Share streaming services subscriptions: Netflix, Spotify
Enjoying movies and music from home and sharing this opportunity with your friends and family has never been better. In this article, we discuss some tips for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and other popular streaming services.
How to share video streaming services?
Account sharing of video streaming services is so widespread, it has become a subject of memes over the Internet. Here’s how to save you, your friends, and your family some coins from the most famous subscription services.
Amazon Prime Video
This video streaming platform is constantly growing and creating its own movies and series. As you might have guessed, they are concurrent with Netflix, meaning that all the Amazon Prime Movies are available only on their own platform. However, their sharing policy is different and seems more strict. You can share your account with your family with Amazon Household (at no additional cost). You can add up to six people in total: two adults, and up to four teens or kids. What makes this feature different, is that both adults have to agree to link their credit cards information. Kids (12 and under) and teens (13-17 years old) have restricted access. Thus, kids cannot make purchases, and adults have to approve those made by teens.
Keep in mind that giving your ID and password to a friend is illegal according to Amazon's policy. Also, don't forget that if you opt for this option, your friends/family members will have access to your entire account, including Kindle, Amazon products, Amazon retail, etc.
Netflix
Netflix gives its subscribers various options to share their subscription, however, in 2023, the platform's policy in this regard is becoming more strict, which we will discuss below.
Depending on your subscription, you can enjoy Netflix with two (Standard subscription) or five (Premium subscription) other screens simultaneously. In order to share your account, you have to connect to it and create separate profiles - then give your password to the people you want to share your account with. When it comes to the Basic subscription you can still share your password but you can’t connect to Netflix at the same time as the person you’ve shared your password with.
According to the Netflix policy, you can share your account only within your household. For several years since its founding, the streaming platform didn't particularly care to control people who shared their account with friends who didn't live in the same households. However, now Netflix has created a method for detecting shared accounts. Starting in April 2023, it will geolocate each connection via IP address to be sure of the user's location, and if a violation of the terms of use is detected, access to the service will be interrupted. This does not mean that the service can only be used within the home. If the device connects to the main home Wi-Fi at least once every 31 days, then the owner with whom the account was shared will still be able to watch Netflix content. In the case of using the account on new devices, a special check will be carried out. You can read more about the new authorization protocol for sharing accounts in our article on this topic.
Disney
Disney+ is the newest streaming platform on this list. Just like Amazon Prime movies, all of the Disney movies are available only on their platform. However, Disney seems to be more comprehensive when it comes to sharing accounts. Thus, you can associate up to seven profiles, with the number of simultaneous streams limited to four. And this is completely legal.
Hulu
Hulu is undoubtedly the platform with the most rules. Firstly, you should note that it is available only to US residents. If this is not your case and you still want to enjoy it, you can use a VPN, such as CyberGhost VPN. However, your subscription can only be associated with American bank cards, Venmo, or PayPal.
You can create up to six different profiles to your Hulu account. There is no limit to the number of devices you can connect to those profiles, but you cannot stream simultaneously on more than two profiles.
Hulu + Live TV package will allow you to stream simultaneously most of their media library on an unlimited number of profiles (at an additional cost). Keep in mind that some of the content is still limited. Also, you have to prove that most of the devices are in your house network (except for three - but they also have to connect to it at least once a month).
YouTube is owned by Google and thus, the platform follows the same policies, which means that sharing passwords is forbidden. However, if you are a US resident you can create a family group of up to five for your YouTube TV, with a maximum of three simultaneous streams. There are several conditions that need to be respected. Firstly, you have to connect with your Gmail account. Secondly, you have to be over 18 years old, and kids under 13 years old cannot have access to the group (but hey, that’s why YouTube Kids exists). Also, you cannot create a family group if you are already a part of an existing group. Lastly, all the members have to be in the same household - according to Google, there is a verification of the devices’ location every month.
If you are not a US resident, note that there is YouTube Premium. This subscription grants you access to YouTube Music and YouTube Kids but is not available in every country.
If you are not sure this subscription is for you and the members of your household, don’t forget that there is a YouTube TV free trial period that expires after two weeks.
How to share music streaming services?
Spotify
With Spotify Premium Family you can share your account with up to six family members but sharing your password is against Spotify’s policies. In order to avoid this practice, you have to indicate your place of residence when creating the account.
Deezer
The Deezer app has a similar policy as Spotify. Thanks to the Deezer Family Subscription you can add up to five other family members and up to 13 devices. You can also choose between adding them as separate accounts, or as associated profiles.
Concerning your personal account, you can associate it with up to three devices - you just need to log in.
How to share gaming services - Steam?
Sharing your Steam account with someone is prohibited but you can still share Steam games thanks to Family Library Sharing. This way, you can invite up to five people who already have Steam accounts, whether or not you are in the same household. However, even though they will be able to play with their own characters, there are some limitations to this, for example, they won’t be able to purchase downloadable content.
How to manage it all?
Thanks to services like Together Price you can save money by creating a group of friends and family members for a given subscription. In this way, you can make sure you all split the bill at the end of the month, with no excuses! Together Price supports some of the most famous platforms, such as Netflix and Spotify. For UK users, you have to pay a fixed fee of £0.45 + 3% on the amount transferred. The admin of the group doesn't pay the fee.
We hope that you enjoyed our article and that you find it helpful!