Hi, I just bought two Meta Quest 3s to share between me, my wife and two kids. Both are registered to my account and I have added the other accounts to both devices. But when I try to enable app sharing on the second device, it tells me that I have to turn it off on the first device??? Are you honestly telling me that it is not possible to share two meta devices within our family without having to buy all software twice? Please tell me I made a mistake somewhere and this is possible! Everything else would be a joke - a bad one!
Hey there @MetaJohannes! Thank you for your swift responses. To answer your question, App sharing is only available on one device. For more information, click this link. Even though you can't share apps across multiple devices, you can add up to three accounts to a single headset and allow visitors to play games on your device using a guest account, while keeping your personal account information secure.
Check out these articles on how to app share and having multiple accounts on one device. In regards to competing against another family member, only the admin account has this accessibility. I hope this helps!
If you're the author of a thread, remember to mark a reply as the Accepted Solution to help others find answers!
Hey there @MetaJohannes ! How awesome is it to see our customers eager to bring their families to the VR party? We're here to help you get started! You can share eligible apps with additional accounts on your device. Here is where you learn about App Sharing and how it works. However, please note that both accounts cannot be admin in order to share apps. Just head over to our website and check out this awesome article. It's packed with step-by-step instructions on how to use App Sharing. Also, if you're wanting to switch App Sharing to a different Meta Quest, we also have an article for that as well! Let us know if this has helped! We look forward to hearing from you!
If you're the author of a thread, remember to mark a reply as the Accepted Solution to help others find answers!
This is not the answer to my question! I want to know if and how it’s possible to share my apps with my family members across two or more devices. Currently it seems that this is only allowed on one device at a time. So this completely rules out to share two or more devices between family members. Also only the main account owner is able to compete against another family member in a game. Why does Meta deliberately prohibit this kind of usage? One should be able to share one‘s apps on multiple devices simultaneously with the same accounts.
Hey there @MetaJohannes! Thank you for your swift responses. To answer your question, App sharing is only available on one device. For more information, click this link. Even though you can't share apps across multiple devices, you can add up to three accounts to a single headset and allow visitors to play games on your device using a guest account, while keeping your personal account information secure.
Check out these articles on how to app share and having multiple accounts on one device. In regards to competing against another family member, only the admin account has this accessibility. I hope this helps!
If you're the author of a thread, remember to mark a reply as the Accepted Solution to help others find answers!
I am having this problem with family sharing as well. I would like to even have the option of buying the game twice so both my kids can play, but this system will not allow my children to buy the game and I can only let one of them play any purchased games at a time. I can’t even allow them to play different games as they can’t get to any of the purchased content. This is not family sharing when the whole family cannot participate.
The support is AI and bot optimised - copy and paste at best with the always same 'solutions'.
Long story short: Meta only allows sharing for ONE headset per account. had the same issue a few years ago and the support did not even bother to actually explain why they limit things like this.
There is a workaround IF you started fresh but if you already have linked purchases you are pretty much staffed and the support won't help in any way.
Let's say you have 4 devices in use as family devices. You can use ONE headset as the shared one with all apps (except sideloaded ones and 'unknown sources). Means on this device you set up multiple users. Back then Meta did not even allow sharing with more than one user... On the other devices, if linked to your account, all the apps will be available as well - BUT you won't get individual account and progress!
I highlighted the importance of not just family use to meta but also how these restrictions make no sense. I can use parental control to limit things but this won't give game or app accounts different to the one the owner has. Makes playing against each other or as a team literally impossible. I was promised that this will be addressed in a future firmware release - that was two device generations ago so I am not keeping my hopes up.
In all fairness though not all is Meta's fault. Android 12 is quite restrictive when it comes to individual user accounts and sharing things. Something as simple as a folder everyone can access that is NOT on a network but the device is a true hassle. Take you phone and any paid app from the store. Whether this app works on a second or even third account on your phone is up to the Android security settings AND whatever the developer of the app had in mind. Most don't bother too much and if the app also comes with it's own logging stuff the additional users will just start as if it was a fresh installation. Apps and games linked to your DEVICE's hardware ID's or your Google account might not even show up for the additional users....
I don't think I can explain it 100% but I try for our headsets: Meta links the device to the user account. Quite the opposite to what is done in the normal Android world. On top of that the link all purchases to the account while the security for the actually installation is done based on token generated from device hardware. On top this security comes an additional token or two linking it to the account. If you add another user then only this additional account token is required while all data is shared. The additional user gets a limited space allocated for the things relevant, like game saves or progress/settings and that's it. The developer is literally out of action here because Meta requires them to follow Meta rules and protocols. Whatever you find in the store is for single account, single user only. Additional users are done through Android and Meta protocols. And since the developer needs to make living Meta limited things to just one additional user for ONE device per account.
It was after a few weeks of back and forth with the support when I seemed to have accidentally got a real human to read it for a change. This nice guy provided a rather lengthy reply compared to what the support usually does. In there the importance of rights and costs for developers were explained. Sharing apps and games on a device means the developer misses out - and Meta as well because they take a good percentage from every sale. Like for PC games there is limits and 'copy protections' in place for good reasons. The support stated that there is basically just two options: 1: No sharing at all. 2: Limited sharing on a 'fair use' base. As I failed to understand this I required another reply and then it became clear: Anyone can use a freemailer Email address to get going in VR. An authenticator app takes care of the otherwise required phone number to verify the account. The person than creates a nice library, has a few month of fun and wants to move on. In such a case the person could sell the headset with all purchases and the freemailer account. While this does not happen too often (according to Meta) 'friend sharing' apparently is a concern. Like when you have a great library of things and convinced a friend to jump into VR as well. You register HIS headset to YOUR account and add him as a user - and so you can play all the great games together 'for free'.
I know none of this helps with your problem and financial loss.... But maybe it helps to understand that Meta has reason to limit things this way. After all, for them it is not about the experience but the profits made 😉
Yeah, that’s basically what I ended up doing. I had to create multiple owner accounts and have each one share with a child account on each headset. This is annoying and not a real solution but a workaround. I can’t say enough how much better Apple is at family sharing
Did this answer your question? If it didn’t, use our search to find other topics or create your own and other members of the community will help out.
If you need an agent to help with your Meta device, please contact our store support team here.
Having trouble with a Facebook or Instagram account? The best place to go for help with those accounts is the Facebook Help Center or the Instagram Help Center. This community can't help with those accounts.
