I had an annoying problem on my 2015 MacBook Pro Mac OS when watching movies on Netflix using Safari. When in full-screen mode, the display would flash/flicker a couple of times a minute. Well, after digging around, I found a solution for it.
Why Does the screen keep flashing when watching Netflix?
Some MacBook Pro’s have dual graphics cards. Mac OS switches between them depending on what kind of work you are doing, and by switching cards it saves batteries. Unfortunately, the built-in Intel graphics cards are the reason for the flickering and flashing. So we need to turn on the high-performance graphics card when watching Netflix.
Solution
- The solution to the problem is to go to System Settings and select Energy Savings.
- There you’ll find the checkbox, “Automatic Graphics Switching”, which is turned on by default. Uncheck the tickbox and the flickering stops.
If you are on the move, make sure to re-enable the automatical switching, because running the higher-performing graphics card all the time drains battery capacity.
update
After reading several comments below, there seems to be another problem with more recent versions of MacBook Pro, where the fix is to turning off the “shake mouse pointer to locate” option in Accessibility Fixes the problem.
Timothée Le Gall says
hello, I have the same issue but I don’t have the tick box ?
do you know any other solution to this problem ?
thank you
The1Winston says
It’s improved by turning off ‘Automatically adjust brightness’ in System Preferences > Displays.
Emma says
Thank you so much!! It worked for me, you saved my evening lol 🙂
Sabaresh Ramakrishna says
System Preferences > Battery. Enable optimize video streaming while on battery in the battery settings.
Nesrin says
I had this issue for years and i just fixed it with the last update you posted. Thank you!!
James says
Wow this worked for me immediately. Thanks!! But one question, why is the screen flickering while running on the intel graphic card?
TheRide says
This is not working as Automatically adjust brightnes is not on even at my system macOS Mojave 10.14.6.
Netflix full screen flickering happens only latest Chrome and Safari and not latest Firefox some reason, clearing all cookies does nothing or PRAM clearing, don’t know what is this issue and how to fix it? Jan 2020
Nishad says
same issue, let me know if you find a fix please
Mohan says
thanks for the tip, using firefox for netflix now
dee says
i realised it only happens for me in the eve with the night shift. so i turned it off and now its good
Maciek says
Solution: Go to “System Preferances” -> “Availability” -> “Screen” -> “Cursor” and turn the check box for shaking the cursor to find it ON or OFF. Problem solved.
Rie says
Finally!!! Worked for me. Thank you sooo much!
Alex Baldwin says
YES! this works!
octavio says
it worked, I also think that the nightshift is envolved somehow
MD says
Turning off the “shake mouse pointer to locate” option in Accessibility finally fixed it for me.
I had this problem when watching subtitled video’s on iTunes, VLC and also Netflix. It happened on my macbook screen and on any connected screen (HDMI) too.
The auto screen brightness suggestion that others have made didn’t do anything for me.
Slothrop says
Thanks!
Alan Graham says
Yes, worked for me too. MacBook Air 2020 model.
Preferences >> Search for “Cursor” or “Shake mouse pointer to locate” to find the option
or
Preferences >> Accessibility >> Display >> Cursor >> “Shake mouse pointer to locate” turned off.
Thanks a lot.
Dan says
Thank you so much! You made my day 🙂
Vikas says
That works for me..thanks
dechna says
This fixed it for me until it didn’t (after just a few hours). Other fix I found online and which worked was to change the size of the mouse pointer (also in accessibility). I am with a macbook air on Monterey.
Martin says
YES! That solved it for me! Who would have thought that setting could affect screen flickering?! (I have turned the setting back on again and it still works).
srowe says
A thousand thanks! This worked to fix the flickering on my Mac Mini (late 2014/Catalina). Never would have thought to try this as a fix.
Nina says
Hi I cant find the availability option :((
nicole says
go to system preferences > accessibility > display > cursor > switch off ” shake mouse pointer to locate”. That should do the job.
Bob says
worked for me !
Steph DeFerie says
it worked for me, thanks so much!!!! the flashing was so annoying, i never would’ve thought this was the fix, netflix had no idea.
clare says
oh my god thank you so much, I just got my MacBook yesterday and thought it was already broken lol
mert says
hi! I did it and its worked but after 6-7 hours flickering started again
(MacBook Air 2017 – BigSur11.1)
mert pamuk says
hi! I did it and its worked but after 6-7 hours flickering started again
(MacBook Air 2017 – BigSur11.1)
haha says
same here it worked for me but when I restarted my Macbook pro 2015 I’m facing the same issue on Netflix and YouTube
El says
Thank you so much! I have had this problem for a while now and its fixed !!! Can’t thank you enough 🙂
Rabia says
did not work for me
Ant says
It worked! Thanks!
Fenouil SeauT says
OMG thank you so much!! My screen kept flickering on firefox, it’s all gone now!
Concerned Mac User says
Wow! This worked for me too. Thank you!
Marianne says
Thank you!! It works for me too!!
Ella says
thank you so much! This is the only suggestion that worked for me.
Rais says
Hi for the moment it’s working for me thank you so much ! The thing is I am now using Netflix on Chrome only because when I used it on Safari the screen turned green for a few seconds and also did the flicker flashing thing. I only have my Macbook since a month and it’s kind of frustrating to find out that your brand new device has issues like this. My sister bought it the same day and has the same issues do you think we should’ve brought it back to The store?
Nur khadeeja Norazam says
omg same. within a few weeks, my macbook have issues like this. dissapointed
Hannah says
Me too. just got mine and Im having the same issue. It happens sometimes when Im on powerpoint too.
