Max password-sharing crackdown begins: Here's how to navigate it

Password sharing keeps getting harder and harder.

After months of updates, Max this week became the latest streamer to crack down on folks sharing passwords, following the lead of competitors like Netflix and Disney+.

On Tuesday, Max announced a new feature, Extra Member Add-On, which is seemingly focused on charging folks for sharing passwords. Similar to other streaming platforms which have put a stop to sharing passwords, the idea is you'll have to pay for someone who uses a Max account outside your home.

Adding a member to your Max account will run you an additional $7.99 per month and you can only stream from one profile on one device at a time. Accounts are also limited to one Extra Member Add-On. The new policy will, however, let you transfer over a profile to be an extra member, meaning that user will keep their preferences and watch history.

In a press statement, Max attempted to make the news sound like a good thing for customers.

"Extra Member Add-On and Profile Transfer are two key Max advancements, designed to help viewers with a new way to enjoy our best-in-class content at an exceptional value, and offer subscribers greater flexibility in managing their accounts," JB Perrette, CEO and president, global streaming and games, Warner Bros Discovery, said in the statement.

"These updates provide a simple way for subscribers to add-on a new member to their account, or for existing subscribers who have users outside of their household to smoothly, and in an uninterrupted fashion, transition their profile so that extra member can continue to access Max."

How to navigate Max's password crackdown

In short, there is no simple way to fully get around the crackdown.

If you want to buy an Extra Member Add-On, the option is in Max's subscription settings. If you're looking to transfer a profile, it should be an option when you go to buy the Extra Member Add-On.

As seems to constantly be the case with streamers these days, the answer to your problem seems to be open your wallet. Netflix, Disney, Hulu, and the rest of their ilk have worked in recent years to squeeze dollars out of users. Max certainly hasn't been an exception. Remember when watching an HBO product meant zero ads? Those were the days.

Max upped it prices last summer, charging $16.99 per month for an ad-free plan, with the Ultimate ad-free plan increasing to $20.99 per month. The ad-tier plan will cost you $9.99 per month. Now, if you want to, say, include a friend or family member outside your home, that'll run you an extra $7.99 per month.

If the added cost weren't enough of a bummer, Max — ever since the platform's 2023 merger with Discovery+ — has made it a habit to unceremoniously remove programming from its archives. So forking over that extra cash might not even grant you access to your favorite HBO show.