Android Manual connections on new phone not working

Plex Players Mobile Devices
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1

Server Version#: 1.19.4.2935
Player Version#: 8.3.0.18912

I have a private server running perfectly fine in a docker container using the official plexinc/pms-docker image which is fairly customised to allow a specific client subnet unrestricted access to the server (allowed without auth).

I’ve not signed into my Plex server (Never have and don’t want to, at least not until I get a lifetime Plex pass preferably on a discount given the hassles and wasted money on activating the app). I also haven’t claimed the server yet because I am not intending to bring it into the plex-verse - I want to keep it privately hosted and/or self-hosted and publish myself later via port forward into my DMZ.

The problem is; a new installation of Plex Android app on my wife’s new phone refuses to connect to the server using the app when adding as a manual connection. I have other Android devices that use the server just fine (latest app) when on the same network. The server is accessible on said new phone via the hosted web app along with computers that are on that plex unrestricted access subnet. Instead the wife’s phone connecting and discovering content for my server, she sees a lot of random Plex content instead.

What is most strange is the app on her new phone allows you to toggle the remote connections feature and add one or two servers, but when navigating back to that same setting one cannot edit the manual connections IP or port even though the toggle is enabled/on.

Feedback to devs via Google Play (on the wifes Google account) has not received a response either.

I am not entirely convinced that the following article is valid, since I can use my server fine on other devices both with the Android app and via the hosted Web App;

Can someone please help me or give me a way to reach out to devs to at least look at the app bug mentioned above?

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Since it works from other Android devices, it must be something specific to your wife’s phone.

Since your server is not signed in, it can’t create a secured connection. In the Android app, is the option to allow insecure connections enabled?

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I don’t use the insecure connection option on my phone or her old phone, so I don’t see how that would make it work, but enabling it didn’t change anything.

Is there a way to submit a bug to the devs? The edit manual connections cannot be edited again if you navigate away and back to it, without toggling the setting off and on again which makes me suspect that the manual option may not be working at all on her new phone or that platform.

4

Upload the log from the app after recreating the problem. I can take a look. Android, Android TV, Fire TV Logs | Plex Support

2 Likes
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Hi @anon18523487, I’ve done the debug (see attached) and taken screenshots to show the settings used. I see no reference of my server there in either logs. Did you want the locally hosted server logs too?

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything else.

In the meantime I will

  1. Try sign in on the affected phone and try server sign in as well.
  2. Extract and compare logs from the wife’s old phone.

Let me know if you would like the comparison logs.

Manufacturer: HMD Global

Device: IRM_sprout
Model: Nokia 2.3
Product: Ironman_00WW
Version: 10

Description of issue: See OP

Logs attached.plex-log-android.zip (252.9 KB)

Advanced Settings showing secured connection set to “Always” Screenshot_20200719-183121|690x1456

Settings for Manual connection to locally hosted server Screenshot_20200719-183130|690x1456

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The app is looking but couldn’t find any server’s at that address. It did find something at .66. You sure you are using the correct IP?

Can you restart the server, wait 3 minute without doing anything, try connecting from your wife’s phone, get me the log from the server.

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The app is looking but couldn’t find any server’s at that address. It did find something at .66. You sure you are using the correct IP?

Absolutely positive. The server sits on .0/29 subnet (.3 to be precise) .66 appears to be itself as confirmed under Settings → About phone. I will restart the server as suggested and get fresh logs from it.

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Alright, pulled just the one server log manually (see attached).
From my limited understanding of the log, I’m not even sure if the app is hitting the server via the app.

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I don’t see the log. Not sure how you got it. Use Plex Web to obtain the entire log package and just upload that zip file.

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Sorry, I forgot to attach it.Here it is Plex Media Server.log (109.2 KB)

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Jul 20, 2020 18:20:44.582 [0x7f2337584740] DEBUG - Detected primary interface: 172.23.1.34

That’s the local IP of your server according to your PMS log. That’s not the same network range as the IP you are trying to use manually.

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Ok, pretty sure I mentioned that my plex server is in a docker container the required ports are published and is accessible from the hosts interface. There is an update to the container which brings with it Version 1.19.5.3112 which I plan to upgrade to, but I don’t expect it to fix the problem.

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Sorry, I did not catch that you were using a docker. I’m not familiar enough with how dockers work so I’m not sure if the manual connection like this would work. I’ll see if someone else more familiar with docker can help.

14

I’ve been told that this may not be possible when using docker. Not sure how you managed to get this working from another device. Can you also provide me the log from the Android device that this does work on?

Have you read the Plex documentation for the docker image? There is info in there that might be useful. https://github.com/plexinc/pms-docker/blob/master/README.md

15

Have you read the Plex documentation for the docker image? There is info in there that might be useful. https://github.com/plexinc/pms-docker/blob/master/README.md

Of course. I used that as a reference to built it using the following compose YAML (via portainer.io) in a default bridge networking model;

  plex:
    container_name: plex
    image: plexinc/pms-docker
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 32400:32400/tcp
      - 3005:3005/tcp
      - 8324:8324/tcp
      - 32469:32469/tcp
      - 1900:1900/udp
      - 32410:32410/udp
      - 32412:32412/udp
      - 32413:32413/udp
      - 32414:32414/udp
    environment:
      - TZ=Australia/Perth
      #- PLEX_CLAIM=<claimToken>
      - ADVERTISE_IP=http://192.x.x.3:32400/
    hostname: plex
    volumes:
      - plex-config:/config
      #- <path/to/transcode/temp>:/transcode
      - /mnt/video:/video:ro
    networks:
      - plex
volumes:
  plex-config:
    driver: local
networks:
  plex:
    ipam:
      config:
        - subnet: 172.23.1.32/30
          gateway: 172.23.1.33

This has worked without any issues with my Pixel 3 and the wife’s Pixel (G1) as a manual connection without any sign-in on either the android app or the server (server was also never “claimed”).

I’m not entirely convinced that the issue is with the method of hosting (using Docker), but rather the way that manual connections are handled specifically on certain platforms (aka the wifes new phone - It seems like a bug).

During this process however, I bit the bullet and signed in across devices (including the server) and it now works. I am however extremely displeased at the way Plex forces you to have to sign in across devices (including the server) and/or claim the server just to get a privately hosted server to act as a local (unauthenticated) a media server.

In the interests of not wasting any more time we can give up on this thread, move on and I will chalk it up to a misconception and/or change in the way manual connections are perceived and actually function since it seems to now be either a legacy or not very functional feature probably getting phased out or something.

Thank you very much @anon18523487 for your assistance and dedication on this thread.

16

I have no idea if this should work or not. However, if you managed to get this working on other Android devices, then the issue might be something with your wife’s new phone. If you are running older versions of the Plex app on those other devices, it could be a change in the Plex for Android app. Have you tried updating to the new app on those older devices to see if it still works or to use the older app on this new one?

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