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.
What would you like OP to do? Nothing they’re doing is helping or hurting Plex. Nor is it helping or hurting anyone else.
Plex is enshittifying. I’m not sure how much they care about the opinions of Lifetime Pass users, or particularly care whether those people continue to use the service, at least when it comes to streaming personal media libraries.
For example, Windows is thoroughly enshittified, but I’m not going to tell users of Win 10 that they need to switch away right now, or that they’re bad people for continuing to use an old product they previously paid for. Just that they should jump ship whenever they’re ready to move on from Win 10.
It is heping Plex by adding to their number of users and further justifying their enshitifcaiton.
The correct move is to uninstall it and use an alternative.
Accepting enshitifcaiton and the downward trend of the status quo is why we have enshitifcaiton and the downward trend of the status quo.
Companies know users will just accept shit rather than be mildly inconvenienced or uncomfortable for a bit while they learn something new, even if it’s a million times better.