Netflix improves profile transfer - a little

Luca Fontana

12/7/2023

Translation: machine translated

Previously, existing Netflix profiles could only be transferred to new Netflix accounts. Existing profiles can now also be transferred to existing accounts. However, one catch remains.

As Netflix announced in an updated version of its news originally published in October 2022, a new option has been added for profile transfers. Namely, not only to transfer an existing profile to a new account, as before, but now also to an already existing account.

You can find this option in your Netflix account settings when you log in via your web browser. From there, you can select an existing profile and start the familiar profile transfer. Netflix has thus added a valuable option to its controversial profile transfer. However, one problem remains.

Existing profiles can now also be transferred to existing accounts, but...

At the time, the streaming giant touted the profile transfer as a "much-requested function". Since its introduction, existing profiles can indeed be transferred to a new Netflix account. The highlight is that all settings, personalised recommendations, title and search histories and saved "My List" content are retained during the transfer. This type of profile transfer is particularly useful after a relationship break-up, when someone moves out. Or after a flat share break-up.

However, the fact that existing profiles can only be transferred to a new account, but not to an existing one, has been criticised. If the Americans really wanted to provide a service to their users, the profile transfer would also have worked for merging profiles. For example, when a couple who have just fallen in love move in together. Instead, the transfer remained a function that ideally turned an account with multiple profiles into multiple accounts with a single profile - never the other way round. I have reported on this:

Netflix has now addressed precisely this criticism. Partly. Anyone who turned an existing profile into a sub-account after the introduction of Paid Account Sharing can no longer benefit from this change.

Wait, what? Sub-accounts cannot be transferred?

Since May 2023, Netflix has actively prevented account sharing. This is when you share your Netflix password with one or more people outside your own four walls - a practice that is prohibited under the Netflix Terms of Service and can be penalised by account suspension.

Netflix has since offered a new type of account: the sub-account. For an additional charge of 5.90 francs per sub-account, someone who doesn't live at your home but previously had a profile on your account can still use it. To do this, the profile simply needs to be converted into a paid sub-account. This is called Paid Account Sharing. Our colleague Samuel Buchmann has reported on this:

Those who want to transfer their sub-account to a new or existing account will be left out in the cold. Netflix still does not offer the option of transferring a sub-account or converting it into a main account while keeping the watch lists and recommendations. It can currently only be deleted, removed or cancelled.

No good alternatives if someone wants to transfer their sub-account when their circumstances change. Anyone who changes their profile to a sub-account must therefore consider this very carefully. The change cannot be reversed at the moment. <p

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more