Siblings, parents, partners, friends, colleagues — chances are you’ve shared at least one or two passwords to your streaming service accounts over the years, which is perfectly understandable. These acts of digital generosity can quickly add up, though, and before you know it there too many people on your Netflix account and you’re getting the dreaded “too many simultaneous streams” message.
So if the time has come for the password sharing to stop, either because those folks have drifted out of your life, or because you’re getting warnings from your streaming service provider, or for the simple reason that it’s bad practice from a security standpoint to let multiple people access your accounts whenever they want, we’ll walk you through the process. Booting unwanted users from your accounts isn’t particularly difficult, and you also have the option to change your passwords on those services to keep anyone from getting back in.
We’ve picked five of the main streaming services below to help you rein in the password sharing. If your apps of choice aren’t covered here, it shouldn’t be too hard to find similar options for them inside the relevant settings pages. In the case of Apple TV+ and Apple Music specifically, because these accounts are tied so closely to your Apple ID, we assume you’re less likely to be sharing them around (or at least we hope that’s the case).
Netflix
Sign into Netflix on the web, open the drop-down menu underneath your account avatar (top right), then choose Account and Recent device streaming activity. This shows the devices that have recently accessed your account, and where in the world they are, so you can check if anything looks suspicious.
Back on the Account page, click Sign out of all devices to force a sign out on every device except the one you’re currently on. However, if other people know your most recent password, they’ll still be able to log back in. You can change this via Change password on the Account screen.
In the Netflix app for Android, tap your avatar (top right) and then Account, and you get redirected to the same options we’ve already mentioned inside your mobile browser. The Netflix app for iOS isn’t quite so helpful — you just get told to log into Netflix on the web on the Account page.
Disney+
Open up Disney+ in a web browser, click your profile avatar (top right), then choose Account. There aren’t many options here, but one of them is the option to change your password, which you can do by clicking the pencil icon next to Password.
Disney+ won’t show you all of the places and devices that your account is currently logged into, but you can force a log out on them all by clicking Log out of all devices. Anyone using your account will get kicked out, and won’t be able to log back in (assuming you’ve changed your password to something they don’t know).
The same options are available in the Disney+ app for Android and iOS. Tap your avatar icon (bottom right), then Account.
Amazon Prime Video
If you navigate to your Amazon account on the web and then go to the Prime Video portal, you can click the cog icon (top right), then Settings and Your devices to see all the devices running a Prime video app linked to your account. Click Deregister to force a logout on any of them.
This page doesn’t cover web logins (though the Watch History tab might give you some clues). To remove access to your account for everyone except you, click Accounts & Lists at the top of the page, then Your Account, Login & security, and Edit next to Password.
In the mobile apps, tap My Stuff, the cog icon (top right), then Registered devices to see devices that have the Prime Video app installed (and to deregister them if needed). You can’t change your account password through the Prime Video apps for Android and iOS.
Spotify
Head to the main Spotify page on the web (not the web player), and once you’ve logged in, you can click Profile, Account, Account overview, and Sign out everywhere to do just that — you’ll be logged out everywhere that Spotify has been linked to your account. At the moment, it’s not possible to see recent activity on individual devices.
You can change your password from this website, too, via the Change password tab available on the left. This will also disable all current logins for your account, so you’ll need to sign back in everywhere.
You can’t access these logout and change password options through the Spotify apps for Android and iOS; you need to open up your account in a web browser.
This post has been updated since it was first published.