The End of Netflix Password Sharing Is Here, and It’s Going to Cost You
Netflix has started alerting its US subscribers that their password-sharing days are now over. This week, the company sent an email warning “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with — your household.” You can see the email here.
If you’re currently sharing your password with someone outside your household, you can now transfer their profile to them so that they can pay for their own membership without having to start a new profile. You can also opt to keep additional viewers on your account for an extra monthly fee of $7.99 per person.
Why is Netflix establishing a password-sharing ban?
With an estimated 2.1 million people currently sharing passwords, the company reports that this practice is affecting its ability to invest in new content. Netflix has already ended password-sharing in New Zealand, Canada, Portugal, and Spain with mixed results.
In Canada, after a wave of initial cancellations, many subscribers eventually opted to add “extra member” accounts. Recently, Netflix reported that the number of paying subscribers in Canada is higher than before, and they’re hoping for a similar outcome in the US.
But the password-sharing ban is just one of the many unpopular decisions that Netflix has recently made to bolster its bottom line. This could be the last straw for many subscribers who are already unhappy with recent price increases, disappointing content, and a challenging user experience.
In Spain, Netflix lost more than a million users after cracking down on password sharing in February, and a similar wave of cancellations could occur in the US.
How does Netflix know if you’re password sharing?
When the account owner signs into their Netflix account, they will be asked to set their primary location. Netflix will then use device IDs, IP addresses, and account activity to determine who shares a household. This isn’t always easy to determine, as evidenced by issues in other countries where the password-sharing ban has already taken effect.
Now, US subscribers are concerned about situations that may be misidentified as password sharing, like children who split time between parents living separately, families with children in college, long-distance couples, etc.
See who’s using your Netflix account, and prepare to let them go or pay $8/month for each one. Here’s how:
- Log into your account.
- Tap on your profile icon in the upper right-hand corner.
- Tap on Account.
- Scroll down to Security and Privacy and choose Manage Access and Devices.
- There, you can see the most recent devices active on your account.
We’d love to know what you plan to do if your Netflix account is affected by the new restrictions on password sharing. Will you change your password and drop your extra viewers from your account, add them for $7.99 per month, or cancel your Netflix subscription altogether? 🤔
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I am worried about my kids not being able to use my account while they are with their dad. I won’t pay for another account however.
Hey Meg! You might reach out to Netflix customer service at 1-844-505-2993, or start an online chat with them to determine if your kiddos would still be able to use Netflix when out of the house. Hoping this might be helpful! ❤️
I literally only pay for Netflix so my mother in law and grandparents can use it. Sad to say but when Netflix institutes this, I’ll have to cancel as they live in different states. Oh well, it’s not like there aren’t a million other choices – I understand business but this will ultimately hurt their bottom line.
I’m military. Our mobile plan includes netflix. We are in two different locations. So now we will be billed for 2 different accts.
Are you sure? I would check into this. If it’s through your mobile plan? Is it the free Netflix with TMobile?
It is through my Mobile plan and they give me a credit of $10 every month for my Netflix and I pay the difference. I think it’s four dollars.
I just had someone hack into my netflix account and had to call netflix and they were unaware until I called and presented the problem. I was only aware because it logged me out of all my devices completely and had changed my password and when I tried to log in, sent me emails in a different language. So I feel like this presents a problem if hackers/people stealing your account do so without Netflix being aware…..So am I going to pay for them to hijack my account? I may just drop them all together because the content has been horrible and the price just keeps going up. I have found lots of free streaming, and less expensive options.
I think this will hurt Netflix’s bottom line. I see cancelled accounts in their future. I have never had it or used it so I may be wrong. Never had Hulu either. Not a movie buff.
Will go back to torrenting….
I will probably leave because I travel sometimes and i like to watch Netflix and if I can’t do that, then i will cancel. I am not watching something on my phone or laptop – there are other networks i can utilize. This is when you see how Greed can ruin a company.
I would contact them. I don’t see them not letting people use their own accounts when they travel. That sounds ridiculous and sometimes people watch Netflix on their hour lunch break at work.
I think if you are traveling/out of your home, you will just have to use a two-step verification process to access it. Supposedly, that will be good for 30 days. You will have to go home and use it or sign in to it at home again from that device within/or after that 30 days in order to restart the 30 days again. (That’s where the college children thing won’t work because they probably are not home every 30 days.) But that would work for account holders and their children who are traveling or going from house to house or visiting relatives.
Technically I have Netflix account but my daughter pays for it. I pay for the other streaming services and we share. But, I rarely watch Netflix and have others I prefer more so when it just becomes her account, I won’t get one. I’d love it if she just canceled the service!
I use my brother’s account, so I guess no more Netflix for me 😅
Our account is for four people since we have two kids. They don’t live at home anymore, but we still have them on our account as it is cheaper in the long run. (Plus they give us access to their Disney, etc.) The reason we did that in the first place is that when they were both watching with the 2 person account, then we couldn’t as there is a limit depending on what type of account you have. So, I do feel if you are paying for a certain number of people to watch Netflix, then that many should be able to watch. If we have any problems, my children can get their own accounts as they can afford it; we’ll definitely keep Netflix as they do have great shows and series that we enjoy.
We have 2 addresses during the year in different states. If “penalized,” we will cancel.
