Netflix Not Working on Vizio Smart TV: 11 Simple Fixes

Your binging session has been interrupted, so let’s get this resolved quickly. In this article, we’ll look at the easiest fixes for when Netflix is not working on Vizio smart TVs.

1. Make Sure Your Vizio TV Is Compatible With Netflix

Several older Vizio TVs lost compatibility with Netflix’s app in the late 2010s. Most of these models have older processors that can no longer handle the Netflix app. These models will likely never regain their Netflix compatibility.

The table below shows all the Vizio models that have known incompatibilities with Netflix. However, that list will likely grow as Netflix continues to update its app.

Vizio TV models that don’t work with Netflix app
E320i-A2	E321i-A2	E322AR
E390i-A1	E3D320VX	E3D420VS
E3D470VX	E401i-A2	E420i-A1
E421VT	E422AR	E422VA
E422VL	E422VL	E423VL
E472VL	E500i-A1	E502AR
E551i-A2	E551VA	E552VL
E650i-A2	M220NV	M221NV
M261VP	M320KD	M320SR
M320SV	M370SR	M370SV
M3D420SR	M3D421SR	M3D460SR
M3D470KD	M3D470KDE	M3D550KD
M3D550KDE	M3D550SR	M3D650SV
M420KD	M420SR	M420SV
M421VT	M470KD	M470NV
M470SV	M470VSE	M472VL
M550DK	M550NV	M550SV
M550VSE	M650VSE	SV422XVT
SV472XVT	VBR121	VBR122
VBR133	VBR135	VBR140
VBR370	VF552XVT	XVT323SV
XVT373SV	XVT3D424SV	XVT3D474SV
XVT3D554XV	XVT3D650SV	XVT423SV
XVT473SV	XVT553SV

If your TV is on this list or is more than a few years old, your only real options are to replace the TV or add a streaming stick. Obviously, a streaming stick is a cheaper and easier option.

You can play Netflix on any TV (smart or otherwise) by adding a Fire TV Stick or a Roku streaming stick. Both are easy to use and have all of the major streaming apps. Unless you already have a preference, I’d go with Fire TV largely for the Fire Stick Alexa voice controls.

2. Power Cycle Your Vizio TV

Often, app problems are caused by random TV software glitches. As with most software problems, the best solution is to turn it off and back on again.

However, pressing the power button won’t actually reboot your TV. Instead of turning off, your TV enters standby mode when you press the off button. This allows the TV to turn on faster, but it can allow software bugs to pile up over time.

There is a way to force your Vizio TV to reboot fully. Here’s how:

1. Unplug your TV from the wall.
2. Wait two minutes.
3. Plug your TV back in and turn it on.

3. Check Your Internet Speed

Slow internet can often cause buffering issues with Netflix and other streaming apps. In extreme cases, your internet may be too slow or unreliable to even connect to the Netflix servers.

You can do an internet speed test on your computer or phone. Make sure the device you are using is on the same network as your TV. For your phone, that also means turning off mobile data and connecting only to Wi-Fi.

You’re going to need speeds of at least 3–4 Mbps for standard streaming and 5–8 Mbps for HD. If your speeds are slower than that, you’ll need to:

• Check for sources of interferences (e.g., too many walls between your router and your TV).
• Restart your router (see the next section).
• Contact your internet provider to see whether there are network problems or whether you need an upgrade.

4. Restart Your Router

Often, the problem is with your local Wi-Fi network rather than your TV or the Netflix app.

Rather than try to debug every potential network problem, it’s easier to just restart your entire network to see if that sorts everything out. You’ll generally want to do this once a month or so anyway to keep your network functioning at its best.

Before proceeding, make sure that nobody in your home is actively using the internet. This process will shut down all network and internet connections for roughly five minutes during the reboot.

Okay, let’s get started.

1. Unplug the power cable from your router and modem.
2. Wait 30 seconds.
3. Plug the power cables back in.
4. Wait a few minutes for the modem and router to boot up.

Once your TV connects to the network again, try to run the Netflix app. If your network speeds were slow when you tested them, this is also a good time to run another test. Restarting your router will often boost your speeds for a short while, but it won’t fix every underlying problem.

