We have been talking about the new model for the Netflix user for months. The plan is simple: capture more paying subscribers, whatever. To do this, they must hinder something that they promoted until recently: shared accounts. That era is coming to an end and the company has explained how they will end these practices. Attention, curves are coming.
The new update on the Netflix website, specifically in the question and answer section, addresses the main questions that the company has raised this time. The main thing: the account will be based in your home. Devices outside your home will be blocked.
This is how the platform explains it in its Frequently Asked Questions. In this section it clarifies that “anyone in your household can share the account”. In addition, it determines a requirement to prove that they are part of the household (main location): play something over WiFi at least once every 31 days.
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This way, Netflix will verify that the devices are connected to the same IP address, which already implies certain doubts in case we use dynamic IP. This basically asks that whoever we share an account with has to stop by our house once a month. If during that 31-day period a device has not connected to the main home WiFi, it will be blocked from playing.
In this sense, the figure of “Netflix home“. Exactly how they determine what is the “Netflix home” is not very clear (their page is empty) but it will be the residence of the account holder, with the trusted devices determined by the WiFi network.
Secondly, They do not clarify what happens if we move between two houses… but yes, if we travel a lot: in principle, as account holders or cohabitants, we shouldn’t have a problem. But from time to time we will be asked for verification, especially if the absence is prolonged. A verification that we will also have to do when a device is connected for a long time from outside our home.
What it does seem is that the option of paying extra for sharing accounts is no longer being contemplated, as it was launched throughout 2022 in several countries. These changes will take place this same first quarter of 2023 and from the Questions and answers section, the use of the cheap plan with ads is encouraged as well as any of the other plans.