Can you share HBO Max with your friends and family?

Netflix‘s recent crackdown on account sharing has a lot of people threatening to abandon the service and stick to alternative streaming services. There are plenty to choose from, including one of the top contenders, HBO Max. But how does HBO Max compare to Netflix? Can you share HBO Max with people outside your household to save on subscription spending?

Read on for a breakdown of how to share your HBO Max account and what limitations to keep in mind. If you’re not already an HBO Max subscriber, you can check it out by hitting the link below.

Can you share HBO Max in different locations?

HBO Max allows you to share your account with anyone within your household. If you live with family or roommates, you don’t need to pay for separate accounts to enjoy HBO Max. You can all split one account.

There are limits on that, as only three people can be streaming separately at once. So, if you have a large household and expect four or more people to want to be logged in and watching at the same time, it’ll be a good idea to invest in a second subscription.

Sharing HBO Max outside your household is a different question.

According to HBO Max’s terms of use, you are not allowed to share your password with anyone who doesn’t live with you. In practice, HBO Max has, at this time, not made a move to crack down on sharing between households, so you may be able to get away with it, but it’s not strictly allowed.

Can you create multiple profiles in HBO Max?

When sharing with your housemates, HBO Max allows you to create multiple distinct profiles. That can be useful if you want your own watchlist or, like, when you’re watching the same shows as your roommates but you want to pick up from different episodes or seasons and watch at your own speed.

Even though you can only stream from three devices at once, you can create up to five profiles. They can’t all be streaming at once, but they can stream from their own profiles when it’s their turn to watch. And you can always delete profiles to swap them out for new ones.

Here’s how to share HBO Max

There isn’t much to sharing your HBO Max account. Within your household, just give your housemates your log-in credentials.

You can create profiles for them or let them set them up themselves. You also have the option to create kids’ profiles with parental controls to keep the younger members of your household away from adult content. Just click on the profile at the top of your screen, and you’ll find a prompt to either switch profiles or create a new one.

If you intend to share HBO Max with people outside your household, going against the terms of service, it’s pretty much the same process. Just give your log-in information to whoever you want to share it with. If more than three of you try to stream at once, you simply won’t be able to watch the shows you like.

You can manage active devices and sign other people out; this can be done by going to the settings option as the account holder if you lose track of who has access.

Can you download titles to watch offline?

One way to share your account beyond the three-screen maximum is to take advantage of HBO Max’s offline downloads. If you download titles you want to watch ahead of time, you can watch them offline on your device while three other people stream from the site.

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