Holly says
try this:
Safari Preferences (not System Preferences) > Advanced > Internet plug-ins > Deselect “Stop plug-ins to save power”
tel says
Hmmm… nothing of this helped me unfortunately (watching Viaplay), if there are any other tips please share. This never happens watching YouTube :-/
Holly says
try this
Safari Preferences (not System Preferences) > Advanced > Internet plug-ins > Deselect “Stop plug-ins to save power”
Ramen says
It worked !!
Francis Sison says
All suggestions work including the cursor after I switched to Firefox to watch Netlix! Was using chrome and the issue persists.
Jackie Zhang says
hmm i tired all the solutions on this thread and its still not fixed. its not a huge deal because the flickering isnt constant but it is a little annoying. I wonder if its a netflix glitch
Jacob says
You sir! Just saved my life… the shake to find mouse option did the trick for me!!!!
Seda says
Thank you but none of it worked for me. I switched to firefox and now I have a new problem. Flicker is gone but the videos keep buffering. The whole flicker problem started right after I upgraded to Mojave. With Sierra there were no such problems.
Musavir says
YES! The cursor method solved it for me! I have turned the setting back on again and it still works fine now. So basically we just have to turn it off and then back on and you’re good to go with no compromises/changes on the settings.
Leo says
Don’t know why it works…but the cursor method solved the problem (didn’t try the automatic brightness adjustment since the cursor method already worked).
Holly says
None of the solutions above worked for me but THEN…………. I went into
Safari Preferences (not System Preferences) > Advanced > Internet plug-ins > Deselect “Stop plug-ins to save power”
Give it a try!!
JoEl Ng says
im on chrome and all the solutions dont work
c says
Thank you so much! The flickering was annoying me so much and I thought my computer was broken.
mare says
let me just say I almost flipped thinking my 2020 pro was broken but Turing off the shaking curser worked!! thanks a bunch 🙂
Max says
So I guess I’ll be the first to say this, but I just installed Big Sur and most of the troubleshooting options listed above are not available anymore. I guess with the update they either removed or moved these options.
The problem has persisted to happen despite turning off the “Turning Off the Shaking Curser”. Though the safari option “Stop plug-ins to save power” is not there under Safari preferences and the battery option “Automatically adjust brightness” is not there in System Preferences.
Quite frustrated watching my Netflix at night time while im having consistently flickering.
If anyone is on the same page as me with Big Sur and found the solution please let us all know!
– MacBook Pro 2015 Retina
Max says
So just read a thread on Reddit saying that its related to Safari + Netflix (full screen). And when testing with no subtitles, it still happens.
That said, I tried Chrome with and without subtitles…..no problem.
So not sure if there is a setting to deactivate/activate for safari to solve this problem, but I assume its a software problem with Safari, not my MacBook Pro.
Therefore, I’ll have to watch Netflix on Google Chrome till a solution is shared.
– Max
Eefaa says
On Big Sur the fullscreen Netflix is now flickering every couple of seconds… Impossible to watch. 13″ Retina MBP 2015 here too. None of the tips here helped / options not available in Big Sur.
I hate to have Chrome installed on my computer!
haha says
Im facing same issue with my MacBook Pro 2015
micka025 says
Wow i finally found a working tricks ! Thx a lot !
ruby says
hello, I am wondering if you can do one for Chromebooks because recently my Chromebook has been glitching/flicking on my Netflix and I couldn’t figure out why, it will be greatly appreciated if you can make a tutorial on how to fix flicking Netflix on Chromebook
Helen says
I’ve got the same problem. Netflix works but HBO flickers every 4th second. I’ve tried all the trix above. I’m using Big Sur 11.1. Any ideas?
Jay says
Hello, i’m on Big Sur 11.1 using Safari to watch Netflix. I tried everything. And I finally found the solution, deactivate the dark mode. It worked for me, no more flashes.
Natasha says
thank you this worked at first i tried the cursor hack it worked for me but after a little while the problem came back.
Denis says
Hello, nothing works for me. I have a MacBook pro 2019 15”, do some of you have same problem ?
Lily Picherack says
Yes 🙁 tried turning off auto adjust brightness, cursor shaking nothing works. Guess I’ll be watching in small screen for now.
Dima says
If nothing helps turn off an automatic brightness in Display preferences
Lawrence says
Hey thanks for this, my MacBook Pro 2021 has been doing this occasionally since I bought it and I thought it was faulty, as it would only happen occasionally.
I thought it was to do with the display or issues with the flux app I have installed for late night watching, but this sorted the problem out straight away.
On the new OS it’s ‘system preferences’ then ‘battery’ to uncheck the ‘Automatic graphics’ box.
Alex says
Thanks for the help mate, turning off “pointer mouse shake” thing worked. Finally, can watch in peace now.
kalmisoft says
A very similar anomaly annoyed the heck out of me with Chrome, stuttering when subtitle lines appear/disappear. I ended up looking into it, and ended up making a little Chrome extension to fix it:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/anti-flickeringflashing-f/pblnpkbgcfbgdkgmokkfpnepljecbdal/
It just injects a little bit of css to keep the subtitle layer “active” even when no one is speaking.
It works for me on my mid-2015 macbook pro. It fixes occasional white flashes and the constant stuttering for me when subtitle lines come or go. Hope it works for you too.
The same css fix works for safari too (I checked with devtools), but I haven’t packaged it for Safari yet.
Salman says
it works after turning of “shake mouse pointer to locate”