A new way for families to establish their own rules

Steam Family Options are now available to all users

Steam Family Options are now available to all users in the main client.

A big thanks to all of our beta users who provided valuable feedback - please keep it coming!

To recap:

We understand every family has its own approach to establishing rules and setting limits when it comes to media, entertainment, and games. We hope most families talk through these issues together and find ways to agree on what’s realistic and fair. It sometimes seems there are as many family policies as there are families. So with Family Options, we’re introducing a new way for parents and families to establish their own rules together, using Steam.

Whether a Steam account is your own or your child’s, you can use Family Options to limit an account’s access to a subset of its content and features. With Family Options, access to Steam Store, Library, Community, and Friends content and features may be gated by the entry of an additional PIN.


We encourage you to create a Steam account with your child. If you and your kids find Steam to be a bit too overwhelming when parents aren’t around to help, now you can manage access to content and features using Family Options. You may also choose to enable Family Options on your own Steam account, if, for example, you’re worried about the kiddos going crazy with the credit card or the scary zombies while using Steam on your computer.

To enable Family Options, log into the account your child will use and visit Settings, where you’ll find the option to manage “Family Options” under the Family tab (or from the Family Options button in Big Picture mode). From there, step through the wizard to select the content and features you’d like to be accessible while in a PIN-protected Family View.

An account with Family Options enabled will be set to Family View by default. In this view, content and features that you have restricted will be unavailable. To access additional Steam features, click on the Family View button on the main Steam view and enter your Family Options PIN. This will switch your account out of Family View, remaining this way until you return to Family View (via that same button) or log out.

If you’ve opted to only allow access to a subset of the account’s library, your account’s library will include a new group called Family Games. Family Games are the games you’ve chosen to remain accessible while in Family View.

There are multiple ways to add and remove games from this list. First, log into the account, select the Family View icon and enter your Family Options PIN to exit Family View. Then, either:

• Find the game in your Library and either right-click on the game or visit the links section of the game’s view to locate “Add to / Remove from Family Games.”
  
• Visit Settings and select the button to manage “Family Options.” From there, run through the Family Options wizard again to select new content and features for Family View.

Once you’re happy with the set of content and features you’ve selected, then return to Family View by selecting the Family View icon and confirming your choice.

To modify your Family Options, first log into the account, select the Family View icon and enter your Family Options PIN to exit Family View. Then visit Settings, where you’ll find a button to manage Family Options. From there, you can run through the Family Options wizard again to select new content and features for Family Mode. You’ll also be asked to select a PIN, which you’re welcome to leave the same or change.

To remove Family Options from your or your child’s account, exit Family View and then visit Settings, where you’ll find a button to manage Family Options under the Family tab. From here, select “Disable Family Options” or, if using Big Picture, uncheck the box in the first page of the Family Options wizard. This will remove all restrictions from the account.