, and many social media users lamented the fact that modern streaming shows seemingly have to find an audience immediately or risk being canceled, with no time for positive word of mouth to spread. And unfortunately, this led many to conclude that it just isn’t worth it to watch first season shows on Netflix until they are renewed, as the risk for cancelation on the platform for first-season shows seems unfortunately high. Which leads us to the question, do you still watch first season shows on Netflix? If so, have any of your favorites been canceled?

Amazon Prime’s savvy in-show options

Information assistance is a boon

Amazon Prime Video in-show pause menu feauturing Despicable Me 4

Pausing a title on Amazon Prime Video offers a lot of help for those like me who might recognize a face or voice but not be able to place them. Other streaming services like Apple TV+ are catching on to what Prime has done, but Amazon has been the leader in this area, so they must be regarded first. When you pause a title on Prime, the X-Ray feature pops up, telling you which actors are in the current scene, and who they are playing. It’s a lot easier than going online to check out IMDB, especially for bigger, ensemble dramas where you might have trouble keeping track of the name of every character on screen.

Prime’s subtitle options are also mighty helpful, with the ability to change size, color, and background in order to best see text on screen. Disney+ and Netflix offer similar choices, though I’d argue Prime’s are more easily accessible.

There is no perfect streaming service, particularly as price hikes and ads continue to dominate incoming changes. Some services want to be known for specific features, while others, like Max (and its Canadian counterpart, Crave), can charge a lot of money and get by due to a popular catalog of titles that people want to watch over and again.