Steam Family View is Steam’s parental control mode. It can limit which games appear, block Store and Community access, and require a PIN for purchases or restricted settings.
These steps apply to the Steam desktop app on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Does this affect you?
Use this if you want to restrict a child or shared-computer Steam account without locking down your own account.
Turn on Family View and set a PIN
- Sign in to the Steam account you want to restrict.
- Open the Steam menu in the top-left corner.
- Choose Settings.
- Open the Family tab, or Parental Controls on older versions.
- Click Manage Family View.
- Create a PIN that is different from the Steam password.
- Confirm the PIN and save.
Family View is set per Steam account. Make sure you are signed into the account you actually want to restrict.
Choose what to restrict
- Restrict Store access to block browsing and purchases without the PIN.
- Restrict Community access to limit chat, friends, forums, and user-generated content.
- Approve specific library games individually.
- Use age-rating filters where Steam has rating data.
- Save changes so the restrictions apply on the next use.
Store controls and Community controls solve different problems, so review both instead of only limiting the game library.
Screen time and multiple children
Steam Families also supports playtime management from the Family Management page on steamcommunity.com. You can set daily or weekly limits and allowed play windows on top of Family View restrictions.
If more than one child has a separate Steam account, repeat setup for each account. That lets different ages have different game and communication rules.
PIN recovery
Steam does not let someone simply reset the Family View PIN from inside the restricted account. Use the adult or original managing account through Steam account recovery and Family Management to reset it.
Sources
- Valve – Steam Support: Family View (2025)
- Valve – Steam Support: Manage Your Steam Family (2025)
- ESRB – Understanding Game Ratings (2025)