5. Update Your Netflix App

Netflix frequently releases updates that fix TV compatibility issues or address bugs in their app. You won’t have to struggle with those older bugs if you have the latest version of the app installed on your smart TV.

This fix is only pertinent to Vizio TVs running the older Vizio Internet Apps (VIA) and VIA Plus platforms. All Vizio TVs released since 2018 use the SmartCast platform that handles app updates for you.

1. Press the V button (image below) on your remote control or the home button if there is no V button.

2. Scroll to Netflix in the app grid under My Apps.
3. Press and hold the OK button on the remote until a menu appears in the bottom corner of the screen.
4. Press the OK button again to delete the app.
5. Click Delete to confirm deleting the Netflix app.
6. Go to the All Apps tab.
7. Scroll through until you get to the Netflix app.
8. Press and hold the OK button on your remote until a confirmation message appears.

Now try the Netflix app again. You’ll need to enter your Netflix log-in information again.

6. Update Your Vizio TV Firmware

Just like app updates, firmware updates will often fix your TV app problems for you.

Older Vizio TVs could only be updated automatically. You just need to leave your TV connected to the internet, and it will take care of the rest.

Newer Vizio Smartcast TVs still update automatically, but they also have an option to manually force a firmware update. This shouldn’t be necessary, but it is nice to have in case the automatic update fails without telling you.

1. Press the V button or the home button on your remote.
2. Select System from the menu.
3. Press Check for Updates.
4. Wait for your TV to check for updates.
5. Confirm the update installation if one is available.

Once the firmware is updated, try the Netflix app again.

7. Clear Your Netflix App Cache

While newer Vizio TVs may not let you upgrade or delete apps, they do have an option for clearing an app’s cache. This is the equivalent of clearing the cookies in your internet browser, and often it will solve random glitches in the app.

1. Press the V button or the home button on your remote.
2. Select System from the menu.
3. Go to Apps.
4. Click System Apps.
5. Select the Netflix app.
6. Click Clear Cache.
7. Press OK.

8. Turn Off Your VPN

Those of you that don’t use a virtual private network (VPN) can ignore this step. If you don’t know what a VPN is, you’re probably not using one.

Most streaming services try to block VPN traffic. If you’re running a VPN that Netflix has managed to block, you likely won’t have access to your streaming content. The easiest way to test this is to turn off the VPN and try the connection again.

9. Try Netflix on Another Device

We’ve covered nearly everything we can try on your TV itself. Before resorting to our most drastic option, let’s see how widespread the problem is. Try opening Netflix on your computer or any other device on your network.

If Netflix works on your other devices but not your TV, it’s time to contact Vizio support.

But if Netflix isn’t working on any of your devices, the problem may be with your Netflix account or with Netflix’s servers.

10. Check Netflix Server Status

You can use Downdetector to check whether other users in your area are having problems with Netflix. Most of the time, Netflix outages are local and quickly fixed. You can also check the “Is Netflix Down?” page in the Netflix help center.

If you can’t find anything on Downdetector, it’s probably time to contact Netflix support for more info. They’ll have more up-to-date information than I can provide in this article.

11. Factory Reset Your TV

Since we’ve tried all of the easy fixes, it’s time to try one last option: a factory reset. This will erase all of your TV settings, including those for your Netflix app. By erasing all of the settings and app data, though, it might fix your streaming app problems.

1. Press the V button or the home button on your remote.
2. Select System from the menu.
3. Go to Reset & Admin.
4. Click Reset TV to Factory Defaults.
5. Enter the parental code password. This will be 0000 if you never set it elsewhere.
6. Press Reset.
7. Wait a few minutes for the TV to fully reset and come back on.

Now, try running the Netflix app one more time. This should have fixed nearly any software or firmware issue that could have been preventing Netflix from running on your Vizio TV.

What’s Next?

There are a lot of advantages to a non-Android smart TV like those made by Vizio. They are easy to use and have few technical issues (although sometimes Vizio TVs won’t turn on.)

But when you have problems with apps, there’s often not much you can do. There are several ways to restart apps on Samsung TVs, but Vizio TVs don’t have as fine-grained control. When Netflix or Hulu won’t work on Vizio TVs, they basically expect that you’ll just call their support line.