How To Gift Subscriptions On Twitch

One of Twitch’s most appealing features is the ability to gift subscriptions to other users. Both channel owners and viewers can do this, significantly enhancing the platform’s social aspect.

However, if you have never given someone a subscription before, you might not know how to successfully do it on your first try.

There are numerous details to keep in mind when it comes to gifting subs on Twitch, and this guide covers them all in detail.

Without further ado, here’s what you need to know.

What Does Gifting Subscriptions On Twitch Mean?

If you’ve used Twitch before, you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the platform’s subscription system.

Subscribing supports your favorite broadcasters and helps keep their lights on. In return, they can continue making awesome content for you and the rest of the audience following them.

In addition to purchasing a subscription for yourself, Twitch also allows you to gift one or multiple subscriptions to other users. It’s like granting them “special membership” with multiple channel-wide benefits.

Gifting a subscription to another Twitch user means they can enjoy all the benefits of being a channel supporter. This only applies to one channel: the one you chose to gift a sub for.

When gifting one or multiple subs, the channel owner and the rest of the users present in the chat room will be notified of your action, unless you choose to gift anonymously, which is also an available option.

You can do this by enabling the “Gift Anonymously” option when choosing the number of subs to give.

This and much more is thoroughly explained in one of Twitch’s official guides covering the process of gifting subscriptions to other users.

Now that you know what it means to gift subs let’s take a look at how to do it, step-by-step.

How To Gift Subs On Twitch

Before you can start gifting subs on Twitch, you first need to open the website in your preferred browser and sign in to your account.

The steps are then as follows:

1. Open the channel for which you want to gift a subscription to another user.
2. Find the Subscribe button, usually located under the playback window (depending on your window size and view mode), and click it.
   
   Note: The Subscribe button will instead say “Gift a Sub” if you are already subscribed to the channel. This doesn’t affect the process itself, so you can still go ahead and click it.
   
3. When you click the button, a window will appear on your screen displaying all the benefits you can gain by subscribing, along with an option to gift a sub instead of purchasing one for yourself. To give one to someone else, choose Gift a Sub.
   
4. Twitch will let you choose both the tier and the number of subscriptions you want to purchase. Choose one of the preset options, or scroll down to the bottom of the panel and type in a custom amount. 
   
5. Confirm your choice by clicking the “Gift X Subs” button, which will take you to the final checkout phase of the process. If you want the gift to be anonymous, choose Gift Anonymously at the top of the panel.
   

Select your country, payment method, and double-check all the details before you proceed.

That will ensure you don’t buy more or fewer subscriptions than you originally had in mind. This is very important as gifted Twitch subs are non-refundable, as stated by Twitch in this official blog post covering the topic.

If you want to gift a sub to a specific user, follow the process up to step 3. Then, instead of choosing any of the options for buying subs in bulk, click Gift a specific viewer.

The images below show how to gift a subscription to a specific user.

Note: With the introduction of Twitch’s region-based subscription system, the subscription prices you see will likely vary from the ones you see in the images above.

You can also gift a subscription to a specific user via the stream’s chat room.

All you need to do is find the user’s name in the chat and click it to open their card. Then, select Gift a Sub. Choose the specific details and complete the transaction.

Can You Gift A Sub With Prime Gaming?

Currently, no. Although this would be cool, you cannot currently gift your free Prime Gaming subscription to someone else.

Can You Decline A Gifted Sub On Twitch?

If, for some reason, you don’t want to accept the benefits of a gifted sub, you can disable them in the settings panel. However, this isn’t the same as declining the sub (which isn’t possible).

Once the payment is completed, the gifted sub cannot be refunded or declined.

You can, however, disable future gifts for channels you don’t follow.

Here’s how to disable the benefits of a gifted sub:  

1. Open Twitch in your chosen browser and sign in to your account.
2. Click your avatar in the top-right corner of the screen. From the list of options, choose Subscriptions.
   
3. Click on Gifted Subscriptions in the horizontal bar menu. Find the gifted sub you want to disable, and click on the red Disable Benefits button.

To prevent other users from gifting you subscriptions to channels you don’t follow, you can do the following:

1. While signed in to your Twitch account, click on your avatar located in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
2. From the horizontal bar menu, click Security and Privacy.
   
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the panel and enable the “Block Receiving Gifts on Channels You don’t Follow” option.
   

You will no longer need to manually disable subscriber benefits as often or become part of communities you don’t want to follow.  

Conclusion

You now know how to gift Twitch subscriptions. Go ahead and use this knowledge to make someone’s day and reward loyal viewers with your generosity.

Be sure to double-check the details when gifting multiple subscriptions, such as the tiers and amount you want to gift. Otherwise, it can quickly become very expensive or you might send the gift to the wrong person, and the process is irreversible.