Important 2025 Plex Updates
www.plex.tv
Personal Media and Beyond You’re going to be hearing a lot from us this year—we’ve got a ton of exciting...

We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.

  • yarr@feddit.nlEnglish
    23·
    13 days ago

    I keep a Jellyfin instance running as a hedge. Here’s the thing with Plex (and actually a lot of companies set up similarly): those “lifetime” memberships are a trap. Think about it: Plex gets your money ONCE but they have ongoing expenses. Sooner or later, they’ll have spent every single cent made by a lifetime membership unless they either get more folks OR squeeze everyone a bit more.

    Once they started adding their own shows and making strange UI decisions, I could sense the end was coming. A move like this brings it up fast. Jellyfin is not nearly as good as Plex in a lot of ways, but it’s really Open Source.

    Anyway, a lot of rambling, but in short: when there is a “lifetime” subscription, watch out!

    • waitmarks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      13 days ago

      Yes, it’s one thing to offer a lifetime subscription early on to get a large cash infusion and reward early adopters, but it’s a big red flag if they don’t get rid of the lifetime subscription eventually. What will happen is one by one, the people that use the service the most will switch to lifetime and your cash flow will dwindle. Eventually the only people left on the month to month are the casual users who don’t use it very often and will leave as soon as a price increase happens.

      • yarr@feddit.nlEnglish
        2·
        13 days ago

        I don’t think they necessarily have to get rid of it, it’s just that you can’t support a company ALONE from a one time infusion.

      • Toribor@corndog.socialEnglish
        2·
        13 days ago

        This is my exact concern.

        If I pay for the lifetime pass now, what’s to stop them from restricting even more features behind new types of subscriptions and paywalls. “We’re adding back the ‘Watch Together’ feature but it requires a Platinum Plex subscription and will not be a part of Plex Lifetime Pass users.”

        Seems kind of inevitable honestly.

        • Ushmel@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          13 days ago

          I’ve been waiting for this moment for like 8+ years though. I’ll just switch when it becomes more obvious.

    • dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.comEnglish
      2·
      15 days ago

      Alright, so I have had Jellyfin installed for years now, but my primary issue is that most devices myself or my users use lack official, readily-available clients. For example, the Samsung TV app is a developer mode install. Last I looked, nobody has put a build into the store.

      I really want to use Jellyfin, but I feel like my users simply can’t. I’m interested in others’ experiences here that could help.

      • Kekin@lemy.lolEnglish
        1·
        14 days ago

        I can speak from my experience with an Apple TV, the application “Infuse” works amazing with a jellyfin server. Though the application is essentially $1 month subscription, but works across all your apple devices, if you have any. I think it’s worth it.

        Additionally, the official app for Android TV worked pretty well when I last tried it on an Nvidia Shield

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zipEnglish
        01·
        15 days ago

        Yeah.

        Jellyfin is spectacular for LAN usage on two computers. Once you start using devices (because, you know, that is what people tend to plug into their TVs…) or going on travel, it rapidly becomes apparent that it just isn’t a competitor.

        Hell, a quick google suggests jellyfin STILL doesn’t have caching of media for offline viewing. Plex’s works maybe 40% of the time but… 40% is still higher than 0%.

        I have a lifetime pass for Plex and encourage anyone who even kind of cares to get one next time it is on sale (or shortly before the scheduled price hike). I have tried Jellyfin a few times over the years and… it is basically exactly what I hate with FOSS “alternatives”. It isn’t an alternative in the slightest but people insist on talking it up because they want it to be and that just makes people less willing to try genuinely good alternatives.

        To put it bluntly, Plex is an “offline netflix” as it were. Jellyfin is a much better version of smbstation and all the other stuff we used to stream porn to our playstations back in the day.

        • gdog05@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          15 days ago

          Jellyfin allows you to download whatever you want to your local device. But in a world of streaming, it seems to be a much smaller usecase. I take my tablet camping with me all the time, download some shows via Jellyfin and watch via Jellyfin. Maybe you’re using the term “caching” differently from the use case, but if local files is what you’re after, it absolutely does it. Just click download in a couple of different locations.

          • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zipEnglish
            0·
            15 days ago

            Did they? Or is that still the old hack of “just download the raw file. Your tablet is just a computer”?

