New Netflix feature might be bad news for your ex

Netflix has today launched a brand new feature which could make it a lot easier to cut off all ties with your ex once and for all.

What do you do if your pesky ex is still leeching off your Netflix subscription and you want a polite way to kick them off?

Piotr Adamowicz / Alamy Stock Photo.

Let us introduce you to Profile Transfer, a feature that lets anyone using your existing account move their profile and all of its personalised recommendations, the history of viewed content, My List and any other saved settings to a new account.

In the streamer’s latest crackdown on people using someone else’s account without paying their dues – which is possibly in violation with its terms of use – people will now be invited to set up their own, separate paid membership.

Profile Transfer will be rolled out from today (17 October) to customers worldwide.

Netflix users will receive a notification when Profile Transfer becomes available on their account, so keep your eyes peeled.

In fact, Netflix said the new feature has been ‘much requested’ and we can definitely understand why.

When relationships come to an end, be it bitter or peaceful, figuring out what to do about your subscriptions can be as big of a headache as who gets custody of the pets.

And it's not just breakups Netflix is hoping to sort out, the company also said it hopes to accommodate a wide range of splits; such has roommates or family members moving out or friendships ending, which may force them to rebuild a profile from scratch.

jvphoto / Alamy Stock Photo.

When the feature becomes available in your region, all you have to do is hover over your profile icon in the dropdown menu in the top right corner of the homepage. Select the ‘Transfer Profile’ option and voila.

You can also turn off ‘Transfer Profile’ in the account settings.

Experts believe the ‘Transfer Profile’ feature could also help in the service’s bid to stop people sharing passwords, by allowing users to transfer their profiles to their own account.

This is because Netflix’s terms of service states that an account ‘may not be shared with individuals beyond your household’.

Netflix has estimated there are more than 100 million non-paying households watching the likes of Bridgerton, The Crown and Squid Game on their service in violation of their terms of service.

Netflix announced it was trialling a crackdown on users sharing passwords with other people, testing the waters in countries including Chile, Costa Rica and Peru in April 2022.

After shedding 1.2 million subscribers worldwide in the first six months of 2022 and as Netflix prepares to report its third-quarter 2022 earnings on Tuesday (18 October), the streamer confirmed ads are coming to the service.

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said back in April that plans for a subscription tier with adverts were being worked on, and that it could be launched as early as the end of 2022.

From 3 November onwards, UK viewers will be able to knock their subscription price down to £4.99 with Netflix's 'basic with ads' package.

There are an estimated 13.8 million Netflix subscribers in the UK and bosses aren't worried if many of them shift from the most popular £10.99 option down to £4.99, as the money the company will reap from ads will balance it out.