Netflix has been brandishing the threat of the end of account sharing for several months. But what will really happen? Will France be affected? When ?
Netflix has been threatening the end of account sharing for its subscribers for several months. The objective for the streaming platform is to relaunch its growth on the American market in particular, the Wall Street Journal estimating that more than 100 million people use the password of relatives. Since then, several measures have been put forward, but none has yet seen the light of day on French soil, causing confusion among subscribers.
In an effort to be clear, Netflix confirmed on Wednesday February 8 that “a Netflix account is intended for a single household”. New control functionalities are thus implemented in New Zealand, Canada, Portugal and Spain, in particular the payment of a supplement to share the account with two additional people. For the moment, nothing has been announced for France, but the streaming platform announces that these “features” will be deployed “more widely in the months to come”.
On January 31, an update to the FAQ for certain Latin American countries in particular also specified other measures: if devices that are not associated with the “main address” of the account attempt to connect to it , they could be blocked. The platform also specifies that members associated with the account must connect to the home Wi-Fi network and watch content every 31 days in order to continue using the account.
The end of account sharing in France, when?
But do these measures concern France? On February 1, 2023, Netflix confirmed with Linternaute that to date, French subscribers were not yet affected by this measure and that no announcement on account sharing in France could be made to date. This does not mean that the end of account sharing will never apply to French subscribers: Netflix could not confirm to us that these measures would never affect France, nor that the terms of account sharing would be the same. than those enacted above, where applicable. It is therefore not impossible that the measures mentioned above will be applied in France soon.
What will change the end of account sharing on Netflix
For now, the end of account sharing is not relevant for French Netflix subscribers. But the contours of this measure were shared in Netflix’s FAQ for other countries on January 31. We detail below what will change in certain countries in terms of account sharing at the end of the first quarter of 2023:
- You must be part of the same household to connect to Netflix. Only people who live with the person who owns the account, and therefore share the primary address, can use that person’s Netflix account.
- Checks will be put in place. Netflix has planned to verify that it is the members of the household who are using the Netflix account. How ? By connecting to the home Wi-Fi network and watching content from the platform there at least every 31 days.
- Planned blockages. Netflix may block devices that will log into your account without being associated with the primary address. For this, the platform will geolocate the connections by checking the IP address. However, no financial penalty is provided for in the event of “fraud”.
- How to connect to your own account when you are not at home? If you are traveling or on the go but want to continue enjoying the Netflix catalog through the account you are paying for, you can obtain a temporary code from Netflix. However, this code will only be valid for 7 consecutive days.
- Additional paying profiles : it is possible to pay, for a maximum of two people who do not live in the household linked to the main account, a supplement. The price is 8 dollars in Canada and New Zealand, 6 euros for Spain and 4 euros for Portugal.
How does account sharing work on Netflix in France?
The new terms for ending account sharing on Netflix do not yet concern France, for the moment at least. But how does account sharing currently work for subscribers in France? The country’s FAQ (frequently asked questions) specifies that people who don’t live in your household must use their own account to watch Netflix. However, the rules related to account sharing remain much more flexible. The verification system is not as strict as what applies in other countries: in the case of the connection to the Netflix account outside the main household, it is asked to verify the device which tries to connect in entering a code sent to the main account holder within 15 minutes. This verification can be done periodically. Besides, the primary account holder does not need to verify their device to watch Netflix even when traveling.