You’re trying to share your premium family place with someone and Youtube keeps telling you that they’re already in a family group.
This is a common thing amongst users who have just purchased a plan and it is easily fixable. The most important thing is to first make sure that that account is not already in a family group.
We’ll show you how to do that in this article. Once you have addressed this there are multiple other solutions that will help you pinpoint the specific cause of this glitch and help you fix it.
The best thing you can go through all the steps I’m about to show you. In this article, I’ll first be explaining why you may be having this problem and every possible solution that has worked for me and others.
Why is Youtube Saying You’re Already in a Family Group?
If youtube is saying ‘Someone is already in another family group, you can only be part of one family group at a time’ when they’re not then it is usually because of a bug. Bugs can cause things to go wrong on your account.
In this case, there is a bug Youubte hasn’t addressed which thinks you are already in another family group when you aren’t or when you have never joined one.
The most common reason Youtube is saying you’re already in another family group is because you are. You will need to delete the other family group with I will show you how to do down below.
If you are still getting this message after deleting the family group then it is most likely a software bug problem.
The best thing to do to solve this bug is to either wait for Google to fix it or report the bug to Google itself. This is usually done by submitting a ticket or emailing them.
Delete Family Group
Since Youtube is saying that the account you’re trying to share the family plan with is already in a group, it would make sense to just delete that group.
This solution has been the one that has worked for the majority of users so it would make sense to include it right at the top.
Now it may be the case that this person isn’t in a family group to delete. If so then you will have to go onto the next solution.
If the family member you’re trying to share with is in a group, you can delete it by going to their Google account to start off with. Now click on People and Sharing > select Delete Family Group.
Once you add them to another family group, you will only be able to do this once every 12 months so keep that in mind.
Clear Youtube Cache
If the above method didn’t work for you then the next best thing I’ve seen work a lot of the time is to cache the cache of the site you’re on.
If you don’t know what cache is, it’s basically old files stored on whatever website or app you’re using which helps use up less storage.
However, this can cause things to bug or glitch, in this case, this could be what’s causing the problem. So deleting the cache will remove any old files which are corrupt.
To delete the cache of the page you’re on, you can do this by clicking on the three dots in your menu and going to More Tools > then Clear Browsing Data. This is specifically for clearing the cache on Chrome.
You Can Only Switch Groups Every 12 Months
If you’re trying to share a premium subscription with a family member you will have to make sure that they haven’t been in another one within the last 12 months.
This is because Youtube doesn’t want people joining random family accounts, since, you generally only have one family, so it would make sense that you only need to join one family account in your entire lifetime.
Since you’re trying to add them to another one, Youtube won’t allow this as it restricts accounts to only 1 familiar account every 12 months.
Even if they have left that family account they will still not be able to join another group until the time is up.
Some users have explained that even when their family member has never been on another family group, youtube is still giving them the 12-month message. At that point, I would put it down to a bug in that specific case.
Re-Login Into the Account
Since the problem could just be a glitch or a bug, a good way to troubleshoot this is to just log out of your account and back in. When you do this, it may fix any temporary glitch that may have been occurring.
Another reason to log out is to see if the issue is specifically with your account or just youtube in general. I would suggest you do this for both accounts. The one you’re trying to share the plan with and yours.
To log out of your youtube account, just click on the profile icon in the top right corner and tap sign out at the bottom. Now sign back in which should be a fairly straightforward process.
Wait For YouTube to Fix the Issue
If you have tried every step above the the only thing you can do is wait for Youtube to fix the problem themselves.
This can take a while but when many users start to report a problem to youtube they will usually catch it and update it in the next software update.
You can try speeding this process up quicker by contacting them directly. Having a look at their community support forum may also be of good use to you.
When submitting a ticket or an email, be specific about what the actual problem is and provide screenshots so they get a better understanding.
You should expect to hear a response within 3-4 days but if you don’t hear anything, assume they’re already working on it.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by now, you should have fixed the You’re already in a family group problem.
To recap, you will need to diagnose if it’s a problem within your account or just a software bug, If it’s a bug then all you can do is wait for Youtube to address the issue.
If it is a problem in your account then you would need to delete the family group on which the account having the problem is on. Another thing you can do is clear the cache.
You can also try logging out and back in to see if the problem is specifically related to a bug. If you log back in and you’re still having trouble then it’s probably a bug
If none of these work then report the problem to Youtube by submitting a ticket. They should get back to you within a few days.
Hopefully, the solutions provided helped you fix the problem. If you found another solution on your search then please contact us and let us know so we can add it to this article.