            Because I didn’t see it advertised on the main web page and a quick google got me to https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin/discussions/364 which is open and abandoned tickets for the ios apps.

            https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-offline-downloads?pid=16373#pid16373 suggests it is also in the same boat for android. You can find workarounds but they aren’t using jellyfin.

            Which is “fine”. I watched WAY too many movies over the years with VLC on a laptop. But… why are we using a shim to treat a library as a streaming service in that case? Which gets back to Jellyfin just not actually being a Plex alternative for the majority of users.

            • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
              01·
              15 days ago

              Oh no! Please GOD, anything but tHe rAw fIlE!!

              Seriously though, wtf did I just read? That can’t possibly be your real stance, can it?

              • MrSpArkle@lemmy.caEnglish
                0·
                15 days ago

                This is a huge problem. The blueray remux might be 80 gigs. Most children’s devices will already be filled with other crap.

                • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
                  01·
                  14 days ago

                  I run ffmpeg on my phone. Alternately, I could shrink the file on my server and then download it without much trouble. You’re in a vanishingly small subset of users who know enough to care about file-size and know what can be done about it, but can’t be bothered to do it themselves.

                  I was avoiding suggesting getting more storage, but it sounds like in your case, keeping a 720p x265 version of each file(~1gb per movie) on-hand would cost you nothing.

    • Obinice@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      Alas my TV (LG WebOS 2) doesn’t have an application for Jellyfin, or I’d have switched years ago :-(

      • gdog05@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        13 days ago

        Is there an emby app available or Kodi? The base of Jellyfin should work in either. Plug and play as far as I’m aware with maybe some issues for certain versions.

    • Limonene@lemmy.worldEnglish
      01·
      15 days ago

      Jellyfin depends on proprietary Microsoft .NET, even on Linux.

      It’s still better than Plex and Emby, which are fully proprietary, and have no source code. But I will stick with sshfs with kodi, and nginx plus mpv for now.

    • kieron115@startrek.websiteEnglish
      7·
      13 days ago

      Ease of setup was how I just got one techie friend and two non-techie gamer friends to set up Plex servers and we had libraries shared to each other within 15-30 minutes. I don’t want to think about explaining VPNs and SSL to them for the alternatives.

    • GreyDawn@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      13 days ago

      tailscale changed the computing experience for me in everything I do. Amazing networking solution. I also use zerotier but find myself on tailscale more due to how many devices they offer.

    • quaternaut@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      13 days ago

      How do you set up HTTPS? I would like to encrypt the communication between my tailscale devices and my homeserver. Is it just a matter of using Let’s Encrypt with Nginx?

    • UnfairUtan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      This might be a dumb question, but could I access my Jellyfin through an external VPN like Proton?

      I have it set up in my raspberry to download Linux ISOs and run Jellyfin

      • Toribor@corndog.socialEnglish
        0·
        13 days ago

        If you mean that you are using Proton VPN on your Raspberry Pi to mask your downloading traffic, then no that same VPN will not help you access services like Jellyfin on your home network while you are remote.

        Instead you’ll want to use something like Tailscale (or Wireguard). You run it as a service on your home network and it then becomes your own VPN that you (or others) can use to connect to your home network when you are remote.

        You could run Wireguard on the same RaspberryPi that you use for downloading but I would recommend against it assuming that you’re running Proton VPN right on the host itself (and not inside a container).

  • secret300@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    151·
    13 days ago

    I’ve said it for years that Plex is shit because of their license and the fact that you have no control everyone said no it’s fine it’s my media fucking look at it now

    • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.todayEnglish
      6·
      13 days ago

      Yeah exactly. I tried to set it up once, installed it on a NAS box, and it starts talking about me making a cloud account. Why do I need a cloud account to log into my own hardware on my own network?

      I do not want the cloud
      I do not need the cloud
      I will say it very loud
      No cloud, no cloud, no cloud.

      But apparently it’s set up so the only way to log into your own locally hosted software on your own locally hosted hardware is with an external cloud account.

      To that I said no thank you and uninstalled it.

  • spacemanspiffy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    153·
    13 days ago

    I used to use Plex, then one day my internet was down and since Plex couldn’t phone home, it wouldn’t let me log in to watch media ON MY LAN.

    So yeah it’s inherently broken. That’s before you even consider the licensing.

