The rollout of Google’s new Family Library feature was supposed to start rolling out by July 2, although it seems to be a slow one as there aren’t reports yet of it being available on a massive scale. The support pages and the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement have already been updated to reflect this change, but the actual appearance of it on the Google Play Store has yet to happen, at least from what we’re seeing on our end.
If you’ve already forgotten what this whole Family Library thing is, Google announced at its I/O conference that up to six family members will be able to share apps that have been purchased on the Google Play Store. So if you bought a game or a productivity app and wanted other members to have it too, you don’t have to buy one for each. Just share the one you already bought, at no additional price. You also don’t need to create a shared family account to be able to share apps, as the app will already be available for sharing with other registered members in the family group.
For developers, the user agreement has already reflected this change, adding the clause that the app may be shared with the other members. But in-app and subscription products are not included in the family sharing option. Developers also have the option to enable sharing of their app for previous purposes as well, but they would have to do it manually through their Google Play Developer Console.
To check if you already have the Family Library feature, head on over to your Play Store app and go to the Accounts section. You’ll be able to see a new Family option there. If not, try to update the Play Store first and if it’s still not there, it means the rollout is going very slowly.
VIA: Android Police
I have the family option in Play Store under accounts. However, I can’t see any way of sharing apps. I just bought an app today, July 8. My wife is in my family group. On her tablet Play Store still wants her to pay for the app. BTW, we are both signed in with our own Google accounts.