Dear Lifehacker, I’m thinking about subscribing to Netflix, Stan and Presto, but I’m wondering about the best way to share services with others. In my case we have four adults in the house and my preference would be for each to have their own account and password. Is that possible? Thanks, Share And Share Alike
Friends picture from Shutterstock
Dear SASA,
The short answer at the time of writing is “not really”, although it’s always feasible that streaming services could adapt to allow the kind of scenario you envisage.
Currently, though, streaming services have limits on the number of simultaneous streams and/or authorised devices per account that would limit part of your plan. We’ve detailed what those limitations are if you’d care to check what each service permits here.
Your closest match in terms of what you’re after would be Netflix’s full-fat $14.99 Ultra HD service which allows for up to four simultaneous streams, presuming your broadband is up to the task. Netflix allows you to set individual user profiles so your tastes don’t influence the selections made available to others. However there’s currently no way to set an individual per-profile password on Netflix accounts.
The other alternative that would allow for individual profiles and passwords would be to set up completely distinct accounts for each service and each user in the house, but the costs for that spiral up rapidly, especially if you plan to subscribe to multiple services.
Cheers
Lifehacker
Have a question you want to put to Ask Lifehacker? Send it using our [contact text=”contact form”].
Comments
3 responses to “Ask LH: How Can I Share Streaming Services With Others?”
I’m sharing my Netflix account with my parents and sister we all have a ‘profile’ and share the same credentials. It’s working a treat!
Yeah, just don’t use the same password as your email or bank account or whatever and it’s fine.
Seriously, don’t do that. Even if only you know the password don’t do that.
If you haven’t already got a password manager program from one of the many lifehacker.com.au articles on the subject, try norton identity safe. It’s free, and syncs your passwords across devices and platforms.
whatever you use to manage it , doesn’t matter, but do yourself a favour and use different passwords for each site/program.
Or if you do use the same password, don’t get on your sister’s bad side.