Steam · Independent guide

Steam Families: Share Games and Set Parental Controls Safely

Steam Families replaced both Family Library Sharing and Family View. Up to six close family members can play each other's games while every person keeps their own account and password. Adults manage invites and parental controls for child accounts they set up, and the child can see those limits.

See who can do what

Steam Families never needs anyone's password shared, and neither do we: we never ask for passwords or Steam Guard codes.

Concept illustration, not a screenshot of the recovery process.

On this page

Official settings only

Every step uses Family Management in your own Steam account.

No passwords shared

Members keep their own logins; Valve says never give your password to anyone.

Independent guide

Respawnr is not affiliated with Valve or Steam; check the current Steam Families FAQ.

Permitted use

Steam Families is for a real household of up to six close family members, each on their own account. Parental controls are for child accounts a parent or guardian creates for their own children, and the child sees the limits because they send requests for more time or access.

For your own account

Sharing your game library with close family members who live with you, each signed in to their own account
Setting game access, Store, Community and chat limits and playtime limits on a child account you created for your child
Approving your child's purchase requests by phone or email, and their requests for more playtime or feature access
Recovering your child's login through Family Management once they have been in the family for at least 30 days
Marking your own games private so they are not shared with the family

Where consent is needed

Inviting another adult: they accept the invite themselves, and any adult in the family can manage invites and restrictions
Removing a member from the family: tell them first, because each freed slot has a one-year cooldown
Explaining the parental controls to your child before you turn them on, so the rules are known rather than hidden

Outside the permitted use

Inviting an adult as a child member to restrict or watch what they do; Valve tells anyone added as a child by mistake to contact Steam Support
Using Steam Families to sign in to someone else's account, or sharing passwords or Steam Guard codes to share games
Covertly monitoring another adult's play, chats or purchases
Creating extra accounts or rotating families to dodge a VAC or game ban, or the one-year cooldowns
Selling or renting family slots or shared library access to strangers

What Steam Families gives your household

Four things to know about how the family set-up works, per Valve's Steam Families FAQ.

Shared library: Members play each other's games; ownership, saves and achievements stay with each account.
One copy, one player: Two people can't play the same single copy at once; a second copy fixes that.
Child controls: Adults set game access, Store and chat limits, and playtime limits per child.
Purchase requests: A child asks an adult to pay for their cart; approved games land in the child's library.

Not shareable: free-to-play games, titles needing a third-party key or account, region-restricted content and games marked private.

Steam Families terms in plain words

Tap a term for the short version; Steam's own FAQ has the full rules.

Steam Families: Valve's household feature for up to six members, replacing Family Library Sharing and Family View.
Adult member: Can invite and remove members and set restrictions on child accounts; any adult in the family can do this.
Child member: An account a parent or guardian created for their child; it follows parental controls and can't leave on its own.
Parental controls: Per-child settings for game access, Store, Community and chat features, plus playtime limits and reports.
Purchase request: A child sends their cart to an adult, who approves and pays from a phone or by email.
Marked private: A game its owner has hidden from the family library, so other members can't play it.
Cooldown: An adult must wait a year from joining their last family before joining or creating another, and each freed slot waits a year before it can be filled.
Shared-game risk: If a member cheats on your copy, Valve says you can lose family privileges and your account may be VAC banned.
Family View (legacy): The old PIN-based restriction mode; a child's settings move into parental controls, but the PIN is removed.

Explore the glossary

A few details worth knowing

How do I set up Steam Families?

From the Steam Store, open Account Details, then Family Management, and choose Create a Family. Then use Invite a Member and pick adult or child; the person you invite gets an alert and accepts on their own account.

Can two of us play the same shared game at the same time?

Not on one copy. Valve's FAQ says a single copy can be played by one person at a time, so a second person needs their own copy of that game.

Why can't I join or create another family right now?

Valve lists three reasons: your account activity doesn't show you are in the same household, your own one-year cooldown, counted from when you joined your previous family, or a one-year cooldown on the family's free slot. You can rejoin your last family without waiting if it has fewer than six members. Steam shows how much time is left; Valve does not publish how it judges the same household.

Can I use parental controls on my partner's or an adult relative's account?

No. Child membership is for accounts parents create for their children, and Valve tells anyone added as a child by mistake to contact Steam Support to be removed. Adults in the family manage their own accounts.

What happened to my old Family View PIN?

When a child with Family View settings joins a Steam Family, those settings move into parental controls and the PIN is removed. The old PIN recovery pages belong to the replaced feature, so manage the child's limits through Family Management instead.

Go a little deeper

Old Family Library Sharing vs Family Groups: What Changed
How Steam Families replaced Family Library Sharing and Family View: sharing rules, parental controls, cooldowns and what it means for account security.

Official guidance

Check the platform’s current instructions and the options shown for your own account.

help.steampowered.com help.steampowered.com ↗

Permitted use

What Steam Families gives your household

Steam Families terms in plain words

A few details worth knowing

Other ways to keep a shared household account safe

Sign out of Steam everywhere

Someone else logged into your Steam

VAC ban questions

Secure your Steam account

Go a little deeper

Official guidance