It’s finally been revealed how Disney’s password sharing crackdown will work and cost
We’ve known for a while that paying to share your subscription was coming. Ever since a similar move in 2023 from Netflix saw a huge boost in revenue, Disney have been keen to do the same.
What’s been announced is remarkably similar to the offering from Netflix in format, pricing and even the name. Here’s what do you need to know and do.
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Sadly, the days of giving your account details to people outside of your household are over. We don’t have an exact date, but any day now the crackdown is set to begin.
Streamers are likely to start to see messages appearing on screens outside the account holders main home saying “This TV doesn’t seem to be part of the Household for this account”.
This is designed to force people to pay for their own account, or pay for an account top up called “Extra Member”.
Of course, it’s early days, and as with Netflix, there might be some time before you’re actually forced to pay up. And there could even be a few workarounds. But for most people, the days of free sharing are over.
How will Extra Member work?
Very simply you can add an extra friend or family member who doesn’t live with you to your existing Disney+ account. You’re limited to just one Extra Member, so if you currently share with three or more people, you’ll have to pick who gets access.
As an Extra Member, they’ll have their own log-in, with their own profile. Unlike the full Disney+ account, that’ll be limited to just one profile, so they won’t be able to have different ones for different people via this extra. Most notably that means no separate kids account (unless that’s what they pick).
They’ll also only be able to stream from one device at any time, so it’s not ideal for larger households wanting to watch different things in different rooms. This is the big difference to the scheme with Netflix where you can get two or four extra members, depending on your subscription tier.
You can either create a new profile or swap an existing profile into an Extra Member profile, so they can keep things like settings and watch lists. In the account settings you’ll invite them using their email address to create their own account and password.
It’s not clear yet if you’ll be able to add an Extra Member if you get Disney+ via a third party such as Sky and Virgin, or as a benefit from the likes of Lloyds Bank or O2.
How much does Disney+ Extra Member cost?
The Extra Member pricing varies depending on which level of Disney+ you’re subscribed to:
- Disney+ Standard with Ads: £3.99 extra a month
- Disney+ Standard: £4.99 extra a month
- Disney+ Premium: £4.99 extra a month
The main account holder will be adding this cost to their payment every month. Even if you pay annually for the main subscription, this add-on will be billed monthly.
If you want your friend or family member to stump up the cash for this, you’ll need to sort that out directly with them as there’s no way for them to add their payment details to your account for this.
They also won’t have any access to your account settings, so they can’t cancel or change the membership tier. That means it’s down to you to cancel the Extra Member option if it’s no longer needed. Just removing the profile for this member won’t stop the payment – you’ll have to cancel it from your account page.
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What to do if you let others use your account?
If you’re currently the main account holder (and bill payer), you might to set up your ‘Household’. Otherwise you might not need to do anything other than tell people they won’t be able to keep sharing your subscription.
You’ve obviously got the option to add one of them as an Extra Member, but that will mean you’re potentially paying another £59.88 a year – a decent price hike. It might be better pointing them towards some of the ways they can save on their own subscription instead, more on this below.
It’s also worth reviewing your subscription. Though Standard and Standard with Ads allow you to watch on two devices at once, the Premium level offers four concurrent streams. If it’s just your household watching, do you need that many? Of course, that top tier also comes with 4K picture quality (but again, do you really need that?).
How can I set my home as the main account?
At first Disney+ will likely decide what location counts as your ‘Household’ based on account activity. So if you’ve been sharing your account there’s a chance it might think that is someone else’s home!
In that case you’ll need to set up by choosing “update household” when you see the warning message on your screen. You may need to do this for all your devices. You’ll be sent a one time passcode via email to confirm this – which prevents other people moving it to their location.
It’s possible to change this, for example if you’re away for a long period or move house, though Disney say in the terms and conditions that there are limits to how often you can do this – so it won’t work as a hack for continuing to share your account.
Can you watch Disney+ away from home?
Don’t worry though, you can still watch Disney+ if you’re away from home for work or on holiday. You’ll choose “I’m away from home” if you get the warning message, and a passcode will be emailed over.
What to do if you’re currently using someone’s Disney+?
If you’ve previously been sharing someone’s Disney+ for free and need to get your own account, you’ve three options:
- Set up your own account
- Get added as an Extra Member
- Go without
If you want to have your own subscription, here are the full prices for each option:
- Disney+ Standard with Ads: £4.99 a month
- Disney+ Standard: £7.99 a month / £79.90 a year
- Disney+ Premium: £10.99 a month / £109.90 a year
As you can see, the Extra member option will save you money, albeit for a restricted single profile account. So you might want to offer an existing account holder to pay them each month in return for access.
But there are also ways to cut the price of what you pay for your own account, potentially even getting it for free. I’ve detailed these below.
Or you can use this as an opportunity to rethink whether you actually need Disney+ all the time, if at all. With so many subscription services out there, my take is that it’s impossible to get value for money from more than one or two at any time.
So you could instead pick and mix. One month you pay for Disney+, watch as much as you can, then cancel it and move on to another service and repeat.
Cheapest ways to watch Disney+
We’ve got a full page dedicated to deals and hacks to save on Disney+ subscriptions. Here are some of the best options, with more details on the deals article:
- Free Disney+ with Ads for a year via Club Lloyds
- £2 off via O2
- £1.99 a month for three months two or three times a year
All the latest offers in our dedicated Disney+ article
