Android plex app, asks to activate after a few days. Very frustrated

Plex Players Mobile Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.21.3.4014
Player Version#: Android app 8.11.022186

I have seen other topics of this issue but doesn’t give me any solution.
I don’t have plex pass subscription if that matters for this case.

Plex Media Server is linked to account AAA@gmail.com as Admin.
I have purchased the Android app from the Google Play Store with the same
AAA account.

I have a another account BBB, which is used to log in for
Android TV app , and this account is registered as
FRIENDS for AAA.
I myself only use AAA on my phone to login to plex.

Now on my phone, after installing the app and logged in with AAA,
it is ok to stream content unlimitedly, and download content would work
for few days but eventually it will start to ask to activate the app.
I try to activate it, then it goes to the payment choice screen, but the account that the app recognizes is BBB, which is an account
obviously I didn’t use to purchase with.

Why is this happening? I am using AAA to purchase apps
via play store, and haven’t downloaded plex app with BBB
at all on my phone.

So I try to clear data for the app, no go.
I need to delete the app and reinstall the app again, ensuring via play store with the AAA account, logged in to plex with AAA as usual, it would bring full functionality back again.

But after a few days, it asks me to activate it again, because the app somehow again thinks that I have downloaded the app with BBB which really not the case.

Is this an app issue or the android os issue?
I also use IOS app, and that is purchased with AAA.
No activation problem at all.

I also sent an email to Plex, and they confirmed that I have
purchased the app with AAA.
Any suggestions to solve or points that I am missing here?

Thanks in advance.

2

That would indicate you are signed into this other account in the Play Store.

Load the Google Play Store app. To the right of the search bar it should show your account avatar. Click on it and double check that it is the correct account.

3

Thanks for your reply.

That is the first thing I checked and it is for sure signed in with the correct account.
Any other things that I can check?

4

Do you have both accounts on your device? Try uninstalling the app and reinstall, making sure you are signed into AAA in the Play Store before you install.

5

That was the second thing I checked…
I do have both accounts on my device, because I need to have BBB for other
apps than plex.
And quite sure that it was signed into AAA while reinstalling.

6

Then I’d have to say your Play Store is messed up. :smiley:

The app communicates automatically with the Play Store app, so if it’s showing the wrong account, the Play Store is providing that info.

7

Ok. That is how the app is recognizing the account.
But how can I solve this issue?

It looks like a person at,

had a similar problem as mine.
So I am trying to reinstall the app, through the web playstore and will check if it works for a few days.

8

So it looks like the method of installing plex app via the web based
playstore fixed the problem, meaning the app is recognizing the account
as AAA.

Now I will turn on automatic update on my phone, and check whether
the activation persists, when the app is updated via the playstore app.

9

As long as you are logged into the correct Play Store account, updating the app should not affect the activation.

10

The issue here is that, plex would somehow grab the another account BBB,
despite of logging into Playstore as AAA.

The lessons learned here is that, whenever one face that issue,
remote reinstall the app from a web based Playstore, I did it from a PC,
and not from the Playstore app on a mobile phone.

At the next plex app update, it will be installed by the local Playstore app,
so I am having a bit of concern of going back to the original problem
and losing activation again.
I will check later when we get the update.

By the way I am using Android 9, so could be a playstore issue
with multiple accounts on that particular version? don’t know.

11

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