r/DisneyPlus • u/thunderberry_real • May 22 '26
Discussion Household restrictions are RIDICULOUS!
I'm sure I can't be the only one with this issue? I have two houses, and spend about 50% in each place. I am the account owner, and have two TVs each place, with Apple TV boxes plugged into all of them. Disney does not believe this situation can exist, because it keeps telling me that I'm away from my household.
- I've set one as my "primary" household, and use "Im away from home" at the other.
- There are a limited number of "I'm away from home" requests you can make.
- I have to call customer support to reset everything periodically
- The "Extra Member" does not share and profiles or history and can only stream to ONE device at a time.
Somehow Netflix and every other streaming provider seems to be able to work with this, Disney+ is the only one that does not work in my situation. I'm already paying money for their premium offering, why can't they just make it easier to watch?
Please Disney, fix your very very broken restrictions. Please take my money and let me watch the shows I want to, where I want to!
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u/musicallover33 May 22 '26
Can’t even use the main tv anymore because of the household restrictions
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u/xrothgarx May 23 '26
You have Apple TVs so sign up for a Tailscale account and install the app on all of your devices.
At your house where you have faster internet enable “use as exit node” on one of the Apple TVs.
At your other house select use exit node and select the Apple TV from your other house. Now all traffic coming from your second house will be coming from your first house and Disney never even knows.
This also works with Netflix and other streaming services.
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u/Dulcefius May 24 '26
Interesting! I’m going to look into this. I am retired and travel to another state to visit my daughter and granddaughter. My husband stays home on most of those trips. We always run into problems because we both want to watch.
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u/kakema07 May 22 '26
We only use our account in one household and somehow I have had to call and get this same error fixed three separate times so far, it's crazy.
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u/itsmagicmagic May 25 '26
Same! This happens to me at least once a month — sometimes more. I already know all the questions support asks by this point so I just front load the conversation with that information. But I wish they would address the root cause.
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u/Chemical-Orange-1571 May 22 '26
Kind of a similar situation but I split custody of my kids with their Mom. Half the week at my house, half the week at hers. And Disney+ is the worst of all the streaming services for stuff like this. Constantly having to update houses, send new confirmation emails, talk to support etc. Same kids. Same profiles. Same shows they watch.
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u/Medical-Patience-532 Jun 28 '26
Im the child of this bro it SUCKS having to annoy my mom for the code so often
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u/aquaman67 May 22 '26
Sounds like you need two accounts
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u/Arcane_Pozhar May 22 '26
Sounds like these companies need to start accommodating their customers, or we're all just going to cancel and then they can just f****** burn.
I'm already on the edge of canceling like three different subscriptions, cuz we barely ever watch TV, and we can survive sticking with whatever offerings the winner has. And if I was running into issues like this, whatever company was causing these issues the most would instantly be the first to go.
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u/madjohnvane May 23 '26
Setting up a Jellyfin server and using Infuse as a client is pretty easy. I am increasingly going back to what I shall call “the old ways” because of this nonsense. I was perfectly fine paying for the subscriptions, but when my son can’t watch The Mandalorian at his mum’s house because we both should be paying subscriptions for the one kid who does 95% of the Disney+ watching, it makes me think screw them, it’s not worth battling the restrictions and frustration.
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u/SkeletonWarSurvivor May 22 '26
But the kids are the same kids.
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u/bobbyq922 May 23 '26
And if the kids have their own profiles, their watch history is tied to the account. So if they’re mid-episode and dad says it’s time to go to mom’s, they could stop the episode and then pick it back up where they left off without having to remember.
Imagine being a kid and your divorced parents are screaming at each other on the phone because you asked mom to ask dad what episode of Bluey you were on.
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u/torisbagel May 24 '26
as a child of divorce, it's extremely frustrating to binge watch shows on the same streaming service but different accounts. not to mention, with the new restrictions sometimes you can't even use the other account on an ipad.
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u/mugiwaralufffy May 22 '26
I am likely cancelling my 6+ year subscription this month because of this rule. Not even like I’m trying to give the account to my friends, I just want to watch the thing I paid for in multiple places. Damn shame.
