Family sharing on Steam now means Steam Families. It replaced both the old Family Sharing (library sharing) and Family View, and has been available to every user since 11 September 2024. A family can have up to 6 members, everyone can play the others’ games, and each person keeps their own saves and achievements. Below you will find how to set up a family, how sharing works, what cannot be shared and what to watch out for. Checked on 20 October 2026.
What Steam Families is
A Steam Family is made up of the person who creates it and up to 5 invited members, so 6 accounts at most. You can manage it from the Steam client, the mobile app or a web browser. Valve intends it for a household of close family members.
The feature combines two things: a shared game library for all members and parental controls for child accounts. Valve explains it in its Steam Families FAQ and on the Steam Families page.
How to set up a Steam Family
- Open
Account Details. In the client or the browser, click your profile name in the top right corner. - Go to the
Family Managementsection. - Click
Create a Familyand enter a family name. You can change it at any time. - Select
Invite a Memberand pick or search for the account you want to invite. - Choose whether you are adding an adult or a child.
The invited person gets an alert and accepts the invitation. Adults can manage invitations and set restrictions; children cannot manage the family and are covered by parental controls.
If you used Family Sharing before, Steam offers to invite the accounts you shared with once you create a family. Your Family View settings carry over to parental controls; only the PIN goes away.
How library sharing works
As soon as you join a family, all your games are shared automatically. Other members see them in the Family Library section, and you see theirs. The game always stays owned by whoever bought it.
- Your own progress: saves, achievements and Workshop content are separate for every member. Achievements belong to the account; how saves work depends on the game.
- One copy, one player: only one member can play a given copy at a time. If two people want to play the same game at once, the family needs to own two copies.
- The owner keeps playing: while a member plays your game, you can play something else.
- Offline: shared games can be played offline as long as the game supports sharing.
Valve gives the example of a family of four where you own Portal 2 and Half-Life. One member can play Portal 2 while another plays Half-Life. If two of you want to play Portal 2 at the same time, someone else in the family has to buy a copy. Without a second copy, you play something else from the library and wait for Portal 2.
A game another member is playing is locked, and the client shows who has it. Steam then offers another copy with the same DLC, a copy with different DLC (your saves may not work there), or waiting or buying the game.
When you launch another member’s game, you also get their DLC that the publisher has marked as shareable. If several members own the same game, Steam asks whose copy you want to use and remembers your choice. You can change it later.
What you cannot share
Not every game can be shared in a family. Sharing is decided by the developer or publisher, who can turn it off at any time.
| Content | Shared in the family? |
|---|---|
| Free-to-play games and their DLC | no |
| Games that need an extra third-party key, account or subscription | no |
| Games and DLC region-restricted for one of the members | no |
| Games that do not support a member’s operating system | no |
| Games the publisher has explicitly opted out | no |
| Games the owner has marked as private | no |
| DLC the publisher has marked as shareable | yes, with the member’s game |
If there is a particular game you do not want to share, you can mark it as private. For children, you can limit access to games through parental controls.
Leaving a family and the one-year cooldown
An adult can leave a family at any time. However, they can only join another family, or create a new one, one year after joining the previous one. The slot they leave behind also has a one-year cooldown. You can rejoin your most recent family without waiting if it has fewer than 6 members.
A child cannot leave a family on their own. An adult member or Steam Support has to remove them. Adults can remove any member from the family.
Joining a family can fail if account activity does not show the same household, or because of a cooldown on the account or the slot. Steam then shows how much time is left. Valve also notes that these conditions may change over time.
Ban risk: only invite people you trust
This is the rule that matters most. If a family member cheats or commits fraud while playing your copy of a game, you can lose your family privileges and your account can receive a VAC ban. Other members are not affected. Valve therefore recommends inviting only trusted members of your household and never giving anyone your password. Not all VAC-enabled games are shareable either.
Parental controls and purchase requests
Adults can set parental controls for child members:
- allow or block specific games,
- allow or block Steam features such as the store, community and chat,
- set playtime windows and limits,
- see an activity overview and approve a child’s requests for more time or feature access.
To turn them on, go to Family Management → Manage, expand the child’s entry and switch on Enable Parental controls.
A child can ask an adult to pay for their shopping cart. The adult approves and pays from a mobile device or by email, and the games go straight to the child’s account. If a child loses access to their account, an adult can help recover it, but only after the child has been in the family for 30 days. Progress and achievements cannot be moved to a newly created child account.
To understand the age labels on games, read our guide to PEGI age ratings.
Sharing on consoles
Console sharing has its own guides: on Xbox through the home Xbox, and on PlayStation in our guide to PS5 game sharing. And if a Steam game turns out not to be for you, here is how a Steam refund works.
Join our Discord and ask other players how they set up their families and what gets shared: GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
Up to 6: the person who creates it and up to 5 invited members, adults or children.
Only if the family owns two copies. One copy can be played by one member at a time.
You can lose your family privileges and your account can receive a VAC ban. Only invite people from your household whom you trust.
You can join or create another family one year after joining the previous one. You can go back to your most recent family straight away if it has fewer than 6 members.
Information verified on 20 October 2026. More guides are in our Platforms & Services section.