Three years after Netflix began more aggressively policing the sharing of streaming accounts, the company is taking another step that could help ensure passwords aren’t shared: requiring an email address for every profile.
Earlier this month, some Netflix users began receiving on-screen notices asking them to tie a unique email address to their profile. The notices frame the request as an opportunity to add new features to a profile, such as easier sign-in access and personalized suggestions. But as those who posted screenshots on Reddit pointed out, this change was aimed at accounts with multiple profiles in the same household.
Netflix has since confirmed that it began requiring a separate email address for each Netflix profile on June 15.
According to a Netflix help page, doing so means going into the Profiles options in Account settings. Once the email address is added, it can also be used to log in to the account, switch to any profile and customize that profile’s settings.
The setting and the option to login that way, however, don’t apply to accounts for children. On the help page, the company says, “Email addresses can’t be added to Kids profiles, so they can’t sign in to Netflix directly.”
The email requirement may make life more complicated for those who have created extra profiles that aren’t for individuals, but to maintain different algorithms for different types of viewing — say, an Anime account reserved for only watching that category of shows. Presumably, that account holder would need to create multiple email addresses to keep doing that.
Earlier this year, Netflix reported it had 325 million paid customers worldwide.
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