Server Version#: 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 3.2.20
Home Users are prompted to Sign-in to activate or process a onetime purchase? I thought owning a Plex Pass account would allow me to share? Did I do something wrong?
Yes, you should be able to share app activations with members of your Plex Home. Can you get me a log from the app where they see the prompt?
The PLEX Pass account holder must sign into the app first, then you will be able to switch to the Home User(s) that have been set up…
That’s only for Managed users. Managed users should not see that message ever, so I assumed these are full Plex account users part of the Plex Home.
You are correct… I tend to get the two confused… Sorry, my bad!!!
Ok so I am confused. I have both Home users and I am also Sharing to the same user. Neither account seems to work. I am prompted during play back of a movie. Other than that the user can sign in to the Plex app without issues.
Home users are also Friends, so you will see them under both the Sharing tab and Home tab. Think of the Sharing tab as everyone that has access to your server and Plex Home is a subset of those users that can use the user switcher feature. Do you/your friends see the user switcher when using the app? If not, then they are not in your Plex Home. Either you shared wrong, they logged in with a different account, or something unknown. Getting me a log will be the quickest way to check.
Where do I find the logs? User has the option after logging into the app to either select the local device and my Plex server. When they select my Plex server they can see all that is shared to them, but when they play a movie are they prompted to sing-in or purchase.
Man this way to complex for what it is. 
Can we back up a bit. Do you mean you are seeing the same user under Sharing and Home, or are there different users, one under Home and one under Sharing? If the former, then you’re fine. If the latter, then the user listed under Sharing are not in your Plex Home. I think this is what is happening.
From the Home tab, click on “add user” and add the Plex username or email of the person from the Sharing tab. The user will get an email with a URL they can click to join your Plex Home. They can also do this from Plex Web themselves.
I have three users under Sharing (invite Friend), and three users under Home Users. Neither Sharing users or Home Users work. From my understanding the Home users accounts is for local network access only, where the users under Sharing are for external access. So to answer your question these are the same physical users, they each have an account under each.
Ideally I would prefer just one account for each users to access my Plex server regardless if they are internal or external.
this is not true. any one you share with can access locally or remotely
anyone in under “Home” whether a managed user or a regular account you added ( and they accepted) to the Home should be able to use the mobile apps at no cost. it does not matter if they access locally or remotely
to be clear sharing with regular user accounts is free whether they are using it locally or remotely as well.
other people cannot share their servers with your managed users. which are unique to your Home.
it is called Plex Home because it is meant for people you actually live with. so your spouse for example does not have to buy the app.
also a user can only be in one home.
I understand they are the same user, what I’m curious is the account. Look at the Home Users page, how many names do you see. You should see your username then the names of the people in Plex Home. Now look at the Sharing page. How many names are there? You should not see yourself, only people you share with. So if there was 4 names total under Home Users, there should only be 3 names under Sharing. If you have more then that means you are sharing with both a Plex Home account and a regular non-Plex Home account. If your family/friends are using the non-Plex Home account, then they will not get the Plex Home benefit of being able to activate the app.
BigWheel, are you saying that I only need one of the two options, Home vs Shared? I current have three user in Home and three user in Shared. Do I need both or can just one type? I want to have the simplest experience for my family members.
Except for managed users that can only exist in a Home, a regular user account will be in both if you want them in your home. If you only see them under Sharing then they are not in your home and cannot use the mobile apps for free.
adding regular account into your home it is a separate invite because there are consequences. A user can only be on one Home for example, so if i join yours i will leave the one I am already in an I may not want to do that. ( I understand that may not matter to your users just saying why it is)
If you are already sharing with a person and you want them to also be in your home.
Go to the under Home Users and select Add User. enter the username or email of the person you are already sharing with. hit next then choose the share options and clicking the add button.
there will be an error that you are already sharing with them. ignore that error and hit cancel. refresh the page and you will see under “home users” they have a pending invite.
On their end they need to go to that same page and accept the invite to your home. (again accepting a home invite is a separate action from accepting a share invite to accepting the share) https://app.plex.tv/desktop#!/settings/users
They will see this and need to hit the green check mark the block to accept the invite.
Ok so I understand this correctly Home is for internal use only and Sharing is for both in and out? If the, later then I could delete the Home users?
Home is meant fo other users you actually live with. Those users cans still use it when remote.
When you add someone to your home ( and they accept) two primary things happen.
- they will be able to use the mobile apps without cost
- they will show up in the fast user switcher
(you should add a PIN to your account so other home users cannot switch to you)
Hi BigWheel,
Your typo in “Those users cans still use it when remote” continues this saga. Are you saying that Home users can access my Plex Server when remote or they cannot?
Remote access has nothing to do with the type of account. All users can access your server remotely if your server is setup properly. There isn’t a feature in Plex to allow only local or only remote. It’s all or nothing for every user.
It’s not a typo. they can. If you don’t have your network set up for them to do so then you need to fix your network. Remote access is free, Plex Pass won’t fix any network issues for you to make remote access work.
Sorry, I still do not have clarification on how this works. If there was a network issue on my end then how are they able to access my Plex server? I know that I can access my Plex server internally and externally that is not the issue.
Family members can sign-in to their Plex accounts that I have set up for them. select my Plex server and see what is being shared to them. The issue is when they go to play a movie they are prompted to either sign-in or purchase a Plex Pass.
Basiclly, why are they being prompted a second time which fails where the first login was successful. It says, “The current account does not have an associated Plex Pass, so the app will not be activated.”
