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Plex Is Now Enforcing Remote Play Restrictions On TVs 77

Posted by BeauHD from the PSA dept.
Plex is beginning to enforce new restrictions on remote streaming for its TV apps, requiring either a Plex Pass or the cheaper Remote Watch Pass to watch media from servers outside your home network. How-To Geek reports: Plex is now rolling out the remote watch changes to its Roku TV app. This means that you will need a Plex Pass or Remote Watch Pass for your Plex account if you want to stream media from a server outside your home. If you're only watching media from your own server on the same local network as your Roku device, or the owner of the server you're streaming from has Plex Pass, you don't have to do anything.

Plex says this change will come to the other TV apps in 2026, such as Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV. Presumably, that will happen when the redesigned app arrives on those platforms. Roku was just the first TV platform to get the new app, which caused a wave of complaints from users about removed functionality and a more clunky redesign. Plex is addressing some of those complaints with more updates, but adding another limitation at the same time isn't a great look.

The Remote Watch Pass costs $2 per month or $20 per year, but there's no lifetime purchase option. You can also use a Plex Pass, which normally costs $7 per month, $70 per year, or $250 for a lifetime license. However, there's currently a 40% off sale for Plex Pass subscriptions.
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Plex Is Now Enforcing Remote Play Restrictions On TVs More

Plex Is Now Enforcing Remote Play Restrictions On TVs

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  • It's (Score:5, Informative)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:17PM (#65818277) Homepage Journal

    It's dangerous to go alone. Take this [jellyfin.org].

    • Just a matter of time before Jellyfin does the same as Plex and there's a whole different server setup to move to. Seems to happen again and again.

      • Re: It's (Score:3, Informative)

        by jonwil ( 467024 )

        Jellyfin is open source so that can't happen.

        • Re: It's (Score:2, Informative)

          by wgoodman ( 1109297 )

          It's all the same software base. Plex took it closed source and the project continued as Emby before they took it closed source, and now there's jellyfin. Plex announcing this change prompted me to leapfrog to jellyfin. If they decide to take it closed source, I'll change my quadlets and migrate to whatever the new name is. It'll be a lateral move when it happens instead on a full migration. So it goes.

          I'm not about plex charging my Grandma $7/mo to stream tv from my house to hers. I wouldn't do it even if

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by SeaFox ( 739806 )

          So was Emby.

          • Yes but the source is always there. If they close source it you can just fork and and continue on the open source branch.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by SeaFox ( 739806 )

              WankerWeasel's complaint is about having to change setups to a new server. People who were using Emby when the source was closed still had to transition their stuff to a new product (Jellyfin) even though it was a fork. Being open source and based on the previous product didn't matter.

              I have never used Emby and I didn't use the early versions of Jellyfin, so I can't say how much was needed to transition. But if you have to get new playback apps and remake authentication, fix relatives' setups, you're essent

      • Re:It's (Score:4, Informative)

        by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2025 @03:29AM (#65818629)

        Just a matter of time before Jellyfin does the same as Plex and there's a whole different server setup to move to. Seems to happen again and again.

        In my experience, I haven't had to touch my library when moving from one of these apps to another... so shifting to a different app hasn't been particularly difficult or time-consuming.

    • I want to switch to Jellyfin, but the UI is just so ugly compared to Plex that it puts me off. I know 'content is king' and functionality should come first, but I'm not running a CLI on my TV—the visual experience matters.

      • What ancient version of Jellyfin did you run into that it was CLI on your TV? I don't think there even exists a CLI client for Jellyfin on TV (unless you jump through a lot of hoops to make it happen, of course, but then it's your own fault).

    • It's dangerous to go alone. Take this [jellyfin.org].

      Looks good, but I can't find the app in my TV's store so it's a complete non-starter. There's far more to Plex than just storing and serving media into a web browser. This story is about Plex enforcing something on TV apps. Promoting a service that doesn't also have a TV app is non-solution.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shrubbman ( 3807 )

        Looks good, but I can't find the app in my TV's store so it's a complete non-starter. There's far more to Plex than just storing and serving media into a web browser. This story is about Plex enforcing something on TV apps. Promoting a service that doesn't also have a TV app is non-solution.

        If it's not on your TV's built-in store then there are plenty of cheap streaming sticks with native Jellyfin clients in their stores that you can get. Buying a cheap Roku or Fire TV stick is less expensive than a Plex Pass, and might even have better long-term software support than whatever you TV manufacturer has baked in.

        Hell, if your TV is running something AndroidTV based just with Google Play stripped out and replaced with their own store then you might be able to side-load the client APK without too m

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sosume ( 680416 )

        Jellyfin has apps for most tv's. For Android TV it's in the play store. Installing it on Samsung tv requires some docker image with the Tizen dev environment to be running but that shouldn't be a "non-starter" for Slashdot readers.

