Yes, you can share your USA Today digital subscription with family or friends, but there are some limitations. USA Today offers a couple different digital subscription options that determine how many people you can share access with. Here’s what you need to know about sharing your USA Today subscription.
USA Today Subscription Options
USA Today offers both monthly and yearly digital subscription options. The monthly digital subscription is $9.99 per month while the yearly digital subscription is $99 per year.
With the monthly subscription, you can share your access with one other person for no additional charge. This means you and one other person can use the same login credentials to access USA Today content online and in the app.
The yearly subscription allows more extensive sharing. With the yearly digital subscription, you can share your access with up to five family members or friends. So a total of six people can use the same login to read USA Today content with the yearly subscription.
How To Share a USA Today Subscription
Sharing your USA Today subscription is easy to set up. Here are the steps:
On a Computer
1. Go to usatoday.com and log into your account
2. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner
3. Select “Manage Account”
4. Click “Share Subscription”
5. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to share access with. You can enter up to 1 additional email address for the monthly subscription or up to 5 for the yearly subscription.
6. Click “Send Invitations”
Once you send the invitations, the people you are sharing with will receive an email with instructions to activate their shared access. They simply need to click the activation link to be able to log in and read USA Today content.
In the App
Sharing access through the USA Today app follows nearly the same process:
1. Open the USA Today app and go to the More tab
2. Tap “Manage Account”
3. Select “Share Subscription”
4. Enter up to 1 or 5 email addresses depending on your subscription
5. Tap “Send Invitation”
The invitees will then receive an email to activate shared access on their devices.
What Content Can Be Shared?
With a shared USA Today digital subscription, your friends or family members will have unlimited access to all of USA Today’s content online and in the app. This includes breaking news, politics coverage, sports reporting, entertainment stories, lifestyle articles, and more.
The shared subscribers will have the same unlimited content access that you do as the primary account holder. The only limitation is the number of people you can share with based on your monthly or yearly subscription plan.
What Devices Can Use Shared Access?
There are no restrictions on what devices can be used to access a shared USA Today subscription. The people you share your subscription with can read USA Today content on:
– Computers
– Smartphones
– Tablets
– E-readers
So whether your shared subscribers prefer reading on an iPhone, iPad, Android phone, laptop, or other device, they will be able to access all of USA Today’s content. Device access is unlimited.
Can Subscribers Sign In Simultaneously?
Yes, with a shared subscription, multiple subscribers can be signed into their USA Today accounts and accessing content simultaneously. There are no limits or restrictions on simultaneous usage with a shared subscription.
So you and your invited readers can log into USA Today at the same time on your various devices with no problems. For example, you may be reading content on your phone while your friend is signed into the USA Today app on their tablet at the same moment. It will not block access.
Troubleshooting Shared Access Issues
In most cases, sharing a USA Today subscription is simple for both the primary account holder and the invited users. But occasionally issues may arise. Here are some tips for troubleshooting problems with shared account access:
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Invitee cannot find activation email | Ask them to check spam folder. You can also resend invite from your account management page. |
| Only partial content available to invitee | Make sure they have clicked activation link. If issue persists, contact USA Today customer service. |
| App crashing frequently for invitee | Have them uninstall and reinstall the app. Also restart their mobile device. |
| Web access not working for invitee | Clear cookies and cache in their web browser. Try signing in from a different web browser. |
| Unable to sign two people in at once | Check subscription level. Monthly only allows 1 extra person. Yearly allows up to 5. |
If these basic troubleshooting tips do not resolve the problem, you or your invitees can contact USA Today customer support for additional assistance.
Making Changes to Shared Access
Over time you may need to update the people who have access to your USA Today subscription. Here’s how to make changes once you’ve set up sharing:
To add a new person, just return to the “Manage Account” page in your account online or in the app. You can send a new invite to provide shared access to another email address, up to the maximum for your subscription type.