    • kieron115@startrek.websiteEnglish
      6·
      13 days ago

      i’m not sure why it would do this, i’ve never had any issues with watching plex while the internet is down (in fact that was one of my original uses for it, to have movies and tv in a building without internet). I don’t have it turned on but I do know you can go into server settings -> network and set a list of IPs/subnets that can access without any authorization at all. That lets you use plex without even having a plex account afaik.

      • Ushmel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        13 days ago

        It has to do with the app used. I think it will work with web player and maybe the windows app, but it won’t work on Android/iOS.

        • kieron115@startrek.websiteEnglish
          1·
          13 days ago

          oh okay, interesting. well, you could always use the web browser on your phone/ipad i guess. not a great experience but i know for a fact that plex works on ios in chrome at the very least.

    • hedgehog@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      Depending on setup this can be true with Jellyfin, too. I have a domain registered, use dynamic DNS, and have Traefik direct a subdomain to my Jellyfin server. My mobile clients are configured using that. My local clients use the local static IP.

      If my internet goes down, my mobile clients can’t connect, even on the LAN.

  • TedZanzibar@feddit.ukEnglish
    93·
    14 days ago

    Judging by the rest of the thread I’m going to get downvoted for this, but what the hell:

    I’m sure I’ll switch to Jellyfin eventually but I tried it out a few weeks ago to see what all the hype was about and it just… wasn’t great. It was difficult to setup, with way too many overly-complicated settings, and then it refused to play one of the two test files I tried. Like it or not there’s a reason that Plex is the dominant player in the game, and a large part of that reason is that it verges on plug-and-play for simplicity of both setup and use.

    Yes, it sucks that they’re removing remote streaming for free users, but I imagine there’s a significant chunk of users who don’t know or care how to properly open their server up to the world and are relying on the Plex proxies for their streams (which happens entirely in the background), and those aren’t going to be cheap to run. Maybe putting them behind a paywall will provide the resources to make them faster.

    I did buy a lifetime pass last time they announced a price hike; it’s honestly paid for itself many times over, and I’ve been encouraging other users I know to do the same before this next one, because yes, it is a significant hike this time around. That said, while I wouldn’t pay monthly for it, I do still feel like the lifetime pass is tremendous value for such a polished product. It’s a shame they’ve had to do it at all, but I don’t begrudge them for it.

    • Revilo62@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      14 days ago

      That’s how I’m feeling about all these “TImE FoR evErYoNE tO swITCh To JElLyfiN” comments. You mean the program that also doesn’t support this functionality out of the box?

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      I imagine there’s a significant chunk of users who don’t know or care how to properly open their server up to the world and are relying on the Plex proxies

      That seems like the obvious place to put a subscription that won’t get people upset. Or maybe it’s in the presentation.

      When HomeAssistant started a subscription, they renewed their commitment to opensource, added new remote features with obvious costs under subscription while still letting you do it yourself, plus made it clear this funded continued opensource development. I happily pay this and haven’t been disappointed. Did Plex fumble a similar opportunity?

    • LeFantome@programming.devEnglish
      0·
      14 days ago

      I have a lifetime Plex account but have not used it in two years. I use Jellyfin. Obviously opinions vary.

      At home, I have FireTV and Roku devices. I stream remotely to iPhones and tablets using Twingate.

    • Randomgal@lemmy.caEnglish
      23·
      14 days ago

      This is what people don’t realize. If you want something good, you have to pay people for their time and talent. Free products that are free because of ideology are just exploitation with extra steps.

      • chaospatterns@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        14 days ago

        That’s a good reason for people to take the money they would have spent buying a proprietary solution and instead donate that money to an open source project. For me it’s not always about the cost, but what I get out of it. I’d rather the money go to the community and better it.

        • Randomgal@lemmy.caEnglish
          2·
          14 days ago

          The problem is people don’t put their money where their mouth is. Even less in the scale needed to produce a product of the quality te average person expects. You see this again and again. It’s very nice to think it works, but it doesn’t. A random guy saying “actchually I donated 1 Monero” doesn’t mean a project is financially sustainable.