      • Looks good, but I can't find the app in my TV's store so it's a complete non-starter.

        I got a Google TV because I knew it would have the best app support. Looks like you didn't.

        My desktop TV-used-as-Monitor has stupid LG WebOS, but I also don't need a TV-specific app since my desktop is connected to it and I don't connect the TV to the network, only HDMI.

    • I'm thinking about running both. My Visio TV doesn't have Jellyfin support, and that's where we mostly use it so it wouldn't make sense to completely ditch Plex. But Ples already charges for being able to access it from a phone or tablet (total BS), even in my own house, so I'm very open to alternatives.

      Have you tried running both? If so, did you run into any issues?

  • who is going to connect to a plex server outside of the home, and over public internet?

    install tailscale to bypass this, or switch to jellyfin (though i have to admit i prefer the plex player UI)

    • Came to say the same thing, but I am actually opposite in that I think that Jellyfin UI is better, and it is also customizable.

    • I have a coworker who does this, have his Plex server at home and when traveling and have some downtime, connects to the home server to watch a movie. I recommended him Jellyfin, but he can't run it because there is no client for his Samsung TV.

      I actually prefer the Jellyfin UI, switched at home from Plex to Jellyfin, found some video which crashes with Jellyfin client on WebOS, so went back to Plex for a while.

      • That's why I would never lock myself into a limited smart tv. Id rather grab an old laptop and use that.

        • That's why I would never lock myself into a limited smart tv. Id rather grab an old laptop and use that.

          Or just get a streaming "box" like FireTV or AppleTV....those generally seem work fine, have a remote and an easy to use interface.

          • Yes currently I have the fire TVs with 8gb ram. If they die then I will need to look for something else as I am not sure if I want to give Kodi up.

    • I have never used Jellyfin. Put I am not fond on the new Plex UI.

  • There's no good reason to use it. Just encode your video for random-access streaming, set up Apache or nginx with a URL that you make sure isn't indexed, require a client cert on the directory if you really want to be careful, port forward to it from a port on your router, set up dynamic DNS, and use a web browser. No arbitrary restrictions, just your content on your terms.

    • Re: And just like that, everyone stopped using Ple (Score:5, Insightful)

      by madbrain ( 11432 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:44PM (#65818319) Homepage Journal

      Fine for many people on slashdot. But read what you wrote again. It is beyond the technical abilities of mere mortals. Many ISPs also use CG-NAT, which gets in the way.

      Even though I have Wireguard setup in my pfSense home VPN, Plex is easier to setup. I bought a lifetime Plex pass during a black Friday promotion remotely many years ago, due to the DVR recording abilities, and included lifetime EPG for OTA.

      I have found that streaming directly to my Plex home server over TLS is generally smoother without going through Wireguard. Not quite sure why. It is certainly easier too, if you are traveling, and carrying a streaming stick connected to the hotel TV. You only need to setup the Plex client. No VPN needed.

      That said, I still had to setup Wireguard on the stick, in order to be able to access my own so-called "purchased" content (really, streaming codes that came with physical UHD blu rays) on Prime video, when traveling abroad (in Vietnam), due to geoblocking. And then I also had to get the hotel staff to unlock the volume control on the TV that was limited to 15%, which was fine for the hotel channels, but inaudible with streaming content. II wouldn't have succeeded without the help of my Vietnamese husband.

      • > I have found that streaming directly to my Plex home server over TLS is generally smoother without going through Wireguard. Not quite sure why.

        I recently had to solve this.

        Wireguard should work with a regular 1500byte MTU connection at 1440 or 1420 bytes (the default) --- however --- if your ISP is routing your IPv4 using 4-in-6 internally (like my major cable company) everything goes to hell.

        Try dropping your wg MTU to 1360, MSS at 1320, and set up a mangle table to clamp MSS to PMTU (e.g. iptables ru

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by madbrain ( 11432 )

          My ISP doesn't do that - they have a proper IPv6 implementation. However, my Wireguard tunnel is only setup for IPv4.

          I ran into the MTU problem this summer. I couldn't access my Home assistant over Wireguard at all when my smartphone was connected to cellular. It worked fine when connected to hotel Wifi. I finally figured out that I needed to drop the MTU. I dropped it on the client side - both my smartphone, and my laptop, which was connected to the smartphone's hotspot. This was on a different domestic tr

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Bert64 ( 520050 )

            No they have a proper IPv6 implementation, but legacy IP is tunnelled over the IPv6 core and has a reduced MTU.
            There are a _LOT_ of ISPs out there which are IPv6-first and have some second class setup for backwards compatibility with legacy sites.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It's not a solution for non-technical people, but can you use Cloudflare Zero Trust or similar for Plex?