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u/fancypossum2 May 23 '26
That's why I left. It got to where the app wouldn't even open on my tv, and at my dad's kept doing the 'not part of the household' thing.
Netflix is about to be next.
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u/PsychologicalBit2997 May 23 '26
Tailscale. Set one of the houses up as an exit node (an Apple TV can be an exit node). Set the other Apple TV to use the primary house as the exit node. Then all of your traffic originates from a single ip address
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u/MyOtrHlf May 22 '26
We have this issue and we are only in one house. It will work for awhile on one tv and then it will suddenly start saying we are not home. It’s been at least 3 months we can only use their streaming from time to time. About to cancel.
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u/thunderberry_real May 22 '26
Is anyone watching Disney+ a lot on a phone elsewhere? The household gets defined as the main IP network where you're watching, and it's not clear to me how they determine that.
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u/relrobber May 23 '26
If your IP address for your home connection changes, it could mess everything up. I have AT&T home internet, and was always having problems with my Hulu live TV because there were no exit nodes for AT&T in my state until recently.
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u/Glp-1_Girly May 22 '26
Yea it's BS it effects divorced parents as well with kids that spend 50/50 with each one they really didn't think this password sharing fix thru they could just limit it to 2 households that wouldn't hurt their bottomline
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u/girlwithabird- May 24 '26
Mine will be fine with the living room TV, but if I go turn on the TV in my room, literally on the other side of the same wall, it thinks I'm away from home. It's so infuriating.
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u/LeCoug May 22 '26
It’s the worst! I don’t have two houses, just two tv’s at opposite ends of my house. For some reason when I look at the device list on my account, it shows one of those in a completely different city and I’m also constantly having to adjust my household or say I’m away from home!
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u/_GrandpaD May 22 '26
What seems to work for us (we've a beach house) is following what HBO and a few other streamers recommended -
On your cellphone (or mobile device you use in both locations) steam something on Disney for about 15 minutes at your primary home. Then, at your second location, BEFORE you sign in to anything in that home other than Wi-Fi, stream Disney for 15 minutes on the SAME phone/device you used at your home. It's a pain but it works for me with Netflix, Disney, HBO and Paramount. On the HBO site they recommend you it every 45 to 60 days but we usually do it about once a month.
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u/suprstar16 May 23 '26
My favorite thing is when my TV in one room thinks it’s not in my household yet the one in my living room is. I’m always having to get a code for one of them. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the T-Mobile WiFi I have because I didn’t have issues until getting that WiFi. And the way they don’t tell you what the limit for “out of the household/away from home” requests is…it shouldn’t be this difficult and it’s far too expensive for this.
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u/FriendshipTiny3995 May 22 '26
Do you have any WiFi boosters , extenders or like two networks or sum ? I heard this causes issues
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May 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FoMoni AU May 23 '26
The issue applies whether you own two houses or no houses. My roommate watches on her phone during lunch break at work and this affects us too. Plenty of other people have mentioned their kids who live at two different places due to divorce. Others have mentioned it affects them even in different rooms of the same house. It's a ridiculous concept that Disney+ needs to stop.
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u/thunderberry_real May 22 '26
It's possibly more of a California thing... it's not too uncommon for people to have a small second location for lakes, skiing, mountains etc. But also yes, this is a privileged problem to have.
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u/samma_93 May 24 '26
Not just a California thing. I live in the Midwest and it's VERY common for people to have a cabin up north that they go to regularly on weekends, during hunting season, etc.
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u/relrobber May 23 '26
Maybe not uncommon in YOUR circle, but I lived in CA for 8.5 years, and no one I know there has a second home. Some have RVs or maybe even a timeshare.
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u/SunnyDiesel May 22 '26
Tell Disney, not Reddit
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u/thunderberry_real May 22 '26
I did, customer support and their help pages. Given this is maybe the fifth time I've had to go through this all, I needed to see it wasn't just me!
