You may have recently signed up for the YouTube TV streaming service, or be thinking of making the commitment. But wouldn’t it be great to share it with your friends to spread out the cost?
The question is: Can you share YouTube TV with friends?
It’s indeed possible to share YouTube TV – and at no extra cost, too. However, since you’ll have to use family sharing, your friends will need to meet the family group limitations.
This article will cover:
- Important information about YouTube TV family sharing
- Limitations on family sharing
- How to share YouTube TV.
Let’s get into it!
Can You Share YouTube TV with Friends?
Yes, you can share YouTube TV with friends. The way to do so is through YouTube TV’s family sharing. This allows up to six people to use the same membership concurrently.
However, you’ll need to make a Google family group with you and your friends, and family groups do have some limitations. One particular restriction which makes it harder to share YouTube TV for most friends is the location requirements.
The location requirements state that members of a family group should live in the same household. For your friends to keep their access, they’ll occasionally need to use YouTube TV from your home network.
Apart from roommates or close neighbors, most friends don’t live together. This can make it troublesome to maintain family group membership.
Additionally, there are simultaneous streaming limits. Family group members can use up to three devices to stream YouTube TV at the same time. While this is less of a problem for smaller groups, issues can arise when multiple friends are involved.
About Youtube TV Family Sharing
YouTube TV allows you to share your membership with up to five other family members or friends at no extra cost.
The person whose account has the subscription is the family manager. The family manager’s location will be the home location, and they can invite or remove family group members.
Each member of the family group can have their own profile for YouTube TV. Their content library, viewing preferences, and watch history will be completely separate.
Family group members can also share other Google services like a Google Play family library or a YouTube family plan. Having a family group can be useful if you want to share those other subscriptions with your friends too.
There are limitations like location requirements and simultaneous streaming limits which family group members need to meet, however. These can make it more difficult to use YouTube TV together with your friends.
Family Sharing Limitations
Unfortunately, YouTube TV’s family sharing has certain limitations and requirements. Some of them are easily met, while others can make it more difficult to share your subscription.
The family group manager who owns the YouTube TV subscription will need to:
- Be at least 18, and have their own Google account
- Not belong to any other family group
- Live in the United States
- Not use a G Suite account to sign up.
Family group members need to:
- Be at least 13, and have their own Google account
- Live in the same household
- Not belong to any other family group.
This means you aren’t allowed to share a YouTube TV plan with friends who live in different households.
To compensate for this, you can try having them access YouTube TV from your house occasionally to keep them in your family group. However, keep in mind that it goes against the official family group requirements.
Furthermore, even on the same home WiFi network, you can only concurrently stream on 3 devices. If you’re sharing with more friends than that, you won’t all be able to watch YouTube TV at once.
A YouTube TV 4k Plus addon allows you to have unlimited concurrent streams on your home WiFi network. It also offers 3 concurrent streams outside of it.
However, it costs extra money to add it to your subscription — so you’ll need to consider whether that price is worth it for you.
How to Share YouTube TV
To share YouTube TV, you’ll need to create a family group. To do this:
- Sign in to YouTube TV
- Select your profile picture, and select “Settings”
- Select “Family sharing”, and then “Manage”
- Follow the instructions to create a Google family group
- The family group members will receive an email invitation to join.
Then, members of the family group will be able to access YouTube TV from their accounts.
If you ever need to remove members, follow the instructions above. After selecting “Manage”, click the “X” button to remove a family group member. All members of the family group will receive an email when a member is removed.
Summary
It’s possible to share YouTube TV with your friends, as long as they meet certain requirements. You’ll need to add them to your YouTube TV plan’s family sharing.
The limitations for family members include not belonging to another family group, living together, and being over 13. If your friends meet these requirements, you can invite them through your YouTube TV family sharing settings.