Netflix wants to do away with shared accounts, a complex move that must be executed with caution. Just yesterday we told you how this process was going to be carried out, through which Netflix demanded that we identify ourselves by playing content over our WiFi network, at least once every 31 days. A strange measure of which there is no longer a trace on its website, and having changed the strategy almost completely in less than 24 hours.
what was said yesterday. Netflix, despite the fact that 60% of its users share an account, wants to end this practice. To prevent different homes from playing content, in its faq it indicated that it would be necessary to play content over WiFi at least once every 31 days. It was the way they wanted to have to check what they determined to be “trusted devices” within the main home.
If content outside of that IP was reproduced, bad business. Netflix warned that it could proceed to delete the accounts associated with the main one. They did not finish detailing what would happen with dynamic IPs, with homes with more than one router or with users with more than one home.
What is not said today. After the “either you play content every 31 days in the main home, or you run out of account”, Netflix has erased all traces of this in its faq. We cannot affirm that they have backed down, since everything indicates that they are making modifications related to shared accounts until they refine the final formula.
In the section on sharing an account with someone who does not live with you, Netflix now indicates that, if we log in from a device that is outside our home or “you start to use that device frequently”, they can ask the owner of the account to verify it to be able to use it or to change the Netflix home. According to the company, they do this to “confirm that the device using the account is authorized to do so.”
They don’t make it clear how much playback time or access is needed to determine that the device is suspicious, or when they will ask the account owner to change homes.
The verification process. This information is completely new compared to what Netflix had yesterday. If someone logs into our account “persistently” and outside of our household, we will need to go through the verification process.
Netflix sends a link to the email address or phone number associated with the primary account holder. The link opens a page with a four-digit verification code. The code shall be introduced on the device that requested it within 15 minutes.
If the code expires, you will need to request a new verification code from the device. If the operation is successful, the device can be used to watch Netflix. Device verification may be required from time to time.
Nothing happens if we travel. Netflix indicated yesterday that, in case we traveled, they would ask us to verify the account. In today’s faq, this limitation disappears and they tell us that, if you are using the main account, it will not be necessary to verify anything. Only in the event that we are away from home “for an extended period of time”, they will be able to ask us for verification of the device.
Nothing assures us that there will be no more changes. In less than 24 hours, Netflix has completely changed its proposal with shared accounts. As long as we approve from the main device that the rest of the devices have legal access to our account, there should be no problems. The IP still matters so that Netflix wants to verify devices outside of the primary home, but these become authorized by the user.
It remains to be seen if this modification is final, or if the faq will continue to change until an intermediate formula is refined: neither as lax as the one modified today, nor as aggressive as the blockades announced yesterday.
