How to Share an Amazon Prime Subscription With Family Members (Even If You Don’t Live Together)
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To take full advantage of Prime Big Deal Days next week, you’ll need to become an Amazon Prime member , which costs $139 per year or $14.99 per month. Prime members receive a variety of benefits, such as expedited shipping on many items and access to Prime Video streaming. However, a lesser-known feature is that you can share all the benefits of membership with your family for just one membership fee.
You can add one additional adult and up to four children to your Amazon Family , allowing everyone in the group to access all the standard benefits, even without having to live together. This feature was previously called “Amazon Household,” but its name was recently changed to make it a little less confusing. (Another feature that allowed Prime members to invite members from other families to take advantage of free shipping also officially ended on October 1. )
Here’s how the new Amazon Family program works.
How to Share Amazon Prime Benefits with Your Family
To get started, you’ll need an Amazon account and a Prime subscription (here’s how to sign up for Amazon Prime if you don’t already have one). Once logged in, go to the Amazon Family page by clicking “Your Account” and then “Your Amazon Family.” There, you’ll find the option to add one more adult and up to four children under 12. (Previously, you could add up to four teens, but as of April 2025, Amazon discontinued this practice, stating, “Amazon accounts and shopping profiles are intended for adult shoppers.” Sorry, teens. However, if your teen was added before April 7, they will retain their status in your Amazon Family.)
If you want to add an adult, you’ll be asked to enter their name and the email address associated with their Amazon account. You’ll then need to agree to link their payment wallet and select the content types (apps, audiobooks, and/or ebooks) you want to share. Amazon will notify you if a family member transfers one of your payment methods to their wallet.
Afterward, they will receive an email invitation to join your family. To accept the invitation, they need to click “Get Prime Benefits” and follow the instructions to agree to wallet sharing (and cancel their Prime subscription, if they have one). Invitations are valid for 14 days. If the person you want to invite doesn’t have an Amazon account, they can create one during registration.
Children can’t make purchases on Amazon, but they can access Amazon Kids content and features. From the Family landing page, you can access the control panel to manage access to content and features.
Some limitations:
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An Amazon family can only consist of two adults and up to four children.
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Family members must have an address in the same country (but not necessarily the same address).
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If an adult leaves an Amazon Family, no adult on that account can join another Family for 180 days.
If you need to remove someone from your Amazon family, you can do so on the Manage Family page .