How to set up a Google Play Music family plan

posted by Mihai A. / Jan 24, 2016, 11:43 PM

How to set up a Google Play Music family plan

Some of you may not know this, but back in late December, Google started offering a new "Family Plan" for Play Music subscribers. In this article, we'll show you how to create a Play Music Family Plan and how to send out invites so that your family and friends can get in on the fun.

If this is the first time you're hearing about this, you may want to check out more about Google Play Music Family Plans first. In essence, subscribers hailing from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France and Germany are now able to create a group account for six persons (including the owner of the subscription). The plan costs $14.99 and is a very good option if you want to share your music passion with your loved ones, seeing that an individual account costs $9.99.

Now, before we get going, you'll have to know that the Google Play Music Family Plans are not limited to family members. However, sending out invites is only possible if the person on the receiving end has residence in the same country as the account manager, is at least 13 years of age, and has a Google account.

Step 1. The first thing we'll need to do is to sign up for a family plan. The procedure is different depending on whether you're already a Play Music subscriber or not.

1A (current subscribers). If you're already a Play Music subscriber, just open the Play Music app, tap the hamburger menu (the three little dots in the upper right portion), choose "Settings", then tap "Upgrade to a family plan" on the next screen. Follow the on-screen instructions to upgrade your account.

1B (non-subscribers). If you're not already using Play Music, open the app, tap on "Start free trial". On the next screen, tap "Other Plans", then choose the "Family" button on the next page. Once you've registered for a family plan, continue to the next step.

Step 2. After you've upgraded or signed up for the family plan, the app will tell you that you're now the family manager. This means that you're the one in control of the payment methods. Furthermore, every in-app purchase will have to be approved by you first, which makes sense given that you're the one that's paying for the goods.

Step 3. You can now invite up to 5 five family members (or friends). To do this, tap the blue plus icon, then enter the emails of the persons you're adding. You'll also be able to create a custom email or go wit the default "Join or family on Google Play" message.

Step 4. This step is out of your hands. Once your family members get the invite in their email account, they just have to click on the embedded link, and follow the on-screen instructions to get going. It's really all just a few taps/clicks away.

There you go, by this point you should have successfully created a family plan and invited up to 5 members. If you want add to new members, just go back to the settings screen in the Play Music app and tap the blue plus button again.

If you've encountered any trouble with setting up a Play Music family account, drop us a comment in the section below and we'll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible!

via: Droid-Life

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8 Comments

1. ph00ny

Posts: 2031; Member since: May 26, 2011

Nice but i don't think i'm going to upgrade since my spotify is on the other "family" plan and my google music is on special rate plan

posted on Jan 25, 2016, 12:20 AM 0

2. KParks23

Posts: 725; Member since: Oct 13, 2010

Kinda dumb how my special rate plan from the beta or whatever is 7.99 but my family plan would still be 14.99 shouldn't it be 12.99???

posted on Jan 25, 2016, 12:30 AM 0

3. mihai.a

Posts: 47; Member since: Apr 15, 2015

Well, your old discount shouldn't apply to the new subscription, since you're ditching your old (discounted) plan for a new (non-beta) one. Still, $14.99 for 6 people averages out at about $2.50, which is better than $7.99.

posted on Jan 25, 2016, 12:39 AM 0

7. g2a5b0e unregistered

Kinda dumb how you're sweating $2.

posted on Jan 26, 2016, 6:15 AM 0

4. HonestRealist

Posts: 196; Member since: Jan 25, 2016

Would be interesting to see how many paid subs use this service compared to the competition.

posted on Jan 25, 2016, 3:55 AM 0

5. Goldeneye

Posts: 419; Member since: Jan 22, 2011

I have 2 questions: 1) Is this family plan cross platform? Android and iOS on the same plan? 2) Does include You Tube Red for everyone on the plan?

posted on Jan 25, 2016, 10:22 AM 0

8. aleant36

Posts: 71; Member since: Feb 03, 2015

1) Yes, you can you use it on iOS or android or desktop/laptop 2) Yeah everyone has access to to YouTube Red, and YouTube Music app.

posted on Jan 27, 2016, 10:01 AM 0

6. schultzter

Posts: 16; Member since: Oct 20, 2015

If I understand correctly, even though everyone in my family gets to use the same payment method those purchases still aren't shared? So if my wife buys music, an app, or a book using the family payment method that purchase is still limited to her account? For most things this isn't an issue except for stuff for the kids! When I buy stuff for them I would like it to be accessible on all our devices. So the game they are playing or book they are reading or latest tune from the pop sensation of the millisecond is on every device and they can just keep going without me have to explain Google Play Store policies to them. Has anyone tried this? How did it work out?