Tips to help you keep your account secure
We take account security very seriously here at NOW, and we do everything we can to keep your details safe. But there are things you can do to protect yourself, too.
Whether you’re just setting up your account and you’re keen to keep it as safe as possible, or you’ve spotted some unusual activity, check out our hints and tips for help. Many of them are also relevant to other services you might be using, not just NOW.
Choose a secure, unique password
Choose a strong password and be sure to use different passwords for all your different accounts. Otherwise, if one account is compromised, the others will also be at risk.
Password dos and don'ts
- DO choose a password that’s 8–32 characters with a combination of numbers and letters
- DO include uppercase and lowercase letters and special characters to make it extra secure
- DON’T use a word that’s found in the dictionary
- DON’T use a name or other personal information that somebody could guess, like a place or a birthday
- DO change your password regularly – it’s quick and easy to do. Reset your password
Set up a payment PIN
Your Payment PIN helps you control who can make purchases using the payment method stored on your account. If you’ve got kids in the house, we recommend setting up a payment PIN so they can’t buy anything by accident. Find out how to set up your payment PIN
Keep tabs on your devices
You can check what devices you’ve watched NOW on recently in the Devices section of My Account. If you see a device in your list that you don’t recognise, someone else may be using your account. You’ll either need to ask them to log out of your account, or you’ll need to force a sign-out of all devices (see the question below).
This could be because:
- You left your account logged in somewhere. If you sign in to NOW on someone else’s device, or on a public or shared device, remember to sign out at the end of your session to prevent anyone else from accessing your account.
- You temporarily shared your account with a friend or family member, and they’ve carried on using it.
- You sold your NOW Smart Stick or Box or gave it to a friend, but forgot to reset it first.
- Someone has gained access to your account details.
If you think someone’s using your account without your permission, you can force a logout from any devices you're signed in to. This means that next time anyone tries to use one of these devices, they'll need to sign in again.
Step 1: Change your password by going to My Account and Personal details and selecting Reset password.
Step 2: In the Devices area of My Account, select Sign out of all devices. (The device you're using to sign out from will stay signed in, so you'll still see it in your device list.)
Step 3: Sign back in on each of your devices with your new password (you'll need to reset your Box or Stick in order to do this).Passing your NOW Smart Stick or Box on to someone else?
Before selling on your NOW device or passing it on to a friend, follow these steps:
Step 1: Sign out of the NOW app.
Step 2: Sign out of any other apps on the device that you’ve used, like Netflix or YouTube.
Step 3: Reset your device to return it to factory settings.
General security advice
Protect your computer
Make sure you keep your device’s firmware, operating system, and anti-virus software up to date to protect yourself from viruses and malware.
Look out for fake ‘phishing’ emails
Phishing is an attempt to steal your personal information by impersonating a trusted company or website. These scams can be quite convincing, with emails and websites that look like the real thing, so it can be easy to get taken in. Should you mistakenly share any of your financial information, contact your bank immediately.
Be wary of emails that don’t seem to know who you are, errors like spelling mistakes, and links that don’t seem to take you to NOWTV.com. (You can usually see the URL by hovering your cursor over the link.)
If you’re in any doubt as to whether an email is genuine, don’t click on any of the links. If the email’s asking you to log in to My Account, you can do that by typing https://account.nowtv.com directly into your browser.
Keep in mindWe'll never direct you to a third-party website to enter your payment details. And we'll never ask you to send us your account password, PIN, or full payment card details over email. So if you get an email requesting sensitive information like this, report it as spam.
Spotted something unusual?
Have you noticed unusual activity on your account? For example:
- Has the email address on your account changed?
- Is your password no longer working?
- Are you being billed for a membership you didn’t buy?
- Are there shows in your Continue Watching that you haven’t watched?
If so, your account may have been taken over. This might’ve been caused by a security breach on another service, especially if you use the same password for different services.
Step 1: Reset your password, choosing a strong password you haven’t used before. If you can’t do this because your email address has been changed, go to Step 4.
Step 2: Change the password on your email account, and any accounts where you use the same password as NOW.
Step 3: Sign out of all devices (see above for how to do this).
Step 4: Select the Get in touch button on this page to contact us by live chat.
We take fraud very seriously, and we'll investigate and take steps to secure your account.