To revoke access, go to the same account management screen and click “Stop Sharing Access” next to the person you want to remove. Their access will be immediately disabled.
You can remove and add new subscribers as often as needed. Just visit your account page to manage shared access.
Is a Shared Subscription Transferable?
USA Today’s subscription sharing feature is designed for providing access to family and friends. However, it is not intended to fully transfer or reassign your subscription to another person.
If you need to fully transfer your USA Today subscription over to someone else, you will need to contact customer service. For example, if you have a yearly subscription but are moving abroad and want your sister to take over the subscription, this would require contacting USA Today to transfer billing and account details.
The self-service sharing tool is only for providing subscription access to a limited number of friends or relatives. Full account transfers require help from customer service.
Pausing Shared Access
If you need to temporarily disable shared access you’ve granted to someone, this can be done in account management:
1. Go to account management in your desktop browser or mobile app
2. Locate the name of the person you want to pause access for
3. Click the “Pause Access” button next to their name
This will temporarily deactivate their access until you choose to resume it. They will no longer be able to sign in or read content until access is resumed.
When ready to re-enable, just return to account management and click “Resume Access.” Their shared subscription privileges will be restored.
Temporarily pausing access is useful if you’ll be using your subscription more heavily for a period of time. Or if you just want to briefly restrict access for any reason. You can toggle it on and off as needed.
Using Shared Access on Multiple Devices
A question that sometimes comes up with shared subscriptions is whether both the primary account holder and the invitees can use the subscription simultaneously on multiple devices.
The answer is yes, absolutely. There are no limits to the number of total devices that can access an account through a shared subscription.
For example, say you share your subscription with your sister. You can be reading USA Today content on your iPhone while, at the same time, your sister is accessing articles on her Android tablet.
Even if you share an account with the maximum number of people (up to 5 on a yearly subscription), everyone can use the subscription concurrently on multiple devices. There are no device limits.
So you and your invitees can read USA Today on smartphones, laptops, desktop computers, e-readers, and tablets simultaneously with no issues.
Does Location Affect Shared Access?
USA Today does not impose any geographic restrictions on shared digital subscription access. This means where you and your invitees are located does not affect shared subscription abilities.
Even if you reside in different parts of the country, or even different countries, a shared USA Today subscription will still work. As long as the invitee has access to their email address on file and can complete the account activation process, location does not matter.
The only potential issue would be if someone travels to a country where USA Today content is restricted or blocked. But within the U.S., or countries where USA Today is available, location does not affect shared subscription functionality.
Sharing Access on Limited Devices
USA Today allows subscribers to download magazines, editions, and other content for offline reading on devices. If you share an account with multiple people, how does this work for offline content?
The short answer is that offline downloads are limited to the device they are downloaded on. So if you download an edition on your phone to read offline, the person you’ve shared access with would only be able to view that edition on your device specifically.
They would need to do their own offline download on their device to view offline content. Downloads are not synced across all of an account’s authorized devices. But subscribers can do independent offline downloads on each device.
Changing Subscription Plans
If you decide to change your USA Today subscription plan, what happens for any shared access you’ve set up?
When switching between monthly and yearly plans, your shared access settings will remain unchanged. Any friends/family you’re sharing with will maintain their access.
The only impact is if you downgrade from a yearly to a monthly plan. In that case, you’d only be able to have 1 shared user instead of up to 5. The additional users would lose access until you upgraded back to the yearly plan.
But otherwise, switching subscription plans does not affect your existing shared access settings, as long as you stay within USA Today’s system. Shared access continues if you change your subscription term length.
Conclusion
Sharing a USA Today digital subscription is an easy way to provide account access to family and friends. Both monthly and yearly subscribers can share their subscription but the number of invitees varies between plans. Accessing content is seamless across devices for both primary and shared users. Managing shared account settings is straightforward through USA Today’s account management portal online or in their app. With shared access, everyone can take advantage of all the great content USA Today provides on breaking news, sports, entertainment, and more.