Amazon is planning on giving its Prime Video app a major makeover, which could see the introduction of features already offered by rival Netflix such as personalised recommendations and user profiles.

According to entertainment website The Wrap, Jen Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said a new user interface for the Prime Video app was in the works, although her comments were light in detail on what exactly the update will offer and when it will be available to consumers.

Speaking during the Television Critics Association press tour, she did however reveal that the company’s developers had given her access to a prototype on a mobile phone, which is “in the middle of being developed and coming soon”.

In her rather sparse comments, Salke stated that the prototype interface was “much more intuitive”.

New features?
In a separate report by TechCrunch, the technology publication speculated on what Amazon’s updated user interface may include.

Unlike competitors Netflix and Hulu, Amazon’s video app does not provide suggestions or personalised recommendations on other, similar content a user might be interested in, and instead focuses on grouping content together that is included with the Prime service.

Of course, on the Prime app, only certain content is included within the subscription, while other programmes and films are available at a one-off charge.

Other groupings include “recently added” content and “exclusive” TV or movies made by Amazon.

Another feature that Netflix has, that Amazon doesn’t, is the option of separate  user profiles.

Amazon’s Prime Video currently doesn’t give household members their own profile where each individual person using a single subscription can pick up on content that they have half-watched, for example, or gain access to their own sets of watch-lists.