Netflix ends password sharing in India; here’s what it means for you

Netflix, one of the world’s largest streaming platforms, has put an end to password-sharing in India. This means users using the same Netflix account from different locations on separate devices will no longer be able to share the account to save money.  

Following the decision, all Netflix users will soon get an email from the company informing them of the same. “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with – your household. You can easily watch Netflix on the go and when you travel – either on your personal devices or a TV at a hotel or holiday home,” the mail reads. 

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While you can still log in with your Netflix account on multiple devices in the same household, friends and family living elsewhere will now be asked to either get a fresh account or pay an additional fee for sharing the same account outside the household. In the US, this fee amounts to $8 (about Rs 660) per extra user, but it remains to be seen what kind of pricing we will see in India. 

How Netflix detects devices within a Netflix-Household

Netflix mentions on its Help Centre page that the company will “use information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether a device signed into your account is part of your ‘Netflix Household’. Netflix also mentions that the service doesn’t collect GPS data to determine the precise physical location of any devices. 

Users can find a detailed step-by-step guide on the Help Centre which will allow users to create and manage their own Netflix-Household.  

Account sharers can still keep their history

Netflix also announced in its email that users who shift to a new account will not need to start fresh, losing all their history and recommendations. Instead, users moving to a new account will be able to transfer their existing profile from the previous account. This ensures all your tailored content stays on the new account as well.  

Why Netflix is putting a stop to password sharing

Netflix saw its first major decrease in user base in 2022 since the company’s streaming service went live in 2007. Netflix decided to try a new business model soon after – deciding to stop password sharing (the ability to share a single account between multiple users) to increase its user base.  

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The change went live in over 100 countries back in May this year, and Netflix users in countries like USA, France, Germany, Australia and Brazil were forced to abandon sharing a single account between three, four or even more users at a time. Instead, users were asked to get fresh accounts, or pay an additional fee to use the same account in different locations, outside the household.  

The move reportedly worked for the streaming service, with the company reporting an addition of 5.9 million new subscribers since the crackdown began. In a recent Q2 2023 earnings call for investors, Netflix announced that putting an end to password sharing in over 100 countries helped the service up its user-base to 238.4 million with only a limited number of cancellations post the new sharing rules. Whether the service sees a similar reaction in India, however, remains to be seen.