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How to use Netflix's new profile transfer feature
There are many milestones in a young adult’s life, such as graduating from school, moving out of your parent’s house, and paying for your own Netflix account. Netflix’s new profile transfer feature is here to help ease the transition. Essentially, it lets you set up a new Netflix account using an existing profile’s data, so you don’t have to start from scratch. Here’s everything you need to know about transferring a Netflix profile.
QUICK ANSWER
To transfer a Netflix profile to a new account, select Transfer Profile in the profile selection drop-down from the homepage. Enter the email address and password you want to use for the new Netflix account.
KEY SECTIONS
What you need to know about Netflix’s profile transfer feature
The ability to transfer a Netflix profile to a new account is intended to solve two problems the streaming service faces: what to do about people parting ways and password sharing.
When people are living together in the same household, they generally share the same Netflix account. But what happens when a roommate moves out, or a relationship ends? It can be awkward to continue using the same account, always seeing their profile name upon logging in, not to mention how to handle the question of who pays for it. Profile transfers, therefore, make it easy for someone to migrate their profile to a brand-new account while preserving all of their personalized recommendations, viewing history, watchlist, saved games, and other settings.
The second obstacle that profile transfers overcome is one mainly faced by the company in pursuit of increasing its number of subscribers. Netflix estimates that over 100 million viewers mooch from someone else’s account while living in a different household. Netflix sees that as a loss of potential income and plans to crack down on shared accounts soon. For instance, in August, Netflix launched the first “add a home” feature in five countries to enable access for non-household users at a price lower than full standalone membership.
In short, if you’re still freeloading from a family for friends Netflix account while living under a different roof, the company is coming for you. The silver lining is that Netflix will at least remember all your favorite shows when you’re ready to sign up.
How to transfer a profile from one Netflix account to the next
You can find the Transfer Profile option in the profile selection drop-down from your Netflix homepage. Enter the email address and password you want to use for the new account and click Next.
Follow the prompts on the screen to finish setting up the new account. Netflix will keep a copy of the profile on the original account should you want to transfer it back.
The account holder can initiate a profile transfer for any profiles if others procrastinate paying for their own Netflix. Using a web browser, visit the Account page and select the profile you want to transfer in the Profiles and Parental Controls section. Select the Transfer link in the Transfer Profile section to begin the process.
Transferring a profile is easy as that, but factoring the monthly fee into your budget might take a bit more work. Thankfully, there are plenty of free alternatives to the streaming giant should your wallet need a rest.
Read more: Google TV finally gets individual profiles
FAQs
Yes, you can add a profile lock to each profile on your Netflix account. Navigate to your account settings and scroll down to Profile and Parental Controls. Select the profile you want to set a password for, and click Change next to Profile Lock.
To delete a Netflix profile, you must be the account holder. Only the person who is paying for the Netflix account can add or delete profiles. However, anyone can transfer their Netflix profile to a new account.