Netflix now has an option that allows you to lock your profile with a PIN, ensuring that other people on your account do not have access to your personalized experience.
The media giant announced the novel feature as part of its updated parental controls. The feature will ensure that young viewers are kept off from accessing their parent’s profile where there is a great possibility of finding mature content.
The PIN protection which Netflix now offers can be utilized even if users do not have kids. Since Netflix allows several profiles for each account, you may just want to prevent other profiles from accessing your content library on the same account.
Many Netflix users share their accounts with friends, family, and colleagues. This PIN feature will help you stay protected as no one will be able to mess with your Netflix viewing history and recommendations.
Prior to the announcement and introduction of the PIN feature, switching between profiles on the same Netflix account was a media topic. Many people were worried about Netflix’s ability to protect their personalized experiences.
Hopefully, this new step being taken by the Silicon Valley tech giant should stop people from viewing their friends’ and relatives’ profiles, intentionally or unintentionally.
Here is how you can lock your Netflix profile with a PIN.
How to Lock Your Netflix Profile with PIN Protection
- The first step is to sign in to Netflix using a Web browser of your choice (Chrome, Safari, Edge, etc). Please note that you cannot do this on your TV or smartphone app as Netflix doesn’t allow account settings to be altered on those platforms yet.
- Then, you should go on and click on your profile photo which you will find at the upper right corner.
- Now, you should select Account.
- Next, you have to scroll down to the Profile & Parental Controls menu. You will find an arrow located near your profile icon. Click the arrow. As you click the arrow, the area will expand to display more options.
- Now, you will see the Profile Lock Setting. This is what Netflix calls the PIN protection feature. Select the Change button.
- In order to ensure that the account is yours, Netflix will require you to input your password.
- After you have filled the box with the required information, a screen will appear that goes “Require a PIN to access Jay’s profile”. Click the screen and input your preferred PIN. Please note that “Jay’s” used in this guide is an example to refer to your name. Netflix will put your specific name right there.
- You can go ahead to tick the box that requires your PIN whenever there is an attempt to add a new profile to your Netflix account.
The moment you have your PIN set on your Netflix profile, you will be asked for it every time you select the profole6on the welcome screen.
Please note that this will occur on all your connected devices including TV and smartphone apps. However, Netflix will Hever ask you for a PIN if there is no other profile on your Netflix account. (i.e. If your profile is the only one on a specific Netflix account, you will not be asked to enter your PIN each time you want to use the service).
This PIN feature should, however, not be confused with two-factor authentication, an important service that Netflix is yet to offer to its users. The Profile Lock feature is created to keep off other users using the same account with you from accessing your personalized media content.
All Netflix profiles on the same account can be assigned their individual PIN. However, the only person allowed to set up all the profiles is the account holder.
As a result of this, if several of your friends want to secure their profiles with a PIN, you have to be physically available and not look into their screen as they input their PIN the moment you enter the authentic password.
That said, the owner of the Netflix account is still given the autonomous power to disable any profile’s PIN. The account owner can disable this at any time. Netflix says this PIN feature is particularly developed as a parental control mechanism, and every other thing comes second.
However, it remains a great tool for protecting your Netflix media consumption history and recommendations from preying eyes when someone else spends ample time using your account to entertain themselves. Since the content being watched doesn’t know who exactly is watching, the PIN feature comes in handy.
Nonetheless, the feature may not sit well with many of Netflix’s millions of users, particularly the physical barrier. And since the service is yet to offer two-factor authentication which its customers currently crave, this may just be a way to navigate the tide until Netflix really comes up with better ways of securing one’s profile/account.
Conclusion
Netflix is a popular media streaming service with an incredible range of content that is sure to glue consumers of various demography.
While the service has seen a great rise in its popularity in recent years, many of its users have concerns regarding their content consumption history and parental controls, especially when using the same account with different profiles.
Hence, the media giant introduced the PIN feature to bring a solution to its users’ concerns. This article has been written as a step-by-step guide to help you when inputting a PIN to Lock your Netflix profile.
As noted in the article, you can only do this using a web browser of your choice (Chrome, Safari, Edge, etc). You cannot do this on your TV or smartphone app as Netflix doesn’t allow account settings to be altered on those platforms yet.