Family organizer pays for YouTube Premium. 5 members of the family connected. Somehow my account does not have premium features eg ad-free, carplay youtube music, etc. was working for years before but now something changed and YouTube Premium subscription ended 19 Sept 2025. Thoughts?
In a significant policy shift that began quietly at the end of 2024, YouTube has restricted access to its Family Plan subscription, making it available only to accounts that meet specific eligibility criteria. As of last week, the change has been rolled out globally including major markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada with many users now finding the Family Plan option missing entirely, depending on their account’s eligibility.
According to a source at Google familiar with the matter, the new limitations are part of an effort to curb widespread abuse of the Family Plan. The subscription, originally intended for households, had been increasingly exploited by users sharing it with friends or strangers in other countries. A practice that violates YouTube’s terms of service. To address this, YouTube has begun implementing stricter account checks that determine whether the Family Plan option is displayed. Google has not publicly disclosed the exact criteria for eligibility, and the policy was initially tested in select regions before expanding globally.
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As many people have noted here, YouTube recently cracked down on Family Plan Premium Memberships where the five family members did not live in the same building, with Premium benefits being "paused" permanently. For some cancelled subscribers, the family members were their actual biological families but who live in other locations; for others (such as myself) the "family" merely consisted of five random people who mutually agreed to form a "household" and share the cost of Family Premium Plan.
However, no one seems to know how restrictive the new geolocation requirements are. Some people claim the cancellations only hit "Families" where the members were spread out across multiple nations -- but if all "Family members" were in the same nation, then it was OK. Others speculate that it is more on a regional basis -- such that (for example) is you were all in the same US state, then the memberships weren't cancelled, but if people are spread out to different states (but still within the same nation), then they would get cancelled. And some people claim that you literally all have to be in the same building, or your Family Premium benefits will be cancelled.
Which is true? I don't know. But maybe we could try an experiment:
If people were willing to start open "Family" accounts that were regionally restricted, maybe they would fly under YouTube's radar and be allowed. So for example, I live in California, and if someone else who also lived in California were to create a Family account with a Premium membership, and then invite in (sharing the cost) four other (random) people, with the only restriction being that they all live in California. Then the "family" would all apear to be in the same general area, and YouTube would allow it. And if that didn't work, we could get more geographically restrictive, and limit potential members to (in my case, for example) the San Francisco Bay Area, or wherever your city/region is.
I don't have the tech know-how to be the one wh starts a group, but I would be willing to join a newly created California-only Family group with Premium membership.
And if other people wanted to try similar experiments in other locations (e.g. an Ireland-only family, New York-only family, etc.), I'd love to hear the results if it worked or not.
Any thoughts?
Anyone with any knowledge about this. Considering purchasing YT Premium Family, My wife resides at the same address but travels to other Countries will she still be able to use her premium acct? No commercials etc appreciate your advice or suggestions.
So I’ve been using YouTube Premium Family for a while, and recently I hit a wall that feels really unfair. One of my immediate family members had their access removed simply because they’re living in another city for work and study.
According to YouTube’s Family Plan rules, all members have to live under the same roof as the family manager. While I get that they want to prevent misuse, this rule doesn’t reflect real-life situations. Families today are often spread out — for education, jobs, or other commitments — but they’re still families.
The problem is, instead of giving genuine families some flexibility, YouTube seems to be enforcing this policy in a way that feels forceful and punishing. Honestly, it makes me question whether keeping Premium Family is even worth it anymore.
Has anyone else run into this problem? Did you find a workaround, or did you just cancel your subscription?
So I want to get a family plan, but it says the price is 16.99, is that with 2 people and the price goes up? How does it all work?
Me and all my friends pay for premium individually and we're thinking of joining a family plan to save on money. We're all in the same state within 25 miles of each other. Are we able to do this with no problems, or do we have to be in the same household? And if so is there any workarounds, like having the one who bought the plan sign in every so often?
The way we were thinking of doing it was we were all gonna take turns paying it every month by sending money to the person who buys it.
Start with a PC/Mac and an Android device.
Do NOT connect to any VPN.
You will be creating a new account with a YouTube Premium Family membership and sharing it with your original account(s). This will not work if you already changed family groups too many times (i.e. you'd be stuck using this new account for YouTube Premium).
Create a new Google account in your home country.
While logged into the new account on your PC, go to
https://payments.google.com/Add a payment method to create an initial payment profile
Sign in to this new Google account on your Android device.
Make sure you can view this new account in the Google Play Store and YouTube apps
Go to the Google Play Store, and Account Settings - Make sure the Country shown reflects your home country. If not, you need to re-create the account (again, re-emphasis:
do NOT connect to a VPN).Back to the "Payments" site on PC, click the "Settings" tab
Next to "Country/Region", click on the Edit pencil icon
Click "Create new profile"
Click "Continue"
For the Country, select "Ukraine"
Go on Google Maps and find a random building to use the address of, and fill out the details.
Go through and create the profile.
Go to "Payment Methods" and add a Visa or Mastercard credit card that does not have foreign transaction fees.
Now you should see a dropdown with your name at the top right corner. Click on it and select your Home Country's profile.
Go to "Settings"
Scroll all the way down and "Close payments profile" - click yes and delete the profile - go through steps to confirm.
Now go back to the Android device.
Force stop and clear cache on the Google Play Store
Open the Google Play Store, go back to the Account Settings, verify the Country now shows "Ukraine".
Open the YouTube app and subscribe to the Family plan for 149 UAH (~$3.55 USD) using the saved credit card.
Go back to your PC and go back to
https://payments.google.com/Go to "Settings"
Next to "Country/Region", click on the Edit pencil icon
Click "Create new profile"
This time for country, select your Home Country
Create the profile.
Now go back to the Android device.
Force stop and clear cache on the Google Play Store
Verify in Google Play Store that it now shows your Home Country (if not, try force stop, clear cache again)
Now on your PC, go to
https://myaccount.google.com/family/createCreate a Family Group and invite your original account + any other members you'd like to add
I'm a Family Premium user. I and some friends are sharing a Premium subscription, and it works well, and it's been like that for a long time.
I know we're exactly the type of people you're trying to take down with this new measure, but I can't help but thinking that this decision is just plain stupid. If you're expecting us to pay a solo Premium subscription then let me tell you you're absolutely wrong. If that email ever reaches my inbox, not only am I not going to renew the subscription, but I'm going the full piracy route with Adblock and ReVanced on mobile.
We're Premium users. Regardless of who's paying, we're still paying each month, and it shouldn't be a problem for you Google. It worked for Netflix, but it won't work for you Google, your business model is too different from them. So take your sweet time to think about what you're doing.
For those unaware, I'm talking about this post (can't post hypertext links sorry) : https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/17v4796/finally_yt_has_jumped_on_the_address_bandwagon/