Netflix has announced several new features, including the addition of spatial audio to a selection of titles and the ability to download movies and TV shows to more devices. But the company has also quietly updated details on account password sharing, including potential verification requirements when you’re trying to access the service (or someone else is) from outside your home.
Netflix Brings Spatial Audio to Hundreds of Titles
Netflix subscribers on the Premium tier plan can now access content with spatial audio, which provides a more immersive, cinematic sound experience on whatever device you’re watching from. It’s only available on some titles, but there are 700 movies and TV shows you can now watch with spatial audio, including Stranger Things, The Watcher, Wednesday, and Knives Out: Glass Onion.
Content available with spatial audio is now tagged with a new spatial audio badge. You can also type “spatial audio” into the search bar to call up every title that offers it.
Netflix will be adding new titles with spatial audio as they are released, including You, Your Place or Mine, Luther: The Fallen Sun, and Tour de France.
Download to More Devices
You can already download content from Netflix to a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet, ideal for viewing when you don’t have an active Wi-Fi connection. Now, Netflix is permitting downloads to more devices, recognizing that many subscribers have multiple devices they want to access downloaded content from.
But the upgrade is only for those on the highest-tier plan: Netflix is increasing the number of download devices from four to six for Premium members.
Netflix Password Sharing Updates
If you visit the Netflix Help Center, however, you will also find additional information on password sharing. Further to the company’s announcement that it would be cracking down on password sharing, Netflix provides details in its help section about how this might work and what its rules are.
If someone outside of your household tries to access your Netflix account, identified via IP address, device ID, and account activity, or if a different address is frequently accessing your account (meaning the account linked to the primary account holder), they may be asked to verify their identity first. You will, however, not be automatically charged. This could, after all, be you accessing the account from your cottage where you spend months at a time, or a vacation home.
To verify a device, Netflix will send an e-mail to the main address on the account or message to the phone number. This contains a link with a four-digit code. The code must be entered within 15 minutes of being accessed. If it expires, you can request a new code. Once approved, that out-of-the-home device can access the account. But this verification procedure can pop up periodically at any time.
This will happen even if you are traveling or residing in a temporary or summer home. Consider it like a two-factor authentication process, which is becoming more and more common nowadays. There is no way to turn off device verification.