Amazon Prime Video is one of the longest running streaming services, so it's not surprising that it offers plenty of cool and interesting features—some that began on Prime Video and remain exclusive, others nabbed from competitors.

While Prime Video often picks up slack for its confusing browsing interface, it's actually a powerful streaming service packed full of tools designed to improve your media discovery and streaming experience. So, to help you discover these, we've rounded up the coolest things you can do with Amazon Prime Video.

1. Watch More Shows and Movies With Channels

prime video channels

While Prime Video hosts plenty of enjoyable movies and shows, it also has a lot of trash. That's actually one of the key reasons many don't subscribe to Amazon Prime Video. There is an easy way to expand your selection though, and that's through channels.

These are add-ons that aren't included in your Prime subscription and each channel charges its own monthly rate; some include free trials. To browse them, select Channels from the top menu on Prime Video. Next to the row heading Prime Video Channels, click See more.

The channel selection varies on region, but examples include Hallmark TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, Discovery+, and StarzPlay. While it's expensive and unnecessary to subscribe to them all, you could choose a couple to broaden your Prime Video horizons.

2. Customize Subtitle Appearance

amazon prime video subtitle presets

To enable subtitles when watching something on Amazon Prime Video, click the speech bubble icon in the top-right and select a language. Here, you can select Subtitles Settings, which lets you change the size of the subtitles and select one of four presets.

You'd be forgiven for thinking you can't change these presets. It's not obvious, but you can. To do so, go to Amazon's Your Account page, click Video settings, and switch to the Subtitles tab. Then, select a preset to edit.

Now you can change the font, color, size, edge effect, and opacity. A preview pane above shows you in real-time how this will look. When you're happy with your changes, click Save.

3. Restrict Viewing With Parental Controls

prime video parental controls

If you have children, it's wise to protect them against watching movies and shows outside their age range. Thankfully, Prime Video offers parental controls so that you don't need to live fearing your little one using the remote to watch something unexpected.

Go to Amazon's Your Account page, click Video settings, and switch to the Parental controls tab. Before you can customize the settings, you must set up a four-digit PIN. You'll use this to bypass parental controls when necessary.

Once you've done that, two restrictions types are available:

  • Purchase restrictions: To help prevent accidental charges, you must enter the Prime Video PIN for purchases.
  • Viewing restrictions: Require PIN entry to watch videos where the rating is higher than allowed on the account. You can choose the maximum age range that doesn't require a PIN.

Beneath these settings, you can select which of your linked devices to apply the parental control settings to.

4. Create Separate Profiles

prime video who's watching

Amazon Prime Video lets you have up to six profiles on a single account. Each profile has its own watchlist, recommendations, and preferences. It's great for when you share a household with others who watch Prime Video.

To add profiles, select your profile picture and choose Manage profiles. From here, select Add new. If desired, you can make a child-specific Prime Video profile, which only shows age-appropriate content. Don't forget to select a profile picture; you can't upload your own, but there is a wide selection.

5. View Contextual Information About What You're Watching

amazon prime video x-ray

"Where do I know that actor from?" If that's a question you've ever asked when watching something, then you'll love Prime Video's X-Ray feature. Other services like Netflix and Hulu don't offer anything like this.

Whenever you pause a show or movie, X-Ray overlays the screen to show you which characters are in that scene, what music is playing, or even some fun behind-the-scenes facts. You can also expand X-Ray to see a list of all the scenes and immediately jump to the one you want.

The data comes from IMDb, which Amazon acquired way back in 1998. You'll find X-Ray is especially powerful on modern or Amazon-produced content.

6. Watch TV and Movies Curated by Amazon

rows of content on prime video

Prime Video comes with a recommendation engine based on your viewing habits—you'll see the suggested movie and TV shows in the "we think you'll like rows". While you can get good recommendations here, they're not always spot on—or are too obvious, like suggesting every film in a franchise you watched one of.

When browsing the Prime Video library, scroll past the personalized lists and look for the regular recommendation lists. These are the best of the best TV shows and movies offered on Prime Video, and these are where you'll get the most value out of your subscription.

7. Get Prime Video Without Prime

prime video sign up screen

This last tip is for those who don't have Prime Video yet: you don't need to get the full Prime membership to watch Prime Video.

If you're in education, there are plenty of Amazon Prime perks for students. This includes the ability to sign up for a free six-month Prime Student trial, which includes access to Prime Video.

Or, you can opt for a Prime Video-only subscription plan that costs $8.99/month (compared to full Prime, which is $14.99/month or $139/year). You can cancel at any time. If you only plan to stream for a few months, then the month-to-month option could work for you.

In fact, you don't even need to subscribe at all. Amazon Prime Video also sells movies and shows for rental and ownership, so you could pay for your entertainment as needed, rather than opting for a monthly subscription.

Uncover All the Secrets of Amazon Prime Video

While you can happily stream on Prime Video without exploring any of these features, don't be afraid to poke around to discover all of its secrets. You'll be pleasantly surprised at just how much it offers, and how much better your streaming experience can be.