Alex Ruben
How To Include Family Members in Your YouTube Premium Subscription
If you’ve got a YouTube Premium Family Plan, you probably want your folks, partner, or kids to enjoy the benefits too. Sharing that subscription makes life easier, especially if everyone loves ad-free videos, background play, and YouTube Music Premium. But, honestly, figuring out how to invite people isn’t always straightforward. Sometimes the app feels like it’s fighting you, or the invite emails mysteriously go missing. So, here’s a rundown that hopefully makes this less annoying and actually works. Expect to end up with a handful of family members happily enjoying the goodies on their own accounts.
How to Fix Adding Family Members to YouTube Premium in 2024
Method 1: Inviting from the YouTube App
This one’s the most common, and it’s kinda weird that it still trips some people up, but here goes. You basically need to go into the app and send those invites manually. On some setups, the invite emails might land in spam or not arrive at all—so double-check that your family members check their spam folders if they don’t see the email right away. On some devices, the invitation flow is finicky, and you might need to revisit it after a restart or wait a little while after sending.
First, open the YouTube app. Make sure you are logged into the account with the active premium family plan. Then:
Open your profile and find the membership section
- Tap on your profile icon at the bottom right (or top right on some versions).
- Scroll to or tap on Settings or Your Account.
- Look for Purchases and memberships or directly for YouTube Premium.
- Find the section labeled Manage Membership.
Navigate to Family Sharing Settings
- Within the membership page, choose Manage Family Group.
- Then, tap on Edit or Add Family Member.
Send out the invites
- Enter the email address of what you want to add. Double-check it—on some devices, typos or domain issues can cause the invite not to land.
- Tap on Send Invitation.
Once done, your family member should get that email pretty quick. If not, ask them to check spam, or maybe try re-sending. The invite link is usually valid for some days, so don’t wait too long.
What to Expect Next
The person invited has to click on the link, accept the invitation, and sign into their own Google account (they need a separate account, not just a different email). On some devices, the invite might need a second attempt or a reboot of the app to show up. It’s kind of a hit-or-miss situation sometimes.
Extra Tips & Common Pitfalls
- Make sure the email address you entered is correct and active.
- Your family member needs to be over 13 and in the same country—you can’t just invite anyone from anywhere.
- If the invitation isn’t arriving, try resending, or have your family member check their spam folder or update their app.
- Sometimes, the app bugs out, and a quick reboot or clearing cache (try Settings > Apps > YouTube > Clear Cache on Android, or relaunch on iOS) helps.
Honestly, sometimes this whole invitation process feels like a struggle with the app’s clunky UI, but after a few tries, it usually sticks. One time, the invite just randomly showed up after 10 minutes, no explanation. Typical tech stuff, of course.
Final thoughts and what else to check
If the invites are timing out, not working, or getting lost in space, consider re-verifying your account’s eligibility or removing and re-adding family members. Also, ensure your account isn’t flagged or restricted for some reason. Because, of course, Google likes to make the simple stuff kinda complicated sometimes.
Summary
- Use the YouTube app to manage your family group.
- Send invites via email, and double-check for typos.
- Remind your invitees to check spam if they don’t see the email.
- If all else fails, restart the app or device and try again.
Wrap-up
Adding family members isn’t exactly a smooth ride, but with patience, it works most of the time. The key is making sure invites go out correctly and family members accept in time. Because of course, Google loves making this more complicated than it should be. Fingers crossed, this helps someone get their family happily enjoying the premium perks without a fuss.