        I have my own Subsonic music server at home, using Navidrome. I set up Cloudflare Zero Trust so I can access it remotely via the web, with a secure Google login in front of it. You can use other authentication methods, it doesn't have to be Google. Passwords, 2FA, certificates, other providers.

        For desktop, any browser works. For mobile I use Symfonium. It's not free, it's a cheap one-time purchase, but it

    • I keep hearing that people are abandoning Plex but some people are clearly leaving themselves vulnerable to future Plex-user pratfalls because this stuff keeps happening.

    • That would be awful, your described setup won't be able to handle subtitles and various sound tracks (multilingual support), it wont' remember where you stopped watching and won't be able to resume it later and would make a total pain to search the library.

  • It's weird that media on the internet follows a sine-wave pattern: first it was everything available (if you knew where), then most content was available, except some restricted by region, then almost all was restricted except through subscription, and we're sitting at a place where like, fifty-fifty subscription/freewatch.
  • I still run it without issues... I paid for a lifetime plexpass more than 6yrs ago as well. It's easy for non technical people to use, and the client app is available on all major devices. If you're so cheap that you don't want to pay for remote streaming, then just install a tailscale VPN as a workaround.... I also run jellyfin, but find it's still not as user-friendly as plex

  • ... I guess it's rabbit ears.

  • I run Jellyfin, but I don't expose it to the public internet. A WireGuard server on the router is perfect for accessing LAN resources, and the app makes split tunneling easy on most devices.

    • Cool server app, but doesn't have a TV client, so the end result is just as broken for the people this Roku change affects. More so actually since most people's TVs are in the same network as their Roku server and thus aren't impacted.

      I wanted to like Jellyfin, but there are downsides.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shrubbman ( 3807 )

        Cool server app, but doesn't have a TV client

        Huh.... looks at my Roku TV on one side and the Fire TV stick plugged into my projector on the other, each with their respective Jellyfin TV clients installed....

        They may not have quite as many TV client apps out there as Plex, but they do exist and are on some major platforms. If your TV's built-in smarts don't have a client that's too bad, but a cheap streaming stick can fix that easily enough.

        https://jellyfin.org/downloads... [jellyfin.org]

  • I have plex pass so wouldn't be unaffected regardless... But does this apply to *all* streaming outside my network? Or only streaming over plex's proxy? I expose my plex server to the outside world via the cloudflare tunnel, bypassing plex's infrastructure entirely.

    • All. I've paid in the past to be able to stream it to my phone while traveling, but now even just that would require a monthly fee to stream from my server to my phone. I might feel differently had I not already paid, but them changing the deal after the fact is why I took the time between announcement and implement GTFO.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bert64 ( 520050 )

        If they're providing a proxy service to bypass NAT then it makes sense they charge for it. Providing this proxying has a direct ongoing cost for them, so providing it free or for a one off fee is is totally unsustainable.

  • Don't use Plex.

    Switched to Jellyfin, works just as well and for free. Win-win.

  • >"The Remote Watch Pass costs $2 per month or $20 per year, but there's no lifetime purchase option."

    That is because we aren't allowed to buy anything anymore. We have to RENT your access so it continues to cost money forever. Especially ridiculous on things like this, which really require no maintenance resources.

    • Especially ridiculous on things like this, which really require no maintenance resources.

      Man I was with you right up until this corny line. It costs a shit ton to develop and maintain all of these player clients.

      • >"Man I was with you right up until this corny line. It costs a shit ton to develop and maintain all of these player clients."

        The player clients exist regardless of what network it is used on. It doesn't change with viewing "outside" your own network to some other server. Money is fungible, of course. But there is nothing about your rent payment to enable "remote" use of a different server that costs any development money for a Plex client. They might host an entry in a reflector, but that, again, re

  • I ditched it for Jellyfin months ago, and I do not miss it all.

  • It's fine (Score:2, Interesting)

    by GoJays ( 1793832 )
    This is a story about nothing really. If you have paid for the software this doesn't effect you in anyway. I bought a lifetime Plex pass 5 years ago for under $100. So at time of writing it has cost me $20 a year and will continue to get cheaper the longer I use it. This is a story to rage bait cheap bastards who feel they are entitled to free everything. If you use Plex and enjoy what it offers, pay them a few dollars and be done with it. I can't blame Plex for wanting to get rid of people who host se

  • I bought Plex pass years ago. However, I only really ever use it on my desktop computer. I tried to use it on mobile yesterday and it's terrible. Literally nothing would work properly.

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