Appears to have 4 directional marks, eg.
I’m not suggesting 10 numbers is necessary, just a D pad. I’d be equally happy with a PIN consisting of [1-4][1-4][1-4][1-4][1-4][1-4] (6 digits long, rather than four, just to give the additional combinations.
Ugh… and no button switches under that track pad?
In that case… I’m going Legend of Zelda style. Swipe up, up, down, down, left, right. 1, 1, 3, 3, 2, 4 
Yes, it is for 2FA and not pin entry but it answers the bigger question - would the majority be in favor of a second device for pin authentication? Yes.
There is no reason to switch from second device authentication for 2FA to a completely different method for PIN. If the majority is requesting it for 2FA you can bet they would be in favor of keeping things simple and using the same method for PIN.
I am not sure entertaining that question does anything for discussion. If you are confident your position is valid, sit back, grab a box of popcorn and watch the show. My focus will remain on getting the attention of Plex devs to address the feature request.
Ok, this discussion is going no where. Well done, why am I surprised.
To me it does not both me either way but the idea I’m having is a server is to support multiple devices. If I were looking for a single device solution, a server would be out of the question. A DVR with a external drive would be suffice.
So getting back to OP request of hiding the pin, it could also include a password eye.
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I run Firesticks on all my client TV’s (6) and have 2 xboxs setup. The fact that I have to tell the kids to look away is annoying. The client software needs to reflect the capabilities of the device. Even if it’s a setting in all client software to choose which type we want. If it’s on a smart TV then allow 10 pin option using numbers, if it’s Firestick or Apple TV like device that has a dpad bit no number buttons do something similar to Xbox or Amazon’s pin. Yes it would limit the numbers for Amazon to be 1-4, but we could also make it longer than 4 characters. I would much rather tap (up, down, left or right) in private 6 or so times rather then hope my kids are peeking.
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Honestly, in this day and age there’s no way you should be able to be permanently locked out of an account. Password reset options abound (generally via email).
I have to say, I found the conversation here frustrating. There are solutions - even for the Apple TV device, I believe - but, yes, they’d require different constraints and coding by device type. That doesn’t make them nonviable… the solution just requires an amount of work.
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so, IF you use plex on roku, you can circumvent this by using the roku.app. just invoke the keyboard, , type your code in, and you are good to go.
however,
for tvos on the remote.app, not that i’ve been able to find, it would seem we can’t invoke the keyboard manually, which lets all kinds of little eyes see numbers to an account they shouldn’t.
is this a tvos limitation or something that can be fixed by plex inc?
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It is a limitation. The Apple remote app does not have a keyboard. The interesting thing is, on my iPad I can use my thumbprint for pin access. Apple TV does not have this but a device handoff to my phone/watch etc for auth would be a very welcomed enhancement.
I sometimes find myself defaulting to my iPad for viewing when my kids are the room just to avoid the aforementioned PIN issue on my Apple TV.
It has been a long time and I am frustrated there is not a better solution in line with current industry auth practices.
It is a limitation. The Apple remote app does not have a keyboard.
oh, but it does. i use it to enter my password for purchases AND doing searches when i don’t want to use siri if not to bother other people.
Apple TV does not have this but a device handoff to my phone/watch etc for auth would be a very welcomed enhancement.
i’m pretty sure this is a tvos limitation that we will see an update to in the future.
Are you referring to the on-screen keyboard that displays on the tv?
The Remote app on the iPhone for the AppleTV definitely has a keyboard, it’s used all the time. You even get a vibration/popup on the phone to use your phone’s keyboard as soon as there’s a text input field on the ATV.
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sounds like a good use for manged users rather than a single account https://support.plex.tv/articles/203948776-managed-users/
At the very least, accept numpad input from a remote. Come on Plex - this is annoying and insecure!!!
This is a problem on nVidia shield too. Now my 6 year old knows my plex PIN… which is the same as my other streaming services PIN. So now I have to change all my PINs and ask him to look away.
Optional 2nd device auth, perhaps as a notification on the mobile Plex app would be the best way forward here.
Another easier option would be to remove the asterisks (and any sound) from each number entry so it is much harder for kids to figure out which number you pressed on. That should take less time to implement than this message took to write.
Come on Pex devs… don’t “Sonos” us, get involved!
Likely stated many time before but i will reiterate because i think this is an important feature. There are many different proposals i think the simplest would be the ability to have an optional invisible pin entry on the plex app’s onscreen pin entry keyboard. The highlighted selection would start at the number “1”. Pressing Up will activate invisible mode and make all movements invisible. Pressing the directions arrow at this point you would only hear the tick sound from the app so you know what position you are currently in. User would input the 4 keys and press hit enter.
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Nice suggestion. Maybe they can simply add option on screen to cast pin to phone/tablet (selectable on screen) to enter pin and leave everything else the same. Once verified by wireless device then tv app unlocks and continues.
For what it’s worth, it seems like the recent Vizio Plex apps seem to support input from the keypad from the remote.
I like the way Amazon’s FireTV does it. It uses the directional pad and a toggle button to switch the numbers. So you get 0-4 and then toggle the button for 5-9.
I can’t believe this hasn’t been improved somehow. Easily my single biggest complaint with Plex.
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