Using a windows based plex server, and the big question is, Is there a way to use plex players on any device, especially smart tv’s, without internet access? My router is still online as is my computer, but everything seems to want internet access, to get to the plex server in my own home!
This article goes over some of the settings you can put in place to use Plex “offline”.
It’s a bit older article but still works pretty well. You will lose out on some functionality but browsing and playback will be fine.
Some clients handle it better than others but all of them need to have internet access at least once and occasionally. My experience with Roku is that it caches credentials for quite a long time so any outages I’ve had typically don’t have much impact on playback.
If “offline” is a primary function, then Jellyfin might work better for a more local only setup. A number of Plex functions and features rely on internet access.
You’ll find some other forum posts about it if you search around for “offline” or “local only” to get some experiences from others - it comes up pretty regularly.
Edit: You can also enable DLNA which allows a simple browsing and direct playback (also mentioned in the article).
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200350536-dlna/
Setting this up for “offline” mode works just fine on some Plex Clients like on my iOS devices or through a Web Browser without issues.
However, the PS5 App (and the WebOS app) outright refuses to open, claiming that it can’t open without an internet connection.
Using a personal hotspot however, I can bypass that initial internet check and get connected to my account. But then, only on the PS5 app, I have several issues regarding the connection with my LAN server such as: Loading the catalogue is slow; constant playback issues; unrecoverable errors. It is simply ridden with issues that simply aren’t present on other clients like on iOS.
I live in a place that it is very common for me to be without internet a couple of hours a day, so this behavior of some Plex apps is very infuriating. I have already considered switching over to something like Jellyfin, but as there is no such app for PS5, switching over would be an issue.
Edit: clarified PS5 app issues.
[HowTo] Use Plex with No Internet
Plex assumes the Internet is always available.
The app that is installed on SmartTVs (LG, Samsung, etc.) is not the full version. When launched, it checks on the Internet then downloads the full version of the app.
You can use your phone as a hotspot for the check-in process. Then, without turning off the TV or launching any other apps, switch it back to your home network.
Read the guide. There are some server settings required as well. You’ll need to allow access without authorization (settings → network). Authorization requires communication with plex.tv, which is not possible if the Internet is out.
That is pretty much what I did for the PS5 app, and it doesn’t work well with connection and playback issues on the local network. Note that I do not have issues on iOS, Web or even using an external player like VLC.
On the TV I didn’t test the hotspot approach yet, but I will to confirm if it works. Either way I believe the apps should work as-is without the need to resort to external hotspot connections or other workarounds.
Note: I did follow the guides and configured my Plex server properly for the my local network.
Correct. They behave differently than the SmartTV apps.
The iOS and tvOS apps are full versions. The same applies to Android/Android TV.
When you point a browser at your server, it loads Plex Web directly from the server.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