  • yarr@feddit.nlEnglish
    4·
    13 days ago

    A big part of the appeal with Plex is that you can run a server and friends can sign up for a FREE account and stream remotely. When you take this away, you’re going to just kneecap the whole offering. This is such an arrogant move from Plex: they are thinking that when this change goes live they will get a flood of subscriptions. The more likely outcome is they will get a few subscriptions and a lot more angry and frustrated people that walk away.

    • Zacpod@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      11 days ago

      Friends can still stream for free, as long as the server is paying for plex pass. That was my main concern, too, but they make a point of stating it directly in the release.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    14 days ago

    Wireguard so you are always seen as being on the local network. This bit of assholery is easily defeated.

  • Evotech@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    15 days ago

    I’m not pirating a bunch of shows just to pay Plex for the privilege of watching it.

  • quack@lemmy.zipEnglish
    51·
    14 days ago

    Can’t say I have a huge issue with this - Plex isn’t FOSS and the infrastructure to make this happen isn’t free. Other options are available if you don’t want to pay the fee.

    • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      13 days ago

      But what infrastructure does this feature require? I’m direct connecting to my own personal server with perhaps credential handling and a handshake handled by Plex servers to connect. None of the media is passing through their servers - or it shouldn’t be if it is.

      • Captain Janeway@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        13 days ago

        In a nutshell, if your app isn’t able to make a direct connection to your Plex Media Server when you’re away from home, we can act as sort of a middle man and “relay” the stream from your server to your app. To accomplish this, your Plex Media Server establishes a secure connection to one of our Relay servers. Your app then also connects securely to the same Relay server and accesses the stream from your Plex Media Server. (In technical terms, the content is tunneled through.)

        So, your Plex Media Server basically “relays” the media stream through our server so that your app can access it since the app can’t connect with your server directly.

        Source: https://support.plex.tv/articles/216766168-accessing-a-server-through-relay/

        It’s not a requirement to stream and it’s sort of dumb they are lumping this relay service as a part of the remote streaming. Remote streaming should be allowed for free - if you are not a subscriber. The relay should just be a paid service, which makes sense. But if it’s a direct connection to my server, it should be free.

        That being said, I understand how Plex may have built some technical debt into this relay system. It might be hard for them to decouple the relay from the remote streaming. What they should have done is:

        We are removing the relay service as a free service, but you can still do remote streaming with a direct connection.

        And they should have built their architecture in a way that’s easy to decouple the two services.

        • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          13 days ago

          Thanks for that - I wasn’t aware of the relay service, but completely agree that this is what they should be charging for and not the remote play feature in its entirety. I’ll probably drag it out for a while by refusing to update the app and server… Might be able to make it work with Tailscale as others have suggested.

          In the past I’ve paid for a month or two when I wanted to download to my devices remotely (and I think that’s the singular feature that I’ve ever cared about in the Plex pass). But to take features away and then try and charge me for them is a bridge too far, I can’t support that bad behavior.

          • Captain Janeway@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            13 days ago

            I paid for the lifetime membership ~6 years ago so I’m going to stick with it. Plus I just use it for my own home. It’s not like I’m serving a bunch of other clients. But I’ll switch to Jellyfin if the lifetime membership ever gets taken away.

            • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              13 days ago

              I considered it when they warned about the increase and offered it at $75, but I just didn’t have the money to spend back then. Felt pretty stupid for not doing it, but I don’t even know what paid features they offer, and I’m clearly not missing them.

              99% of my usage is at home as well, so this is unlikely to affect me - until that random 1% anyhow.

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    14 days ago

    I gotta be honest, when I look at the problem pragmatically, it’ll be a lot easier to pay $20 a year than to switch to jellyfin and get all my users to figure out how to install clients and make it work for them.

    I’m already at the point in my life where my primary concern is making things work smoothly, and if I need to throw money at something to make it work smoothly, the choice is a no brainer. (At least for some values of “money”)

    • ByGourou@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      01·
      14 days ago

      Jellyfin works in the browser just like Plex.

      And for now you can do that, but that’s not the first, and not the last update trying to prevent people selling access to their server.

      • MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        14 days ago

        It definitely has some issues for ease of use. For example Jellyfin for some reason will not find the server on my network in any of the client apps, and typing in a URL by hand with a TV remote is not fun.

      • lud@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        14 days ago

        Browser apps are very annoying though. The support for some codecs (like HEVC) is usually worse in a browser.