Netflix Not Working on LG TV? (2023 Guide + Real Photos!)

When I shelled out a considerable amount for my LG OLED TV, one of the main reasons was to watch Netflix in my free time.

Naturally, when Netflix suddenly stopped working one day, I was pretty frustrated. With the help of a bit of existing technical knowhow, I could quickly get it working again.

In this article, I’ll try to cover ALL possible reasons why Netflix might not be working on your LG TV, as well as provide the exact (and easiest) solution for each situation.

The photos you’ll see below are from my recently-purchased LG OLED TV, but the UI should be pretty similar in any LG TV made in the last few years. That’s because they all run on LG’s proprietary webOS.

I’ve ordered the steps in the order of likelihood of occurrence (i.e. the first step is more likely to fix it than the second and so on…)

Restart Your TV

This might seem obvious, but to rule out any technical issues (such as with built-up cache), it’s essential to give your LG TV a fresh start.

No, pressing the power button on your TV remote won’t do in this case. You need to turn off the actual power to your TV (either by turning off the switch if there’s one, or unplugging the TV from the socket / power source). Keep it turned off for a full minute before restoring power and turning it on again.

As long as there’s no temporary issue with Netflix itself (such as a temporary outage), this alone should fix the issue in 80% of cases.

Didn’t fix the problem for you? Don’t worry, and keep reading…

Update the Netflix App

Head over to the LG content store (the app store on your webOS-powered LG smart TV). Then find the Netflix app and see if there’s any update available. If there is, perform the update and try to see if it works now.

Often there’s a glitch with a specific version of the Netflix app, which is easily resolved with an update.

If there’s no update available (i.e. you’re already running the latest version of the Netflix app), you can still try to uninstall and then re-install the app.

No luck yet? Move on to the next step…

Check If Netflix Itself is Down

The easiest way to verify this is to try opening Netflix on another device (such as your smartphone) while using the same WiFi. If it’s not working on your phone either, there might be an issue with Netflix itself (such as their servers being temporarily down).

You can check the status of their servers on sites like DownDetector. If it shows something is up with Netflix in your region, there might be a temporary issue in Netflix’s servers that are the closest to you, causing a Netflix outage in your region.

Netflix outages usually don’t happen too often, and even when they do, they get fixed pretty quickly. Since it’s beyond your control, all you can do is wait it out.

Check If Your WiFi is Working

There are two things to check here. One, check if your LG TV is actually connected to your WiFi. In most LG TVs, you’ll get notified about this lack of connection within the user interface when you try to open Netflix.

Another surefire way to check this is to head over to your TV’s network settings which should look something like this:

Be sure that it’s actually connected to your home WiFi network (and didn’t get accidentally disconnected somehow).

If you can’t even see your WiFi in the list of available WiFi routers to connect, check if it didn’t get turned off. If the router is on but you still can’t find it on your LG TV, try restarting the router. Just unplug it, leave it off for 20-30 seconds, then turn it back on.

Note: some clueless people would recommend you to reset your WiFi router for a rather simple issue like Netflix not working. Do NOT do that. You’re meant to reset your router only for serious connectivity issues like other devices (like your smartphone or PC) also being unable to find or connect to your WiFi router.

In my experience, some LG smart TVs running on older webOS versions have issues detecting 5 GHz WiFi routers. So, if your router supports dual-band mode, make sure the 2.4 GHz channel is also activated for it to get detected by your TV.

WiFi is Connected But Netflix is Still Not Working

In this case, there might be a temporary issue with your Internet Service Provider (ISP). There are two things to check here, connection status and connection speed.

First, connect your smartphone or laptop to the same WiFi. Try opening your usual webpages and see if they’re loading. If there’s an issue loading websites, you know that there’s an issue with your ISP. Give them a call.

If they’re loading, it’d be a good idea to do a quick speed test to rule out temporary network sluggishness. After all, Netflix does need a fast and stable internet connection to function properly.

My preferred way to do it, especially for ruling out Netflix-related issues, is to use Fast.com (you can open it on your browser on both PCs and smartphones). See if you’re getting a decent download speed:

I recommend at least 25 Mbps as the minimum download speed for watching Netflix seamlessly.

Again, if you’re getting significantly lower speeds than you’re supposed to, call you ISP and ask them for an explanation.

Perform a Software Update on Your TV

In some rare cases, a technical glitch between your LG TV’s current OS version and the installed Netflix app can cause problems. A webOS update (the OS LG TVs run on) should fix this.

Go to Settings —> Support —> Software Updates. You’ll see a screen like this:

Click on ‘Check for Updates’ if you don’t already get notified about an available update. If there’s an update available, let your TV download and install the update (should take less than 3-4 minutes).

If your Netflix is still not working and by this point you’ve made sure that nothing else is at fault, you have very few options other than resetting your LG TV.

Reset Your LG TV

Sometimes, there’s no other option than resetting your TV. Sure, this will wipe out all the installed apps and applied settings, but it’s still worth doing if you’ve tried everything thus far and still your Netflix doesn’t seem to be working.

Fortunately, the process is rather simple. Just head over to Settings —> Support —> Reset to initial settings.

You’ll find in other troubleshooting guides that people would tell you about crazy methods like dialing in some codes on your remote. Some might even recommend attaching an external keyboard to reset your TV without a remote. But all of that’s completely unnecessary as long as your TV’s original remote is working fine.

These days, it’s not as hard to factory reset smart TVs as it was 10 years ago, so ignore all the outdated advice and just do it from within your LG TV’s settings menu.

After the software reset is complete, you’ll need to enter your WiFi credentials and install the Netflix app. Hopefully it’ll be working now!

My Final Take

Within just two weeks of enjoying my LG OLED TV (my favorite piece of tech), I found Netflix not working. It was incredibly frustrating!

Fortunately for me, updating the Netflix app fixed the issue and it was a rather quick fix (took me less than 5 minutes). Even if the same fix doesn’t work for you, chances are that any of the other fixes I’ve listed will resolve the problem of Netflix not loading.

The user interface will vary between different types and generations of LG smart TVs, but the settings options should still look pretty similar.

So, even if you’re using an older LG TV, following the steps I’ve outlined above should be able to fix your issue.