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How Netflix Can Calm the Password-Sharing Outcry

Commentary: We have a quick solution for Netflix’s password sharing woes…

Your mom lives in Ohio. You live in New York but you share a Netflix account. The same is true for the family whose kids are in college and for the couple living apart while one’s stationed on a military base overseas.

I see your stories. I feel you. I’ve been in the same boat.

People are not happy about Netflix’s move to start charging members extra fees to share accounts. The company’s been called out for a 5-year-old tweet: «Love is sharing a password.»

Even the card game Uno joined the Twitter roast to point out the about-face. Swarms of vocal Netflix subscribers are venting on social media — Netflix’s comment sections are really feeling the burn — and vowing to cancel their accounts and questioning why they’re paying for multiple screens.

Netflix has dubbed viewers outside of the primary household as extra members, or subaccounts. In Canada, where the prices are $16.50 for a standard plan and $21 for premium, the cost of adding an extra member is $8 per person. If a single streaming service costing $30 a month to stream on two or four screens sounds like a lot to you, I agree.

In the US, we still don’t know how much it’ll cost each month for extra members. When Netflix finally decides to tell us, I think it should also announce a couple of smart discounts.

Netflix needs a cheaper plan for students

Among those who are unhappy about the new policy are parents and their college kids. If Netflix insists on charging for password sharing, I think it should offer a no-frills student subscription.

College kids love to stream, and they’re often doing it on their parents’ accounts. Not as freeloaders, but as members of the household — even if their school is five states away. When we drop our 17- or 18-year-olds off at college, I bet no one is saying, «Time for me to kick you off Netflix, ya mooch.»

Rather than blocking kids who are attending school far from home, Netflix should offer a student plan that’s priced lower than its basic ad-supported subscription. Hulu, Paramount Plus and Spotify do it, proving that a blueprint exists.

All three platforms use SheerID to verify eligibility for college and university students. Hulu charges eligible students $2 a month for its ad-based plan. Spotify’s Premium Student subscription is $5 per month with the first month free and the added perk of free access to Showtime and Hulu with ads. Paramount Plus provides a 25% discount on its Essential plan for college students that lasts for four years, even if they graduate early.

If Netflix followed suit, it could find the sweet spot between $2 and $5 a month to help a broke college kid out. The company rolled out its $7 ad-based tier in January, joining the ranks of Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock and others who conquered that frontier. Adding a new subscription option aimed at students is reasonably within Netflix’s capabilities. If the streamer wants to keep its subscriber numbers up, why not?

Read more: Best Streaming Service Deals on Disney Plus, Hulu and More

Members of the military should get a discount too

Along with students who spend months — or years — away from home are service members. It’s common for a loved one to be stationed abroad while sharing a single Netflix account with family in their home country or state. Rather than geo-blocking them, or tagging on account-sharing fees, why not offer a military rate for active-duty members? It’s something that streaming services like Disney Plus, Apple TV and Discovery Plus offer for customers.

Why is Netflix charging fees for subaccounts?

For Netflix, everyone has to pay to hit play, specifically if you’re not living under the same roof. From a business perspective, the company wants to tap into opportunities to make money on shared accounts. Meant to fund content creation and overall operations, it was discussed during the company’s first-quarter earnings call in 2022. «Another focus is how best to monetize sharing — the 100M+ households using another household’s account,» the streamer wrote in its letter to shareholders. According to Netflix, more than 30 million of those who believe sharing is caring live in the US and Canada.

The extra costs are currently active in countries including Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Portugal. In some regions, the added fees also come with added steps, like verifying your device is connected to your primary location or sending invites to extra members to use your account.

I like Netflix, but none of the other major streamers is doing this. And as Fox 9 TV host Jason Matheson points out, it’s mighty inconvenient.

Netflix could lose out to the competition

With such a crowded streaming service market, every price hike, add-on fee and inconvenience can make one platform less of a necessity. Netflix is aware that though it was a pioneer in this space, there are rivals that want to be on top. Long ago, it edged out Blockbuster, showing how a business model can make or break a company’s survival.

Let’s not forget that content availability plays a huge role too, because if there’s nothing to watch to justify the monthly rate you’re paying, it’s time to drop something. We rotate our streaming services to save money or if we’ve run out of stuff to stream. If the extra cost is too high, especially in the US, Netflix should expect customers to churn for months at a time. That’s not to say services like HBO Max and Disney Plus are immune to being dropped, because they’ve had to contend with frustrated customers over price increases and show cancellations too.

However, the cost of password-sharing fees may be too high. Only time will tell if this new setup is worth it to Netflix, but it’s going to be an uphill battle to get customers around the world on board. One discount plan could help cushion the blow.

Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.

