Google may have been reluctant towards family plans in the past, but last December the search engine giant decided to borrow a page from Apple’s playbook and released the Google Play Music family plan for $15 a month, allowing up to 6 users to utilize the music streaming service on a single account. Excitingly enough, according to fresh reports from various media outlets on the web, Google will soon introduce a similar family plan for other facets of the Play Store, allowing 6 users to share one Google Play account and have access to the same applications, books, videos, and even the same music.
The basic idea behind the so-called Google Play Family Library is fairly simple. The service will allow up to 6 users to share the same Google Play account, and have access to the same apps and other Play Store goodies across the board, regardless of the platform they use. Once an application, video, or book has been purchased, the item becomes available for all the members of the Google Play Family Library group. In addition, the Family Library plan will not cost extra, but it will require a credit card to be linked with the account for future purchases. Furthermore, according to the reports, the system appears to be fairly fleshed out and will allow the group’s main user to have greater control over the content that’s being shared with the other group members, be it apps, movies, videos, books, or even music. Evidently this can be very useful for parents who may want to have a certain degree of parental control over the Library’s content. Additionally, reports claim that the Google Play Family Library group’s owner can allow other group / family members to use the linked credit card for purchases in the Play Store, and in order to avoid (or keep tabs on) unwanted expenses, all receipts will be sent to the group’s owner.
According to CNET, the Google Play Family Library service will launch in several regions across the world sometime later this month. Unfortunately, at the moment it’s unclear which countries will have access to the service first, and Google’s plans for expanding the feature’s reaches in additional regions are obviously unknown.