Steam parental controls
Steam Families replaced both Family Sharing and Family View. If a guide tells you to set a Family View PIN, it is describing software that no longer exists.
- Time
- 25 minutes
- Difficulty
- A few steps
- Where
- Steam on the web, the desktop client, or the mobile app
- Checked
- 2026-08
Recently changedSteam Families fully replaced Family Sharing and Family View, and existing Family View settings migrate automatically the first time you create a Family. The separate PIN was removed.
Before you start: Your own Steam account as the adult. The old Family View PIN is gone.
Do this
- Open Account Details from the Steam store page
- Choose Family Management and create a Family
- Invite your child as a Child member (up to six people per family)
- Open Manage on their entry and turn on Parental Controls
The settings that matter
| Setting | Younger child | Teenager |
|---|---|---|
| Game access permissionsAllows or blocks individual titles for that child. | Allow-list only — nothing they have not been given | Block-list the mature titles and revisit as they age |
| Steam feature accessRestricts the store, the community hub, and chat surfaces. | Restrict store and community entirely | Allow the store, keep purchase approval on |
| Playtime limits and schedulesDaily caps and time-of-day windows. | Set both; school nights matter more than totals | A schedule tends to survive better than a cap |
| Child purchase requestsThe child adds to a cart, you approve and pay, and the game lands in their library rather than yours. | On | On — it is the single most useful setting here |
What this does not do
- Steam controls the client and the store, not what happens inside a game. Voice and text chat in a multiplayer title run on that game’s own system.
- Nothing here reaches other launchers — Epic, Battle.net, itch, or a browser game.
- The same game played on a console or a phone is completely outside Steam’s controls.
- Adult and Child are roles you assign yourself; Steam does not verify anyone’s age.
What people get wrong
- Searching for Family View. It was folded into Steam Families and no longer exists separately, though most how-to articles still describe it.
- Believing Steam can filter in-game chat. It cannot, and no setting here will.
Checked against Steam Families user guide
in 2026-08. Platforms change these settings often — if what you see does not match, the platform’s own
page is the authority, and we would be glad to be told.