Netflix Continues Crusade Against Password Sharing with New Remote Sign Out Feature

Netflix is taking another step in its mission to prevent password sharing — this time by allowing subscribers to log out of a device remotely. The new feature, which launches today, is called Manage Account Access and Devices, and gives users the ability to sign out of their Netflix account easily if they’re logged in somewhere else.

In a blog announcing the news today, Netflix introduces the feature as a timely addition angled toward holiday travelers looking to stream a little festive fare while visiting friends or family. The streamer states, “With the busy holiday season just around the corner, many of our members will be on the move and watching Netflix wherever they are traveling to see family and friends. Logging in to your account while at a hotel or even your friend’s house is easy and intuitive, but lots of people then forget to log out.”

Enter Manage Account Access and Devices, which “allows you to view all the recent devices that have streamed from your account and to log out of specific devices with just one click,” per Netflix.

Netflix claims the feature, which will be available online, plus through iOS and Android, is “much-requested.”

Of course, while users would undoubtedly want to control who is using their accounts and when, the feature also clearly benefits Netflix, which has been working to lessen its password-sharing issue recently.

According to Variety, the streamer “has estimated that passwords are being shared in violation of its rules with more than 100 million non-paying households worldwide,” a number that includes over 30 million households in just the U.S. and Canada.

Before rolling out Manage Account Access and Devices, Netflix introduced Profile Transfer in October, which allows subscribers to move users on their account into separate, paid accounts of their own.