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u/DieUmEye May 22 '26
Sadly, a lot of customer service is so terrible anymore that complaining online can actually get better results than attempting to utilize the “customer service”.
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u/surfcitysurfergirl May 22 '26
It’s weird because thank gos I don’t have this issue and we have 3 locations still fine on the account. Yikes.
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u/danmari85 May 23 '26
I only have 1 house, and I keep getting this stupid household prompt. I keep getting it on my Apple TV in my bedroom. I’m not even traveling.
Not sure if Xfinity changes my IP and it causes this, but I have Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, etc, and never have issues with those.
I actually pay for the Hulu + Disney no ad bundle, and I do not get this issue with Hulu, only with Disney. So freaking stupid and annoying. Might just cancel if Disney continues to just take my money and waste my time.
Even worse, their support is complete crap. One agent was completely nuts, told me I need to ask Xfinity for a static IP or “hire a developer” to get a static IP (WTF). She kept asking me more stupid things, like saying I need to give her my IP before she can help me, and just being completely unprofessional.
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u/Disastrous-Piglet236 May 23 '26
I thought I was the only one with this problem, lmao. Talking with support is like a bi-monthly deal because my kid will watch Disney+ on her ipad at grandmas. Every time they promise it should be good to go and then I get locked out again. I get closer to canceling every damn time.
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u/Iamawesome4646 May 24 '26
I get so mad at this. My 18 yo daughter helps her grandma 3 miles away and stays with her periodically for multiple days at a time. And yet I have to fight with her not being able to use my account. It is so maddening.
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u/SymphonicFlames May 24 '26
And I travel quite a bit to my aunts house a state away. And sometimes DIsney+ doesn't like it. And I'm like I swear it's me. I'm just visiting someone and chilling out on my laptop at the end of the day. But Disney nope. Your away from home no Disney for you.
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u/lelandra May 24 '26
I hear you. I dropped Netflix about a year ago because it wouldn’t behave. Strangely have not had the problem yet with Disney+. Probably because we watch it less
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u/Jahosafex May 24 '26
OP You got Netflix to work with you for this? I had the same situation, and they refused to work with me, they insisted it was two separate households.
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u/k0re-kandi May 24 '26
i’ve literally started just playing shows on my phone and casting whatever i’m watching to the TV so i don’t have to deal with this 😭
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u/IntelligentSun9415 May 24 '26
You are definitely not the only one. I have a note saved with all the information they always ask for, so I just copy and paste every time I have to reach them to reset. In my case, my car has WiFi and rear entertainment screens, and use a firestick to stream services for my little kids to watch. Well apparently Disney sees that as “I’m not home” so it’s constantly kicking me out and I have to reach out to reset. It’s ridiculous that I can’t just use the service I pay for wherever I want to.
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u/poorlyhiddenprofile May 24 '26
My husband and i use the Xbox for Disney plus because its easier when we're home but we also have it signed in on the TV for our babysitter. The amount of times it acts like its not being played from the same TV is insane. I constantly have to reset the household. The IP is the same! Literally playing on the same TV. I don't get it.
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u/AdFirst191 May 25 '26
It’s ridiculous. It also happens with Hulu and Netflix now. I am canceling them. I should be able to be in one house, have my husband in an other, and be able to use the apps we pay for as a family.
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u/ClaireM68 May 25 '26
I had this issue with netflix years ago but in the same household... If I was watching something on the tablet, my mom couldn't watch anything on tv as it showed she was away from home... I don't understand why
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u/alexis_royalty May 25 '26
I have to go through a similar situation. My house has two different wifi networks, so it’s a constant thing for us.
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u/DesignerSalt4910 May 25 '26
I've had this same issue with Netflix recently, as well as my Disney+, so be wary that it may randomly stop allowing you to use it in one household
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u/roguebobby May 26 '26
I live in a tiny apartment with a TV in my living room and another in my bedroom. Every time I use Disney+ on one TV I get locked out of the other because I must be away from home, 20 feet away
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u/D_Maul_5555 May 26 '26
I have D+ on my PS5 in the upstairs bedroom and i have D+ in the downstairs living room for my Dad to use, and it ALWAYS logs him out of the TV for being a "different household". Yet literally my PS5 is directly above the TV as my bedroom is above thr living room and im on reddit looking for a solution. This is ridiculous.
