Over the weekend, Netflix tested a new pricing scheme in Australia to gauge reaction from users. In a more permanent change, Netflix is now restricting the installation of its Android app to non-rooted devices. The company confirmed that the latest update will not work on devices that aren’t Google-certified or have been altered.
The new update to Netflix relies upon Google’s Widevine DRM solution, this change suggests why rooted devices have been blocked from installing Netflix. Rooted devices have more control over the operating system than unrooted ones and therefore Netflix probably fears that there’s a chance that content could get ripped.
In a statement, Netflix said:
“With our latest 5.0 release, we now fully rely on the Widevine DRM provided by Google; therefore, many devices that are not Google-certified or have been altered will no longer work with our latest app and those users will no longer see the Netflix app in the Play Store.”
While officially the app is not available for rooted devices it’s still possible to sideload the APK file which can be obtained safely from APKMirror. While not tested, it might also be possible to get Netflix from the Play Store by installing Xposed and the Xposed module, RootCloak, which tricks Android into thinking it’s unrooted.
Source: The Verge