My Netflix profile is my sanctuary. Nobody can get in and mess around with my algorithms or my saved shows, but they can get into their own profile and watch whatever they want. Currently, the only people who have a profile on my account other than me are my parents, and they mostly use it just to watch The Great British Bake-Off .
Unfortunately, Netflix might be rolling out new ways to try to make that a paid feature, not a free option on every account.
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One of the best features of Netflix is that you can share it with your friends and family.
Being able to have multiple profiles on one account means that you can share your account with just about anyone and not have what they choose to watch mess up your recommendations or lose your place in your favorite show.
But Netflix is looking the change the rules of this features a little bit.
Netflix has begun testing ways to make it so you can only freely share your account with people who live in your household.
“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans,” wrote the company’s director of product innovation. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared.”
“As a result, accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”
Now, instead of being able to freely share your password with people who live outside your house, you’ll have two options: adding an extra member, which adds a “sub account” for up to two people they don’t live with for a lower price, or transferring an existing account being used outside of your household to a brand new profile.
Currently, this is only being tested in Costa Rica, Chile, and Peru.
“We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world,” the director wrote.
What do you think? Is this a fair way to handle users sharing their passwords, or do you think that Netflix is being unreasonable about their own features? Let us know in the comments!
