Google Play Family Library: What You Need to Know

The Google Play Store has seen a lot of changes over the past year, but it’s about to get even better. From Android apps on Chromebooks, to sharing Google music with friends and family, to the latest change announced In July, this is the new Google Play Family Library. It essentially allows family members to purchase an app once and share it with up to six people. Here’s everything Android users need to know.

We’ve been hearing reports and rumors that the Google Play Store is adding options like this for about a year now, but it never came. They added family subscriptions to Google Music last year, but that was just one of many big changes the company had planned.

On July 27, Google approved a brand new feature called Google Play Family Library. This allows users to allow up to six family members (or friends) to access apps, games and more purchased from the app store. It’s a big change that everyone should know and use.

Being able to purchase an app, game or movie once and share it with six different people is very important. This will save families tons of money and let everyone enjoy games like Minecraft without buying it. For now, there are some restrictions, must-have apps, and regional restrictions, and we’ll explain them all below.

How Does Google Play Family Library Work?

Family Library is available in multiple regions, including the United States, starting July 27, and users will begin seeing a badge on supported apps and games in the Play Store. Once found, a user will be able to purchase that app and add six accounts to the shared list or even block them if it’s just something you want for yourself.

Essentially, users will be able to add six Google accounts to their Family Library, and all six accounts will have access to apps, games, movies, TV and books that everyone has purchased. To give us an idea of ​​how this works and what it looks like, Google has released a quick video that you can see below.

As shown above, a family member can buy a new movie like SuperMan (or a game like Minecraft) and the whole family can get it too. Instead of everyone buying separately. This has been a big pain point for a long time and it’s finally coming to an end. Since I’ve bought Minecraft three times for my family, many families, including myself, can probably relate to the problem. With this, that will no longer be the case. It’s worth noting that in-app purchases cannot be shared, which is where we’ve seen many apps move to generate additional revenue.

There is even a single payment method that can be easily managed and added to the library and then secured with a password, allowing the entire family access to easily purchase content from Google Play.

What Can Be Shared?

According to the official announcement by Google, a lot can be shared, but not everything. For now, only apps, games, movies, TV shows, and books seem to support Family Sharing, which is quite a lot.

Subscriptions and rentals are missing for obvious reasons, but nearly anything can be shared with up to six members of the family on Google Play. It’s unclear if we’ll be able to add friends to the list, but we’ll update it once we know more.

Cross Device and Cross Platform

Even better, the Google Play Family Library option is fully cross-device and cross-platform compatible. So we will be able to enjoy apps, games, music, movies and more on our smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TV and even iOS. Yes, users will also be able to share certain things with iOS users. Here is Google’s official statement.

“All purchases added to the Family Library are available on Android devices, and you can enjoy movies, TV shows, and books on iOS devices and the web.”

We’re not entirely sure how this works with iOS in terms of purchasing an app or game, but we’ll have additional details to share as the feature rolls out to more users.

Old Purchases

All apps and games eligible for sharing on the Family Plan must be purchased after July 2, 2016. Any purchases made before this date will not be shared unless the developer specifically enables the feature. I was hoping I could go back and share all my previous purchases, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for most. If a developer feels generous, they can allow sharing on old purchases.

However, anything purchased after July 2 can now be shared once user accounts have been added to the Family Plan.

How and Where Can We Get It?

Family Library will be available in the next few days, and some users may already see this option in the Google Play Store. Quickly sign up, add new accounts and everything is ready. Users click here to sign up, may not yet be live for everyone. If not, try again tomorrow.

As you can see above, there is a new column that will easily display all available content shared on the Play Store. Perfect for managing, adding or removing accounts and knowing exactly what’s going on in all apps.

It will be available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other countries will likely be added to the list this summer or in the coming months. It is also worth noting that book sharing is not possible for any reason in Germany, Italy, Japan and Mexico.

We will update with full details as soon as this goes live for more users or when it becomes available in other regions. Head to the Google Play Store on your preferred Android device and sign up today.