Recently, my father called me in a panic.

There were just a few minutes until Netflix would start streaming a live MMA event, and he couldn’t get into my account. For a while, he had accessed Netflix as an add-on member with his own profile through my household’s account. That day, however, he was logged out and couldn’t use my login credentials to watch Netflix. Instead, he saw a prompt asking him to “add an email address to your profile” to continue.

After some frantic phone troubleshooting and a couple of password resets, we realized that my father had to create his own login to continue using the extra profile I paid for. Although I was able to get him set up in time (for some disappointing bouts), the situation was confusing and inconvenient.

More users have been encountering this situation as Netflix has gradually required that each profile under a Netflix subscription use a unique email address. When setting things up for my father, I was also asked, but not required, to provide a first and last name.

A Netflix spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica:

This sign-in update is a permanent change that started rolling out on June 15, 2026.

The change means that every user can now have their own login credentials, which could make it easier for secondary account users to store or change their credentials, log in to a new device, or use two-factor authentication. This setup also enables profile owners to set their language, audio, and display settings without the account holder, Cord Cutters News notes.