Netflix lets you kick out a mooching ex without changing your password

A Neil Sedaka once sang, breaking up is hard to do, but surely he didn’t envision an era where streaming passwords would become an added complication to a painful separation.

Netflix users who’re logged in on a former partner, roommate or friend’s devices know the pain all too well. Until now, the only way to shut off access is to change the account password, thus logging the unwanted account sharer out.

Now relief is at hand with a new setting that enables the account holder to remotely log out of specific televisions, set-top boxes, or mobile apps from the centralised account settings page on the web.

The company is rolling out a new Manage Access and Devices option within the account settings page, which will let you know the devices you’re logged into, when the account was last used, which profile was accessed, and where that person is located.

Users will be able to simply hit “Sign Out” for each individual device, which is handy because the company isn’t as generous as it used to be with concurrent logins and viewing. All joking about exes and other moochers aside, this is also an important security feature for Netflix users as it will allow account holders to get rid of other unauthorised logins. If you use hotels and Airbnbs a lot, it’ll also offer the ability to clean up those rogue logins.

“Today, we’re launching Managing Access and Devices, a new feature in Account Settings that 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,” the company says in a blog post today.

It’s the latest in a series of initiatives designed to get non-subscribers set up with their own accounts. This year, the company began testing ways for password sharers to go legit with their own profile for a couple of bucks a month. It will also let users rescue their profile from an account they no longer have access to, provided the account holder signs-off on the transfer.