Server Version#: 1.41.8.9834
Player Version#: Android latest
I feel like there used to be a way to point Plex at your LAN host way back when. Now, all I have is the ability to log in, but even under Settings → Advanced, I do not see any way to enter my LAN host. I can still access it via web. I added my network IP mask for “bypass auth” setting. There is still no option to actually just connect to the damn thing. I don’t need wide area features on a local server.
What am I missing? Is there any way to do that? I know Jellyfin has that, but since I have a lifetime for Plex, I figured I’d try that first.
The android tv app does not have the ability to set the local ip. In normal use you shouldn’t need this. If you sign in, your server’s ip should be automatically provided to the app through your account. If it still can’t find your server there may be a bug and you’ll need to provide logs so someone can take a look.
This does not cover the use case where you have an Internet outage. In that case, you can not access your Plex system even if the client and the server are on the same subnet. This exact scenario has happened to me in the past and my WebOS client and my PC client can both still play media from my server. Having the ability to enter the server IP into the client manually is a feature with value.
Absolutely. It’s quite silly that for local play you are required to have an Internet login. It’s like those bulbs or Internet-connected cameras that won’t function over LAN even if it has power.
I also cannot specify host in the mobile phone app, either. This defeats some interesting self-hosted approaches. The way I would ideally set it up is manually point the app at a specific hostname, and then use self-hosted DNS rules to resolve it to a local IP address on my internal network, and let it properly resolve to a public IP outside.
I am positive this used to be a thing in Plex. One day, a while back, I remember opening the Android app and suddenly facing a “login” screen instead of my typical local Plex. They explicitly removed this ability - it was not an oversight.
FWIW, Jellyfin gives the user plenty of control. Sadly, its UI is not nearly as pretty. I am not sure where they differ in terms of transcoding and playback though.
