Disney+

Is Disney+ safe?

Yes, and for families it is one of the better choices among streaming apps. Nobody can message your children, nothing on it is uploaded by strangers, and the parental controls are among the most complete we have seen. We score it 60/100, below Netflix (65) and above YouTube (54).

The score is held back by privacy, not by content. Disney's ad plan tracks what you watch, and in 2026 California found that Disney did not properly honour people's requests to stop selling their data.

Setting up Disney+ for children

Disney+ gives parents five controls, all set from the mobile app or a web browser, and most need the account password to change:

• Content ratings for each profile. Shows above the rating are hidden from browsing and search, although Disney says the setting does not affect promotions shown inside the service.
• Junior Mode, a simpler interface with content for a broad audience, no ads and autoplay off by default.
• Kid-Proof Exit, a small challenge a young child must solve before leaving Junior Mode.
• Profile PIN, a 4-digit code that locks an adult profile.
• Restrict profile creation, so a child cannot make a new, unrestricted profile.

One setting is easy to miss. "Not Rated and Live Content" is on by default for every profile except Junior Mode, and Disney warns that live content and live ads may feature mature themes. Turn it off on an older child's normal profile. With those settings in place, the main risk left is a child using a parent's unlocked profile.

What the ad plan tracks

Apple's privacy label for Disney+ has a "Data Used to Track You" section, which Netflix's label does not. It says usage data is used to track you across other companies' apps and websites. Purchases, coarse location, email address, search history, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics are linked to your identity, and usage and advertising data are used for third-party advertising.

Disney+ uses the Walt Disney Company's general privacy policy, last changed on 30 September 2025, which covers every Disney site and app where it is posted. It allows targeted ads "based on your activity on our sites and applications and on third-party sites and applications" and says Disney acquires data from other sources to supplement what it holds. It also covers precise location from devices and beacons, though the Disney+ label lists only coarse location.

Children get some protection. Junior Mode has no ads, and Disney says other profiles for under-18s on the ad plan receive ads appropriate for that age. Premium has no ads, but its viewing data is still collected and linked to you.

The California and FTC settlements

On 11 February 2026 California's Attorney General announced a $2.75 million settlement with Disney, the largest under the state's consumer privacy law so far. The investigation began with a 2024 sweep of streaming services. The state said an opt-out applied only to the device or service where you made it, that many connected-TV apps had no opt-out at all, that Disney's web form stopped sharing only through Disney's own ad platform while data still went to ad-tech partners, and that a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser covered only that one device, even when you were logged in. Disney did not admit liability. It must make opt-outs stop all sale and sharing and report its fixes to the state within 60 days, and the settlement still needs a judge's approval.

The $10 million case concerned YouTube. In September 2025 Disney agreed to pay that civil penalty to settle FTC allegations that it had failed to label many of its YouTube videos as "Made for Kids", including clips from Toy Story and Frozen, which let YouTube collect children's data for targeted ads. A federal court approved the order in December 2025. The case did not involve the Disney+ app, but it is about how the same company handles children's data.

Account sharing rules

Disney+ is meant for one household, which Disney defined at the 2024 US launch as the devices at your main home. To let someone outside it watch, the account holder can buy one Extra Member. That person must be 18 or older, live in the same country and not already subscribe. They get their own login and one stream at a time. In the US it cost $6.99 a month on Basic and $9.99 on Premium at launch. It is only available on subscriptions billed directly by Disney, not through partners.

For safety, Extra Member is better than handing out your password. The other person gets a separate login, and you can remove them at any time without changing your own password.

How to use Disney+ safely

1. Give each child a Junior Mode profile, or set a content rating on an older child's profile and switch off unrated live content.
2. Add a profile PIN to every adult profile and restrict profile creation.
3. Use a password you use nowhere else; hijacked Disney+ logins have been sold before.
4. In California and other US states with privacy laws, use the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link and check that it covers every service on your account.
5. If you share with family elsewhere, use Extra Member instead of sharing your password.

How we scored it

Scams and harmful content (78) is Disney+'s strongest factor, thanks to licensed content, no messaging and detailed parental controls. Privacy (50) is the weakest, because Apple's label shows tracking and Disney's company-wide policy allows ads based on outside data. Regulatory record (62) reflects the California settlement, which still needs court approval; the FTC case over Disney's YouTube videos does not count here, and transparency and control (62) California's finding that opt-outs did not work as promised.