You’ve figured out that Disney Plus is pretty great but you want to know even more about it, right? Crucially, as with many streaming services, it’s useful to know how many people can watch Disney Plus at once. That can make a huge difference if you know that everyone in the household wants to watch completely different things. To stop arguments, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know about how many people can watch Disney Plus at once.
How Many People Can Watch Disney Plus At Once?
Disney Plus is pretty straightforward when it comes to how many people can watch it at once. While some streaming services change the number depending on what plan you sign up for (hi, Netflix!), Disney Plus is the same across the board. That’s because it offers just one simple plan with a choice of paying monthly or yearly (no, there isn’t a Disney Plus free trial). You won’t need to upgrade or downgrade your plan according to how many people intend on using your Disney Plus subscription.
Up to four different devices can watch Disney Plus at once. Alongside that, each Disney Plus account can have seven active profiles so that the whole family can have their own profiles to check out what’s available. That’s particularly useful when setting up content restrictions so that younger children can’t watch unsuitable content. It also means that each profile has its own algorithm so you should receive recommendations that suit your interests rather than being recommended shows based on another member of the household’s viewing.
Up to 10 devices can be registered and logged in to Disney Plus at once. Disney Plus works on pretty much every device imaginable. This includes your web browser, most smart TVs, gaming consoles, as well as streaming devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV. The only noticeable omission is it won’t work on the Nintendo Switch, but since it works on smartphones and tablets, there should always be an option for all viewers. Once someone tries to connect via a fifth device at the same time as the other four are watching a show or movie, they will see the message “It looks like you’ve reached your device limit for streaming Disney Plus. You can stream Disney Plus on up to four devices simultaneously. To continue watching, please stop streaming on another device (Error Code 75).” In a single household, it shouldn’t be too hard to keep track of who is doing what with the Disney Plus subscription. It may be a good idea in a large household to encourage arranging shifts or to share watching the same show from time to time.
Fortunately, for a regular-sized household, four devices is still a fairly flexible number. That should cover most if not all of one household. It’s also higher than some rivals so there is a decent amount of flexibility here. Interestingly, there is no limit on the location of the four devices either. All four devices could be accessing Disney Plus from different parts of the world so — in theory — you could share your account details with friends and family. That goes against Disney Plus’s terms and conditions but little is done to stop people from sharing details. However, it’s not really advised in the spirit of the service. Disney has reported in the past that it will monitor abnormal logins. However, once in a while is unlikely to be a problem.
Is There a Disney Plus Family Subscription?
No. Disney Plus only has a standard Disney Plus plan. Unlike something like Apple TV+ which can be shared across multiple users and accounts, there is no way of signing up for a family subscription to extend how many devices can be connected. Rather than having a dedicated family subscription plan, Disney Plus offers up to seven user profiles. The idea behind that is it means each profile allows the individual to maintain their viewing history, produce a lineup of recommended titles based on the streaming service’s algorithm, plus they can create their own unique watchlist. Basically, it’s just like having your own separate account within the same account that is paid by one person — presumably the main bill-payer in the household. Setting up individual user profiles also helps in terms of content restrictions. Adults are able to set up accounts for children with limits on the age rating of what they are allowed to watch, before adding a PIN to their own profile so a child can’t view adult content.
Disney Plus account sharing is not allowed by Disney, but that refers to outside of your household. Instead, your home can still use the same account and share it, using separate user profiles. Being able to stream across four devices at once substantially helps here. Also, it’s possible to download content for offline viewing on up to 10 devices giving plenty of flexibility there too. To continue to do this, all you need to do is sign in to the Disney Plus account every 30 days to confirm that you are eligible to download content to watch offline.
One other possible option for a family that needs to get around the four-device limit is to use Disney Plus’s GroupWatch feature. It allows a group of up to six people to watch anything on Disney Plus simultaneously. The idea is that you can all enjoy the experience remotely but together virtually. It’s not the same as watching entirely different content as all six people are watching the same stream at the same moment, but it’s perfect for a large family that’s temporarily scattered around and wants to watch something together while they are away. By connecting to a friend or family member’s GroupWatch, you don’t use your account limit of four devices because the broadcast is managed from your friend’s account.
For the most part, there is little need to have a family subscription plan. Instead, Disney Plus has come up with various measures to ensure that the whole family can still feel like they have their own separate identities within the service without needing to have a dedicated plan. Additions like GroupWatch and offline viewing further helps with ensuring sufficient independence within the household group.
