Plex has confirmed that it will require a Remote Watch Pass or Plex Pass for remote streaming on its TV apps. The change is going into effect for the Roku app first, followed by all other TV apps and third-party clients in 2026.

Earlier this year, Plex increased its pricing for Plex Pass and stopped supporting all options for free remote streaming in the Plex apps, such as adding a custom server connection in the app settings. The company said at the time, "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." That's also when Plex introduced the Remote Watch Pass as a less expensive way to enable remote streaming again.

Plex is now rolling out the remote watch changes to its Roku TV app. If you have Plex Pass, or the owner of the server you're streaming from has Plex Pass, you don't need to do anything. Otherwise, if you are streaming on a different network from the server's home network, you need Plex Pass or Remote Watch Pass.

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[–] turdas@suppo.fi -1 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but you can remotely stream from Jellyfin without using a VPN.

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

You CAN, but you really shouldn't. Even the documentation says as much. The Jellyfin server is way to insecure to expose it to the open internet. In reality you can't safely use Jellyfin remotely without a vpn

[–] turdas@suppo.fi -1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

It does not say that in the documentation. What the documentation does have, however, are extensive instructions on how to make Jellyfin accessible on WAN: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/ https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/reverse-proxy/

[–] brewery@feddit.uk 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is good to know, thanks for sharing. I've only got it local for now after installing at the weekend and wasn't sure how secure it was for external access.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'm just chiming in to say that while the documentation gives you information on how to do external access, there are multiple issues open on the github about unauthenticated endpoints that if you know what is on the server already, you can confirm that it's there

So I wouldn't use a standard naming convention because using that knowledge, someone who cares could use common names that could be on the server, followed by common standards of formats they would be in, and be able to confirm it's their via the end points.

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