Steam Family lets you share your game library with people in your household and set up parental controls

Steam Family is Valve's system for sharing games and managing accounts across devices in your home. It has two main parts: Family Library Sharing, which lets household members play games from your library on their own accounts, and Family Group, which organizes parental controls and purchase restrictions for younger players. You create a Family Group first, add household members to it, then enable library sharing on the devices where you want it active.

The process takes about ten minutes and requires that everyone in the family use the same Wi-Fi network or that you manually authorize devices. Once set up, each person keeps their own account, their own save files, and their own friends list — they just gain access to games you own.

Key Takeaways

  • You must create a Family Group through your Steam account settings before anyone can share games or use parental controls.
  • Family Library Sharing works only when the shared account is offline or when the person using it is the only one playing at that moment.
  • Parental controls let you restrict game purchases, set age ratings, and lock spending without knowing anyone's password.
  • All household members need their own Steam accounts; you cannot share an account itself, only the games attached to it.
  • If someone leaves your household, you can remove them from the Family Group and they lose access to your shared games immediately.

Create a Family Group in Steam settings

Open Steam on your computer and go to Steam menu > Settings > Family. Click Manage Family group. If you have never created one, Steam will show a button to create a new Family Group. Click it and confirm your account password.

Steam will ask you to name the group — this is just for your reference and can be anything like "Home" or "Smith Family". You will then see an invite code. Write this code down or take a screenshot; household members will need it to join. The code does not expire, so you can share it whenever someone new needs to join.

Once the group is created, you will see a list of members. Right now it shows only you. You can add up to five other people, for a total of six accounts in one Family Group.

Add household members and set up their accounts

Each person who wants to use the family library must have their own Steam account. If someone does not have one yet, they can create it free at steampowered.com by clicking Join Steam and entering an email address and password.

Once they have an account, they go to their own Steam settings, click Family, then Join a family group, and paste the invite code you gave them. They will see your Family Group listed and can click to join. You will receive a notification asking you to confirm them. Click Accept and they are now part of the group.

Repeat this for each household member. Everyone must join through their own account — you cannot add someone without their participation.

Enable library sharing on devices

Library sharing is the feature that actually lets other people play your games. It works differently depending on who is using the device.

On a computer you own, go to Steam Settings > Family and check the box next to Enable Steam Family Library Sharing. Steam will ask you to confirm. Once enabled, any Family Group member can log into that computer with their own account and see your games in their library.

The catch: only one person can play at a time. If you are playing a game from your library, no one else can play a game from your library simultaneously, even if they own it separately. If someone else is playing, you will see a message saying the library is in use. This is a technical limit Steam enforces to prevent account sharing abuse.

You can enable library sharing on up to ten devices. If you have a laptop, a desktop, and a family member has a computer, you can enable it on all three.

Set up parental controls for younger players

Parental controls let you restrict what games someone can see and purchase without needing their password. Go to Steam Settings > Family, find the person's name in the Family Group, and click the gear icon next to it.

You can set an age rating — Steam will hide games rated above that level from their library view. You can also toggle Allow purchase of games and in-game items on or off. If you turn it off, they cannot buy anything, even with their own money, without your approval.

You can set a spending limit in your local currency. Once they hit that limit in a month, they cannot make purchases until the next month resets. You can also restrict access to the Community features, which includes chat and user-created content.

These controls do not require you to know their password. They work through your Family Group settings alone.

Manage who can see and play what

By default, all Family Group members can see all games in the shared library. If you want to hide specific games from certain people — for example, keeping an adult game hidden from a child's view — you can do that through parental controls by setting their age rating lower.

You can also remove someone from the Family Group entirely. Go to Steam Settings > Family, find their name, and click the X icon. They will be removed immediately and will no longer see your games in their library. If they were playing a game when you removed them, they will be disconnected.

If someone moves out or you want to stop sharing with them, removing them is the only way to cut off their access. Disabling library sharing on a device removes access for everyone, so use removal instead if you want to keep sharing with others.

Troubleshoot common issues

If someone cannot see your games after joining the Family Group, make sure you have enabled library sharing in your Steam settings. Library sharing is off by default — creating a Family Group does not turn it on automatically.

If two people try to play at the same time and one gets kicked out, that is the one-player limit in action. The person who started playing first stays connected; the second person will see a message that the library is in use. They can play a game they own separately, or wait until the first person stops playing.

If someone cannot join the Family Group, check that they are using the correct invite code and that they are logged into their own Steam account. The code is case-sensitive. If the code is not working, you can generate a new one in your Family settings.

If parental controls are not working, make sure you are logged into the account that created the Family Group. Parental controls can only be set by the group creator, not by other members.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I share my games with someone who does not live with me?

Technically yes, but Steam's terms of service say Family Library Sharing is only for household members. Steam monitors for abuse and may disable sharing on accounts that appear to be sharing across different locations or with non-household members. The safest approach is to use it only with people in your home.

What happens to my games if someone leaves the family group?

They lose access immediately. Any games they were playing will close, and those games will no longer appear in their library. Their own purchases and save files remain on their account — only your shared games disappear.

Can I share games on my phone or tablet?

Steam does not have a mobile app for library sharing. You can only share games on computers and the Steam Deck. Mobile devices cannot access shared libraries through Steam Family.

Do I need to stay logged in for library sharing to work?

No. Once library sharing is enabled on a device, other Family Group members can log in and play your games whether you are online or not. Your account does not need to be active.

Can I set different parental controls for different family members?

Yes. Each person in the Family Group can have their own age rating, spending limit, and feature restrictions. You manage these individually through the gear icon next to each person's name in your Family settings.