We Literally pay for a number of streams. I don’t see how it’s any of there dang business where those streams occur. If I buy a bag of apples, can I only eat those apples in my house? No I can eat them where I dang well please. This is the problem with streaming over owning your media. But everyone stopped buying movies and shows and music, and now we are stuck with a system that allows the fat cats to treat us however they like.
I love the apples analogy!! And so true, I pay for my kids to have their own profiles so why is this different.
I can’t find out how it’ll work if I go on vacation or want to use it at my second home?
Hey there, Shopper123! You might try reaching out to Netflix customer service at 1-844-505-2993 or through their online chat feature to see if they can clarify how this will work for you when traveling or when you’re at another location. Hoping this helps! 💕
My brother and I share his Netflix but I won’t get my own account. As previously stated I don’t love that all of their new content, though popular, has tended to be in the TV-14 and above, which I just won’t watch. I’ve been surprised but Peacock is my streaming choice. Access to hallmark channel content. We loved storybots super songs but you can find them on the internet. My kids also like pokemon: we may try to see what the library has. But beyond that, if we ever decide to do Netflix again, we’d stream for a couple of months a year to binge watch some shows that have been recommended, but there’s nothing great content wise that has me coming back. And if Disney were to do the same thing I’d leave too. We love Bluey but besides that, the shows aren’t educational at all and we’d have to get used to using our DVD player again. We stream out of convenience but own most Disney movies we like (generally for long car rides) and could borrow others from the library. We get that these services put out new expensive content, unfortunately most of it doesn’t appeal to me.
What’s Netflix going to do about people in other countries stealing your service?
There is so much better streaming service for better prices! And you can watch anywhere and share!
I contacted customer service at Netflix yesterday about my daughter who is in college and uses my account. She is not independent financially as of yet as she is in college and I support her but now she can’t use my Netflix that I pay for. I am very displeased and I am seriously considering cancelling my Netflix I have for 15+ years… way back when you put a movie on a queue and they sent it to you via snail mail.
I get and understand why this is necessary but it should not affect kids away at school.
Thanks for commenting, Melissa. ❤️ Great that you reached out to customer service to give them your feedback on these changes. We’ll keep an eye out for any further updates that may pop up on this. 👀💕
My daughter is also in college (lives in the dorms during the school year and is at home during the summer/winter break). If she is kicked off of our account I will be very irritated!
We got rid of Netflix with the last price increase over a year ago. I really can’t say that we miss it. At first the kids were disappointed, but now they don’t ask about getting it back at all.
I got rid of Netflix a couple of months ago and have had no regrets! It was not worth the 17.99 a month! I was able to get an entire year of comercial free Peacock for $100!! Pair that with Discovery Plus and Disney Plus and we are all good!
Why can’t I see the comments here?
Hey there, Dana! Are you using the app on a mobile device by chance? You might try switching over to a desktop view to see if that does the trick. We are working on an app update that should fix any issues with displaying comments. Hoping this is helpful! 🤞 💗
Oh, an app update! Can it please include a way to open links outside of the hip2save app again 🙏 Every time I click thru for a deal, it only ever opens here.. so frustrating 😫
So sorry for the troubles, JJ! Thank you for the request! I will pass this along to the team! 🙌 🥰
I 2nd & 3rd this!! I made the mistake of just updating the other day & regret it soooo much!!
My husband and I both travel for work so we’re constantly logging in from hotels in different locations. (Although we do each have one place we tend to stay when away for work.). I also use our account at my office and we both use it at home. This is really annoying, there’s only our family of three using our account but we happen to be in several locations in the course of our normal lives.
I think if you are traveling/out of your home, you will just have to use a two-step verification process to access it. Supposedly, that will be good for 30 days. You will have to go home and use it or sign in to it at home again from that device within/or after that 30 days in order to restart the 30 days again. (That’s where the college children thing won’t work because they probably are not home every 30 days.) But that would work for account holders and their children who are traveling or going from house to house or visiting relatives.
Honestly our family plans to cancel Netflix. There is no longer any good original content, just filler, horrible B movies and other low quality content. They had their 15 minutes of fame with Stranger Things, but they haven’t been able to produce quality content since.
I feel like I’ve seen this movie before and it ended with Netflix backpedaling. You think they would have waited a bit so it wasn’t so fresh on everyone’s minds 😂
So, what are the details of how they will monitor this? They say your household can still use this at home and on the go. So, if I log in away from home, how will they know the situation? T
I also called. I was concerned because we have a second home and travel for work. I was told that if we were going to be somewhere for more than a month we would need multiple accounts and would need to change our “primary location” each time we change locales. They also did not seem to like that our primary device is a TV at both residences.
Thanks so much for commenting, Alisa! We sure appreciate you taking the time to share the information you received from customer service on how the primary location will work. 💖
Thank you for posting about this!
Netflix can and will do whatever they want, but so will their customers, ha. they seriously underestimate our ability to cancel and be fine without. I share Netflix with my mom but I cancelled due to the greeeeeed! They’re greedy towards their subscribers AND their writers, yikes 😬
This is rough for college students. I’m not paying for an additional account. It’s ridiculous as it is. They’ll lose us as a customer is it’s an issue
We cancelled Netflix about 2 weeks ago and don’t miss it at all. We have plenty of other streaming options we already subscribe to at a lower cost, and better programming – that was enough for us to cancel. Now with a crackdown on sharing…i.e. we won’t be able to utilize it at our vacation home unless we have an additional account, no thanks!