Netflix has made a welcome update to its profile sharing feature. As of today, you'll be able to transfer your profile to an existing Netflix account without having to start from scratch.
Despite being the world's best streaming service, its ongoing crackdown on password sharing has caused a few issues for some viewers. Until now if you had to stop using someone else's account, then you couldn't take your profile details, viewing history and preferences with you.
So for example, if you had to stop using an account because it belonged to your ex and your relationship with Netflix turned out to be stronger than your relationship with them – then you had to start all over again. But thankfully that's no longer the case and you can keep bingeing the best Netflix series without any delay.
How to transfer your Netflix profile from somebody else's account
Netflix has updated its Profile Transfer tool, which originally started rolling out to customers back in October. That enabled you to transfer your Netflix profile to a different account, but only to a brand new Netflix account – which wasn't ideal if you already had an existing Netflix account that you'd parked while sharing your partner's or roommate's account.
This week's update changes that, and you can now specify an existing account to transfer your viewing history and preferences too. Provided you have access to that account's email and remember the password, you can then provide the details and transfer all your data across. And that's it.
You'll find the Profile Transfer tool under the account icon, so if you hover over your profile icon on Netflix you'll see it turn up in the drop-down menu that appears. The whole transfer process is pretty much instant.
Netflix isn't doing this out of the goodness of its heart, of course. It's designed to reduce a bit of friction around the crackdown on password sharing by making it a little bit easier to say goodbye to the shared one it doesn't want you using. But it's a welcome addition all the same.
It'd be nice if Netflix now turned its attention to those families who want to share accounts but don't share the same roof: as someone who co-parents my two kids the password crackdown would take the cost of my Netflix from $19.99 per month to $35.97 (£15.99 / AU$22.99 to £25.97 / AU$38.97 in the UK and Australia) . That's nearly $30 / £20 / AU$30 a month more than Apple TV Plus, which doesn't care which roof my family members are under.
