Netflix no longer allows account sharing with people who live outside the same address. It was until now a very common practice, groups of friends or family members who had a plan for several devices and paid together the fee thus saving some money, however, this practice can no longer be carried out.
Netflix wants each account to be used in only one home
This was announced by the company, which has already implemented the rule in Spain, as well as in other countries such as Portugal, New Zealand and Canada, after testing the new system in some Latin American countries in recent months.
From now on, Netflix will prevent users living in different households from sharing Netflix and the annual subscription fee. The company has two basic plans (basic and basic with ads, at €7.99 and €5.49 respectively) in which Netflix can only be used in one home or account.
However, in the standard and premium plans, Netflix will now give the possibility of adding “sub-accounts” for other people, up to a maximum of two, with whom you do not share an address. However, there will be an additional cost of €5.99 per extra person per month.
How the Netflix pricing plans look like
Basic with ads: 5,49 € per month.
Basic: 7,99 € per month.
Standard: 12,99 € per month (add an extra subscriber for 5,99 € per month).
Premium: 17,99 € per month (add an extra subscriber for 5,99 € per month).
How Netflix will monitor the connection
Netflix has indicated that it is making this change to allow users to have “greater control over who can access their account,” although the reality is that it wants to prevent users from being able to share expenses by logging in.
To control this, users will need to establish what their primary location is through connecting the device or app to an IP address. Thus, it is established which is the main address from which the account will connect (and allows Netflix to know what it is).
When the account owner goes on a trip, for example, they will still be able to connect to Netflix from their devices in other locations or, for example, on a hotel TV.
What Netflix will require is that they open the app on their mobiles while connected to their home wifi at least once a month. Thus, it will “confirm” that that is their first residence, and then they will be able to connect in other locations wherever they are.
With this measure, Netflix intends for each account to be employed in only one household. This is something that users themselves already signed up for when we signed up for the service, but so far the company had been very lax in this regard. It had even published some messages on Twitter encouraging the sharing of the account and password.
However, the decline recorded in the number of subscribers in recent months and the current economic situation has led the company to take action to reverse this situation. In fact, it has now also enabled a system to migrate your account and move your profile to your own paid account, which will allow you to keep your personalized recommendations, viewing history, and so on.
