Password sharers have been given a major boost as Netflix announced a major change to their rules. The streaming giant introduced the measure amid a crackdown on joint accounts.

The company announced yesterday that they were taking steps to make it easier for customers to transfer profiles between accounts. Beforehand, you could only transfer your profile to a newly-created account, but now this can be done with those you are reactivating.

For example, if you shared an account with a partner or pal, but have now been booted off it, you can still access your data even on old accounts. You could even swap right from the account you shared with an ex to that of your new flame.

Extra feature

The tool was first rolled out last year, but has now been updated with this extra feature.

All you have to do is enter the email and password related to the profile into the Profile Transfer area on the Profile section of the account page. This will transfer over your watch history, shared games and MyList, so your viewing experience carries on without a hitch.

It comes after Netflix imposed a monthly fee per "extra member" using your account from May.

Subscription costs

The measures are designed to stop users from getting around subscription costs by sharing their login details with family and friends.

However, it was revealed that thousands of people could completely lose access to the service if they were sharing it through Sky, Virgin or BT.

Despite the backlash, experts have said that the crackdown could actually help users save cash by protecting them from hackers.

Meanwhile, fans have already started coming up with cheeky ways around the sharing ban.