See at Netflix

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Technologies

Apple Crowns Its Top Apps of 2025, and AI Dominates the Field

Tiimo, a visual planner for people with ADHD that uses AI, won the App of the Year award.

Apple named the 17 winners of its 2025 App Store Awards on Thursday, and AI made its presence felt. App of the Year Tiimo, created for folks with ADHD, is an AI visual planner; iPad App of the Year Detail uses AI to simplify video editing; and Mac App of the Year Essayist employs AI to ease «the time-consuming work of formatting academic papers.»

Apple began giving out App Store Awards over a decade ago, with recent App of the Year winners including Kino (2024), AllTrails (2023), BeReal (2022), Toca Life World (2021) and Wakeout! (2020).

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It’s apparent from this year’s selections that the AI juggernaut will continue growing in global influence. The Business of Apps, a B2B media and information platform, estimates that the AI app sector generated $4.5 billion in 2024 — more than half of that via ChatGPT — and that nearly 700 million people used AI apps in the first half of 2025. The website predicts that the AI app sector will exceed $150 billion in revenue by 2030.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

«Every year, we’re inspired by the ways developers turn their best ideas into innovative experiences that enrich people’s lives,» said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. «This year’s winners represent the creativity and excellence that define the App Store, and they demonstrate the meaningful impact that world-class apps and games have on people everywhere.»

‘For brains that work differently’

Tiimo is based in Copenhagen and was co-founded by Helene Lassen Nørlem and Melissa Würtz Azari to create planning tools for individuals with Autism, ADHD, neurodivergence and executive functioning differences. The company website says its app’s tools «are adaptive by design; visual, flexible, and grounded in how neurodivergent people really plan, think, and follow through,» and notes that the app is «for brains that work differently.»

The app originated as a research project exploring how tech could support neurodivergent teens, but Würtz Azaritransformed that into a business after being diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, according to the company.

Tiimo’s App of the Year honor comes a year after the app was named a finalist in the 2024 Apple Design Awards in the inclusivity category.

Würtz Azari said Tiimu succeeds because its developers «challenge that status quo» of how apps typically present calendars, to-do lists and focus tools. We «integrate focus timers into tasks, add small celebratory cues, and build subtle improvements that make it easier to stay organized,» she said.

Tackling the citations beast

Anyone who has done a research paper or term paper knows how incredibly annoying and time-consuming it is to do citations.

Essayist, the Mac App of the Year, utilizes AI to «insert citations seamlessly,» for APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian and Harvard citation styles. The app also eases the processes of adding references and formatting papers.

Video editing made AI easy

The Detail app, which Apple named iPad App of the Year, says its app can «turn podcasts, reactions and presentations into ready to share content in seconds.» 

Detail says its Auto Edit feature can perform «silence removal, zoom cuts, titles, captions, music and more.»

Detail also says that its Podcast Auto Edit tool can «generate multiple long-form edits and short clips for social in a tap – —utomatically switch speakers and save hours of editing.»

The complete list of winners

As chosen from the previously announced finalists, here are the 17 winners of Apple’s 2025 App Store Awards:

iPhone App of the Year: Tiimo
iPhone Game of the Year: Pokémon TCG Pocket
iPad App of the Year: Detail
iPad Game of the Year: DREDGE
Mac App of the Year: Essayist
Mac Game of the Year: Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition
Apple Vision Pro App of the Year: Explore POV
Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year: Porta Nubi
Apple Watch App of the Year: Strava
Apple TV App of the Year: HBO Max
Apple Arcade Game of the Year: WHAT THE CLASH?
Cultural Impact Winners: Art of Fauna, Chants of Sennaar, despelote, Be My Eyes, Focus Friend, and StoryGraph

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Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 5, #1630

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 5, No. 1,630.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, though the letters aren’t super unusual. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with A.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with G.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to being with or surrounded by people. It’s also the first word in a popular computer game where someone is an imposter.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is AMONG

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Dec. 4, No. 1629 was TULIP.

Recent Wordle answers

Nov. 30, No. 1625: MUGGY

Dec. 1, No. 1626: LEACH

Dec. 2, No. 1627: CACTI

Dec. 3, No. 1628: HASTE

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 5, #908

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 5, No. 908.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a little easier than usual, I thought. I spotted the blue group connection right away. If you need help solving it, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Not easy.

Green group hint: How things are.

Blue group hint: Monopoly is another one.

Purple group hint: Gab.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Tricky.

Green group: State of affairs.

Blue group: Classic board games.

Purple group: ____ talk.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is tricky. The four answers are complex, delicate, sticky and tough.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is state of affairs. The four answers are deal, situation, status and story.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is classic board games. The four answers are Mastermind, Mouse Trap, Operation and Sorry.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ talk. The four answers are baby, pillow, small and sweet.

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