Disney has announced that it has implemented measures to prevent account sharing on Disney Plus. This will prevent users from sharing their login details, and Disney isn’t the first to crack down on the so-called password-sharing trick.
A system that identifies if someone uses a Disney Plus account that is not registered to their household has been rolled out. It requires that they either sign up for a separate Disney Plus account or that the account owner pays an additional monthly fee to add a new user. It’s worth noting that you can only add one additional user per subscription, though the extra member will gain access to the features of the account depending on the subscription level – for example, the additional member will be able to stream in 4K Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos if the main account is a Disney Plus Premium subscriber.
So far, Disney has rolled this system out to a wide range of countries and regions, including the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Prices appear to vary between each region; in the US it will cost you $7/month on the basic package, or $10/month for premium. Prices are reportedly lower in Europe, though, meaning it’s good news for UK users who will only pay £4/month more on the basic tier, or £5/month for the premium tier. Unlike Netflix’s approach in which the additional user can pay for their portion of the subscription, the main account holder must pay for the additional user alongside the main subscription cost.
If you don’t want to become an additional user and instead want your own Disney Plus account, then you needn’t worry about losing your viewing history and watchlist. The main account holder can transfer your profile to a new account, provided it’s not a children’s profile.
Finally, it will still be possible to travel with your Disney Plus account if you plan on logging in on a hotel TV. It will involve an authentication process, including a code being sent to your linked email to authenticate the login attempt.
With subscription costs rising and password sharing being cracked down on, streaming services are losing their original appeal of offering access to high-quality programming at a fraction of the cost of package TV deals such as Sky. Both Netflix and Disney offer step-down subscription plans to remedy this somewhat, though that means losing out on picture and sound features such as 4K streaming and Dolby Atmos, and it brings back ad breaks – something we once relied on streaming to remove from our viewing experience.
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