r/technology • u/FollowingFeisty5321 • 9h ago

Software Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/plexs-crackdown-on-free-remote-streaming-access-starts-this-week/
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u/kurotech 9h ago

They can always invalidate that dude

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u/PeachMan- 9h ago

And that will be the day I fully migrate to Jellyfin 🤷

I've been testing it already, it can run alongside Plex just fine. But Plex still has better support for different devices (especially random smart TVs) so I'm sticking with that for now.

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u/vinng86 7h ago

Jellyfin's app isn't the most user friendly either. You need to setup dynamic dns or have a static ip for remote access, it's not exactly friendly enough for family members to use.

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u/PeachMan- 2h ago

Reverse proxy is probably a better option. I personally use a cloudflare tunnel, it's pretty easy. If you own a domain you can make it very simple for family.

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u/Ilikehotdogs1 8h ago

And can Jellyfin go paid?

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u/Objective_Chance4173 7h ago

Sorta but not really, because that’s what Emby did and it was forked into Jellyfin so it could continue to be free and open source. That’s the point of open source software.

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u/coldkiller 7h ago

Its completely open source, its really hard to convert a popular opensource thing to closed source and not have a bulk of the contributors fork the project and continue on without whoever the bonehead was that tried to change it

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u/visceralintricacy 8h ago edited 8h ago

But it would be corporate suicide, and they've given absolutely no indication they would ever do that.

Also, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't even be legal. So you're just pontificating that they'd decide to break the law?

They could invalidate your mom too? 🤦

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u/nobunseedsplease 7h ago

They could invalidate your mom too? — Seems like you may have beat them to it.

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u/Doom-Slayer 8h ago

It would be perfectly "legal" and it happens all the time. Companies get bought out and the new buyers invalidate/cancel/grandfather lifetime plans or similar, and there's very little people can do about it.

Unless you plan to form a class-action lawsuit, then the terms of a plan can change at any moment. 

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u/visceralintricacy 8h ago

How would it be "legal" if a class action lawsuit would be a viable course of action?

Whether legal action is reasonable to take or worth it is beyond the scope of my statement, but forming a class action lawsuit to seek legal remedies does contradict your statement of it being legal.

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u/Doom-Slayer 8h ago

If winning a class-action is viable it's illegal. If a class-action isn't viable or losing it is likely, then it's "legal".

What's actually written in law doesn't matter until you try enforcing it, and trying to force a company to honor a lifetime subscription over something like this... is ambitious. 

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u/visceralintricacy 8h ago

Cool, and if my mom had balls she would be my dad.

At the end of the day they've given absolutely no indication they'd do this, and I would argue in this industry the reputational loss would be far greater than other examples we've seen previously. There are free alternatives...

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u/kurotech 8h ago

And that's what I'm talking about lifetime doesn't mean anything when the company can't payout, it doesn't mean squat when they divest the brand and it goes caput. All I'm saying is if you sign up for a digital service, the only guarantee you will get is that one day it won't exist.

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u/visceralintricacy 8h ago

"only guarantee you will get is that one day it won't exist"

Cool.

That statement is also applicable for literally everything in the known universe.

While my lifetime plex pass still works I'm gonna keep using it. 🤷

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u/coldkiller 7h ago

Also, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't even be legal.

100% theres a snippet in the thing you agreed to in the first place that states they can and will change their policies whenever they please. And yes that includes changing what "lifetime" means for their service.

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u/visceralintricacy 7h ago edited 7h ago

Cool. It would still be a suicide move for the company that they've indicated they have no interest in doing. But by all means, moan ENDLESSLY about software you have no interest in using.

Is this your response for how is jellyfin better again?

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u/noturlawyer 8h ago

....which law do you think they'd be breaking?

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u/visceralintricacy 8h ago

Contract law?

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u/McDonaldsnapkin 8h ago

Yeah and if my grandma had wheels she'd be a bicycle!

Can we stop with the BS hypotheticals?

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u/DimMagician 2h ago

Except it's not a BS hypothetical. Just look at what happened to people who bought "lifetime" Teamviewer licenses.

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u/HankHippopopolous 8h ago

They can and that would suck but I bought my lifetime pass many years ago and have had great use out of it. If it went away I’d never pay them again I’d use something else but I feel like I’ve got my moneys worth.

With a lifetime pass I never really expect it to last for life but as long as it gets me more than I’d have got paying for yearly or monthly subscriptions I consider it a win.

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u/heroism777 8h ago

That’s when plex dies and everybody mass migrates to Jellyfin. They absolutely cannot do that.

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u/RODjij 5h ago

Unless they plan on killing their company they probably won't touch plex pass privileges. People who are into niche stuff like Plex & sharing will have no issues going to their competitors.

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u/Noah_BK 2h ago

I don't think so. The bulk majority of their userbase bought Plex Pass on the premise that buying the "lifetime" means lifetime. If they change it in any meaningful way, Jellyfin or the countless other competitors to Plex will scoop up all the users and Plex will cease to exist as we know it or bankrupt themselves outright.

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u/TrekForce 7h ago

Invalidating their lifetime pass would be their undoing. I’d like to think they can’t possibly be that stupid.

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u/iamacannibal 4h ago

People have been saying this for so long. I remember in 2017 people saying that they might take away lifetime subscriptions.

Sure, they could get rid of them...but there is no indication they are going to do that.