Don’t Lose Access: How to Transfer Your Netflix Profile to a New Account

If you’re mooching off someone else’s Netflix account, the impending password-sharing crackdown may have you spooked. The streaming service has yet to reveal final details on how that’ll happen, but if you want to make the move before your access gets cut, you can transfer a profile to your own subscription and still keep all your recommendations, watch list, and more.

Netflix makes the process slightly difficult. Not only do you have to transfer your own profile to a new account, but you also have to make sure that the original account owner enables the ability to transfer accounts. Here’s how to do that so you can get back to watching Shadow and Bone.

How to Enable Profile Transfers

(Credit: Netflix)

Before you can move your profile over to a new account, the current account owner has to enable profile transfers. To do this, they need to sign into Netflix and head to Settings > Account, then choose the Turn on profile transfers link at the bottom of the page.

A new window will appear that will ask them to confirm if profile transfers should be enabled. Select Allow, and Netflix will say the feature will be available in two days. However, you don’t actually have to wait that long.

(Credit: Netflix)

The account owner just has to open the email confirmation sent to their inbox and click the Enable instantly button to make profile transfers available immediately. Now that the feature is turned on, you can begin the actual transfer.

How to Transfer a Netflix Profile

(Credit: Netflix)

First note that you cannot move a Kids profile. For everything else, open Settings > Account and select your profile. Several options will appear from the drop-down; scroll down to Transfer this profile and click Transfer.

The next page outlines the process, so click Next. Your first step is to fill out the email address and password that will be linked to your new account, then click Next. Note that you cannot transfer a profile to an email account that is already attached to an existing membership.

After you input your email address and password, you will need to choose your membership plan, from the ad-based tier all the way up to the Premium tier. Review each one carefully and determine which best suits your needs. 

(Credit: Netflix)

The final step is to put in your payment information. Once you do that, you will receive a confirmation email and you can start watching. The person who owns your former Netflix account will also receive a confirmation email that you transferred your account.