Plex will now require users to have a paid subscription in order to watch content by remotely accessing a personal media server. Plex made the announcement that this would become a requirement back in April but will start enforcing it this week.
In a blog post from March and updated in April, Plex wrote “Going forward, you’ll need a Plex Pass, or our newest subscription offering, Remote Watch Pass, to stream personal media remotely. To learn more about these offerings and which may be right for you, visit our plans page.”
Last week, the service released a service announcement, spotted by How-to Geek, to let users know that the change would be going into effect this week, writing “Starting next week, we will begin requiring a Remote Watch Pass or Plex Pass in order to stream remotely to our Roku app. This update will also bring the improved changes to the navigation that was released to the preview build of the Roku app a few weeks ago.”
While Roku is the first platform that will see the update, all other apps will be included soon. The requirement change for remote streaming will come to all other Plex TV apps including Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, etc. and all third party clients using the API to offer remote streaming in 2026.
The service announcement outlines two options for users. The first option, signing up for a Plex Pass subscription, is recommended for server owners. If a server owner signs up for the paid subscription, it gives all users accessing the Plex Media Server the ability to stream remotely, without an additional charge.
The other option, recommended for individuals who don’t own a server but watch using others’ servers, is signing up for Plex’s new Remote Watch Pass. This allows individual users to remotely stream media from any personal media server to which they have access, including those owned by friends or family who don’t have a Plex Pass.
Users who already have an active Plex Pass subscription will be able to continue using remote playback without interruption.
If you’re using Plex to watch content through a Plex Media Server and you need a subscription. This is a great time to sign up. Right now, Plex Passes are 40% off for Black Friday.
The Plex streaming service remains free, with ads.