I've heard some people say that the policy was triggered on their account when they logged into Netflix on a TV, which was then designated as their "home" device/network. Then all mobile devices that log into that account have to be on the network with the TV once a month, or something?
I haven't encountered this yet because I use a dumb TV with either an iPhone or MBP plugged into it. Does this mean I might never trigger the new policy on my account?
What exactly are Netflix’s password sharing rules?
While Netflix has been talking about its password plans since last year, the notifications rolling out this week in the United States were effective immediately and caught some people off guard. Many were confused about how the company was going to enforce the plan and surprised to find that it applied to them. Here is what we know so far:
* Netflix says an account can only be used by members of one physical household, sharing one internet connection. Additional members logging from elsewhere can be added for $7.99 a month.
* The restrictions appear to only apply to televisions and not mobile devices for now. Once you are successfully logged in on a smartphone or tablet, you should be able stream on it from anywhere.
* You can still travel without issues for up to a month. People will need connect at the primary location once every 31 days to avoid being logged out of the account.
* If you are moving or plan on being away for more than 31 days, you can change your household location.
* It doesn’t matter what tier you pay for or your reasons for being away from the primary address. The company does not have any exceptions for more unusual cases like deployed members of the military.
* Netflix is mostly using IP addresses to determine where people are logging in from, but it also uses device IDs and account activity.
* It infers which location is your home base, but you can manually set your household location from Netflix on a TV by going to Get Help → Manage Netflix Household.
* You can only add extra members to the more expensive standard and premium plans and the number of additional members is limited. (One extra on standard, two members on premium.)
There are no penalties for sharing, no Netflix police going door to door. People streaming from secondary locations will just be logged out.
Few of my relatives (users #2 and #3) use my Netflix account, so I was expecting that occasional (every 10-20 days) login into their account on the TV at my house would be sufficient to satisfy Netflix.
Then user #2 had a prompt about sharing accounts on their TV, clicked “I am traveling” and I sent them a temporary code. The same happened to user #3 a few days later. It was fine for about a week, and then user #2’s TV got logged out and just said “you used all your temporary codes, try later” (whatever that means - i presume “traveling” across the country flags the account).