New anti-password sharing protocols might leave mobile users behind — Photo by Nicolas: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-mobile-phone-3947545/

The news of the great Netflix password-sharing crackdown has spread like wildfire across the internet. In the next few months, Netflix will roll out new policies to prevent password sharing, which is, according to a letter to their shareholders, undermining their ability to maintain and improve the platform. According to one report by CitiBank, Netflix is losing a whopping $6 billion per year thanks to the practice of password sharing. (A practice that they once encouraged.)

This aged poorly.

But Netflix might lose much more than money if they go through with these controversial changes. This decision seems to lack important user research and transparency. Higher ups seemed to have ignored the needs of a huge amount of users, instead focusing on a few, narrow use cases. With these new, fiddly rules that require a fixed location for a main “Netflix household,” anyone who travels for work might need to reconsider their subscription.

How will Netflix prevent password sharing?

Basically, Netflix is discontented with the approximately 100 million households that share their passwords. This could mean that while Mom and Dad foot the Netflix bill at home, their daughter Yvonne can still binge Wednesday while away at college and their older son Mattias can enjoy the Great British Bake Off even though he lives out of state. This example might be the use case that the powers that be at the streaming service have in mind when crafting the new anti-password sharing policies.

What would change is that, in the words of Netflix’s Help Center, “People who do not live in your household will need to use their own account to watch Netflix.” So if Yvonne tries to log in at college, Mom and Dad will be asked to verify the device and send her a passcode.

But what about Mattias? First of all, for him to have access, his parents must be paying $19.99 for the Premium Netflix subscription package, which allows for up to four devices to be connected to the account. Secondly, because Netflix is keeping tabs on user locations, he will also be asked to verify since he’s not physically at the main household. The Help Center says that “Netflix uses information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether a device signed into your account is connected at your primary location.”

This might be the near future for Netflix users sharing accounts.

In 2021, Netflix started to test the anti-password sharing waters with messages saying, “Start your own Netflix for free today. If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.” Upon receiving this screen, users could sign up for an account, verify their account via text or email, or verify later. If this test message indicates how things will proceed in the coming months with Netflix, Mattias is safe. He can always text his parents to keep access to his favorite shows.

If Mattias’ kids want to watch on their iPads, Grandma and Grandpa might have to pay a fee for those extra users, if the Latin American Netflix policy is implemented worldwide.

But has Netflix considered users outside of this nuclear family situation? Outside of the stereotypical “one roommate paying for Netflix while six other people use it” meme?

Am I a parasite for using my parent’s account?

What about people who don’t have a fixed location?

Netflix unclear on traveling accounts

So this decision is obviously an unpopular one. A quick trip around social media will reveal people declaring their intentions to cancel their accounts if these policies are implemented. What seems to frustrate people the most (other than this move feeling like an undue cash grab) is that Netflix seems to be ignoring people who travel.

Before everyone and their grandmother created a streaming service, Netflix served as one of the sole ways for truck drivers, travel nurses, firefighters, van lifers, and other people in ambulatory industries to watch movies and TV while on the road. Can these users still rely on Netflix?

According to Fast Company, “subscribers can request a temporary code, which will allow them to access the service for seven days if they are traveling or find themselves locked out. They can also update their primary location if it has changed. And paid subscribers, along with anyone who lives with them, will continue to receive uninterrupted access as long as they connect to the Wi-Fi at their primary location at least once every 31 days.”

The Netflix Help Center declares that the primary use case for Netflix are people living together in a fixed location.

Does this mean that travelers will have to rely on someone with a fixed location in order to watch Netflix? The Help Center says “a Netflix account is meant to be shared in one household (people who live in the same location with the account owner)” while also clarifying, “If you are the primary account owner (or live with them), you shouldn’t need to verify your device to watch Netflix. If you are away from the Netflix household for an extended period of time, you may be occasionally asked to verify your device.”

Yet another source, BGR this time, alleges that testing of these features in Latin American countries like Honduras indicate, “You can watch Netflix on a TV outside your home for up to 2 weeks as long as your account has not been previously used in that location. This is allowed once per location per year.”

The bottom line

Even if these confusing, sometimes conflicting rules are not implemented, this news has already made an impact: users feel that Netflix is more concerned about their bottom line than with providing a good user experience. This sense of betrayal being ranted about in Reddit threads is due to a UX sin–ignoring a huge swath of users. This is why building diverse personas and considering many use cases is so important.

“You can watch Netflix on a TV outside your home for up to 2 weeks as long as your account has not been previously used in that location. This is allowed once per location per year.”

People are feeling forgotten, or in blunter terms, screwed over. This feeling of alienation might just sap away any good will that these users might have otherwise felt for the company, leading them to cancel subscriptions. Previously, I wrote about how Goodreads users complain about the site more often than not, but because it is the biggest and most connected service of its kind, readers tolerate its mediocrity. This is not the case for Netflix. Netflix isn’t the only show in town anymore, and cannot rely on its mere existence to garner customers.

To save itself from this latest controversy, Netflix might employ some UX tactics, and some much needed transparency, to clarify and reassure users that they will still be able to actually watch Netflix. Perhaps the streaming giant could take the time to create a few public-facing personas that users could connect their personal situations to, because the Help Center frankly has me scratching my head.

We will have to wait to see just how these policies impact both users and Netflix’s bottom line. These changes will allegedly be rolled out before the end of Q1.