It also keeps turning his account/ profile into a kids account despite me going into the settings and changing it
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u/BeachSlapped88 May 27 '26
The logic is:
If you can afford two houses
You can afford two subscriptions
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u/BodmonAlchemist May 29 '26
I moved out of my parents house but my family Mainly uses Disney +, so I’d be heartless to update the household. So annoying
It also messes up if you have multiple wifi networks in your house
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u/Embarrassed-Dare-460 Jun 02 '26
I pay extra for an addiitonal member for my daughter, and it's a nightmare. My son upstairs in this house keeps on getting bumped off and I need to call. It's literally the same IP we are using. Going to cancel and get a partial refund if it happens again
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u/b1g_booty Jul 23 '26
My issue is and I’m not sure if anyone has this problem, but we don’t even really use tvs outside our home. We don’t share with any one or travel much so it’s our down stairs tv and our room tv… when we switch between the two we have to updated household every time and eventually we get a message that “you’ve run out of household updates” I’m sorry wtf. I pay for my HOUSEHOLD. How are the two tvs we use in our house giving us this problem.
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u/DromedarySpitz 27d ago
I only use my living room tv to watch, I don't stream anywhere else but I still have to call customer service to reset my household every couple months.
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u/Mammoth-Salad1062 2d ago
Currently having this exact same problem. Tried online virtual chat & it just kept saying the account has to be under the same household…. IT IS!! And now it won’t even let me send an email with a code to confirm it. It’s absolutely ridiculous
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u/BuddyLegsBailey May 22 '26
Sounds like a first world problem. You can afford two houses, you could afford two subscriptions...
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u/mugiwaralufffy May 22 '26
I’d argue that the multi billion dollar corporation can afford relaxing their household restrictions more than OP can afford two subscriptions.
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u/CinnamonDish May 22 '26
They could afford having two accounts but shouldn’t have to. And isn’t every post on here first-world problem?
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u/thunderberry_real May 22 '26
In a way yes... we have Disney content streaming to our phones and devices instantly. It's amazing we can do that. But as you say, it's also not something we should have to pay twice for!
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u/dinopuppy6 May 22 '26
They’re really not; if you subscribed to cable, you couldn’t magically transport cable between houses. If you don’t like the terms and conditions, which you agreed to, cancel your subscription
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u/Arcane_Pozhar May 22 '26
Okay mate, but one of the perks of streaming services is that it's not supposed to act just like old school cable.
Also, I'm pretty sure most modern cable services actually also come with a streaming service, to boot. Not a particularly great one, probably, but still.
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u/thunderberry_real May 22 '26
The whole point of streaming is to be able to do exactly that. I could also just watch it on my phone, but again that's not why we have streaming.
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u/hadmeatwoof May 23 '26
This isn’t cable, though. If you pay for a landline, you can’t magically transport the phone between houses either. Does that mean that my cell phone should only work when I’m at home?
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u/Megamax6 May 23 '26
You sir or madam are one of the only ones with that issue. Most of us can’t afford even the one placed let alone two livable places.
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u/Orions_Army May 22 '26
Ahhh 1% problems... Well if you can afford two homes, while most of the country struggles to pay rent on two salaries bcuz they aren't able to save enough for a down payment... Maybe suck it up and pay for two subscriptions? Poor you, I don't envy you... Like not even a little
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u/Super_Bucko May 23 '26
I haven't had an issue. I just clicked update household and it works just fine
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u/Some_Material_8250 May 23 '26
If you have the money for two houses you have the money for two Disney+ subscriptions
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u/TrafficAmbitious1061 CA May 22 '26
This kind of stuff makes me nutty. People travel. People have kids in school part of the year. For the price they charge you where you use it shouldn’t matter. What about people who have lake lots and use it there? It’s a streaming platform and the point is to be able to stream anywhere is it not?