I have a few friends that are logged into my account. When I started Plex users could log into my account without paying to use it. Now Plex is trying to charge them. They can no longer log in but instead are asked to purchase a plex pass. They don’t want a plex pass. They aren’t that tech savy enough to want or need a pass. They just want to do what they have been doing for a few years and that is log into my account to watch what they want to. How do I fix this? How do they fix this? I also recently tried to add another friend which went relatively smooth until they tried to use their Android phone. They were also asked to pay a monthly fee or buy a lifetime pass. They put it on their Roku and it worked fine. What gives? Is this a new policy that changed the lifetime pass benefits?
It’s always been this way as far as I know
All apps are free to use except for mobile apps. (phone or tablets)
The only exception is for people added to your Plex home. Those people can use mobile devices under the umbrella of your Plex Pass.
Regular friends outside of the home aren’t included in that
Giving library access from your server is and always has been free.
Our mobile player apps are not free however for playback from a Plex Media Server and have always had a cost for that. Our Mobile apps can either be purchased via a one time activation fee from their respective app stores and is tied to their app store account, or be used as a benefit of an active Plex Pass subscriptions on their own account or be the the Plex Home of a home admin with a Plex Pass).
https://support.plex.tv/articles/205556278-unlocking-or-activating-plex-for-ios/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/203868088-unlocking-or-activating-plex-for-android/
