Google Play Rolls Out Family Sharing

Google on Wednesday announced a new Google Play feature dubbed Family Library that allows up to 6 people to share apps, movies, books purchases. It will roll out to people in the next 48 hours in 12 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the U.K., and the United States) and requires people to sign up and add family members (you can add your friends as family member). The announcement is mostly in line with a CNET report from earlier this month. USA Today reports: The feature will allow users to share apps, games, movies, TV shows or books from Google Play on Android devices. Movies, TV shows and books can be shared on iOS platforms and the Web. After a user signs up for the Family Library, the person adds up to five family members and decides on the credit card that will be used for the families purchases. Eunice Kim, head of families for Google Play said a unique feature of Google Play compared to other family sharing initiatives is that family members can also choose to pay with their personal credit card or with gift cards. The same user who organized the family can control who below the age of 18 needs permission to purchase content.The feature is strikingly similar to an option in Apple's App Store that does the same thing.

Dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

Now you can make Google's analytics even more money by volunteering information that children are legally forbidden from providing themselves!

You are the product

[bagofbeans]

This way the customers very reliably identify their most strong social and familial connections.

No thanks.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been wanting to split my 8 year old off on his own google account so I can put stricter controls on the google account associated with the tablet he uses, but I've been unable to do so without having to repurchase hundreds of dollars worth of movies and apps. Maybe not a good tradeoff for you, but I'll take it.

How is this different?

[fluffernutter]

I just have the same account on all the family devices and it seems to have worked well so far. How does this offer any difference?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

By everyone having their own account. You fucking retard.

Re: How is this different?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's different if you're a developer: Apple's sharing plan is opt-in, but Google's is mandatory from this point forward. Hope you don't mind giving copies away.

What could possibly go wrong?

[daveime]

Dad just downloaded Anal Action 3, and Mom is enjoying the interactive 50 Shades of Grey app. Would you like to see what else your parents did, or continue with your purchase of $1000 worth of Pokemon-Go coins on Dads credit card?

Re:What could possibly go wrong?

[pushing-robot]

It helps to RTFA:

Users are also able to choose which of their content to make unavailable for the family, like dad's horror films, or the college daughter's explicit music.

This is the one feature sorely lacking from Apple's family sharing.

Horror?

[bagofbeans]

I agree that daveime's suggested viewing for dad does appear to be in the horror genre.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Why would it matter? Everyone knows mac users only watch disney movies and classic cartoons.

Re:

[unrtst]

I'm not sure who had it first, but Amazon has had "Amazon Household" including "Family Library" for quite some time.
This isn't really copying; it's just addressing some awful limitations that get imposed on everyone.

They can't simply allow you to share your music (for example) with anyone and everyone, or they won't be allowed to sell music anymore.
If they allow you to share with a small group, it may be enough to curb massive external sharing, especially for movies. The fewer people use things like torrent

Re:

[enjar]

Prior art: My YMCA has a family membership plan, so does my insurance company. Spotify does, too. Amazon has it. So did the mom and pop video store we used to rent videos from when I was a kid. Parents could set up an account and then you could ride your bike to the video store with a few bucks and rent a movie without having to hassle mom and dad to go with you.

if only it actually worked...

[green1]

The link to the feature in the article and summary give me a "not found" from google, and all searching I can do turns up the same thing, or articles from google pointing me to non-existent menu settings in the play store app on my phone.

Re:

[green1]

That link works, but has absolutely nothing about family in it.

Re:

[internerdj]

TFA: "By Friday, Google Play users will be able to share nearly all their purchases with family members, across all their devices."

Re:

[green1]

You'd think that google, when communicating out a URL, would be able to at least put up a "coming soon" page. Or is that really too difficult for such a small software shop to figure out?

Re:

[green1]

So they communicate out the URL, before they put anything there? Isn't that kind of marketing 101 type stuff?

"Strikingly Similar"

[schitso]

Wow, you mean basic features are similar to one another? I hear that Android phones also have touch screens and apps! Hmmmmmmm.

Re:

[green1]

Careful, Apple has sued for less...

Another useful feature not for Google Apps domains

[brettw]

Just like Google Fi and Google Music (family plan), gapps accounts can't use it.

It seemed like such a good idea back then.