Netflix is cracking down on everyone who shares their password

Netflix is pressing pause on password sharing – with subscribers who want to continue splitting the cost with friends and family by sharing their login details now forced to pay an extra £4.99 per person!

It’s a long way away from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings saying that customers who share their Netflix account information were “a positive thing” during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas back in 2016. At the time, Hastings said that it makes sense for customers to share their username and password with their children – even if they don’t live at home.

“As kids move on in their life, they like to have control of their life, and as they have an income, we see them separately subscribe. It really hasn’t been a problem,” Hastings said.

Well, times have really changed.

It seems that Netflix was a little disappointed with the rate of people who choose to ditch their parents’ subscription – or friends’, roommates’, or ex-partners’ account – and switch to their own subscription, which starts from £4.99 per month for the most affordable advert-supported tier and rises to £15.99 per month for access to 4K Ultra HD picture quality and other perks.

Netflix is issuing emails to millions of subscribers in the UK, requesting them to set a “home address” for their account. This should be the primary residence for the account-holder, likely the same as their billing address.

This allows Netflix to charge an extra £4.99 for every person who logs into the account from outside of that “home address”. That extra fee is per month too, so for all account holders who’ve dished their logins out in the past, it can quickly creep up. 

Netflix has a string of hit shows that remain exclusive to the platform, so those who want to binge-watch the latest episodes of Stranger Things, The Witcher, Bridgerton, The Watcher, The Crown, You, Squid Game, and Lupin to name a few, will need to stay subscribed to the streamer. However, the Netflix catalogue is also bolstered by a number of syndicated shows, like The IT Crowd, The Office, and Friends, which could switch to another platform in the future.

With everything getting more expensive, the crackdown on password sharing couldn’t have come at a worse time.

To make matters worse for Netflix, rival streaming platforms have made it very clear that there’s no issue with sharing your account details with a few friends or family members so you can all watch together.

For example, Prime Video offers a 30-day free trial to binge-watch its best exclusive series at no cost.

Don’t want to pay after the trial? Don’t worry; you can leave for free without paying a penny!

If you do decide to stick around, subscriptions for the video streamer start from £5.99. It’s also included in the £8.99 per month (or £95 per year) Amazon Prime membership, which also bundles next-day delivery of thousands of items from Amazon, music and podcast streaming from Amazon Music Unlimited, unlimited free photo backup and more.

Of course, as the name suggests, all Prime Video subscribers, on the £8.99 plan, will get access to Amazon’s range of sales throughout the year, including the imminent Prime Day sale. The retailer is set to slash its prices across its site this July 11 and 12, and users with a Prime Video account will get front-row access to the deals.

If you do decide to make the official switch over to Prime Video, Amazon lets you watch across four households under the same single subscription. This is thanks to its “household sharing” tool, where users can add people to their accounts – and no you don’t have to live at the same address!

Unlike Netflix, Amazon doesn’t charge extra for picture quality either, with all accounts able to stream in up to 4K Ultra HD quality if their broadband speed can handle it.

Likewise, Disney+ allows subscribers to watch across four households with a single subscription.

It currently doesn’t offer multiple subscription tiers, with picture quality reserved for those who pay the highest monthly cost. Instead, everyone can stream content in up to 4K Ultra HD from Marvel Studios, National Geographic, the Star Wars universe, 20th Century Fox, Pixar, as well as the classic Walt Disney animations that the brand is best known for.

Unfortunately, the Disney Plus free trial has been ditched, so you’ll need to turn to Amazon if you want to watch for free after you ditch your Netflix subscription.

Sky lets its subscribers add as many as six devices under their own account, so you can hand out details to friends and family on the Sky Go app so they can watch on compatible devices, including iPhone, iPad, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Apple TV, Android phones and tablets. It’s one of the best Sky deals available from the satellite telly firm.

The same goes for Apple TV Plus, thanks its family-sharing feature, which ties into your existing iCloud Family.

Disney Plus subscribers can create up to six profiles under one account, but it is limited to streaming on four devices at one time. Depending on the size of your family you may have to fight for a timeslot here, but it is doable.

Lastly, Paramount Plus is another flexible streaming site, that allows account holders to add another two people under the same membership, and watch on three devices at any one time.