NO need to reiterate all of that again in this thread.
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You wanna see a real thinker?
They could introduce a new subscription tier for remote streaming that lifetime pass holders would have to pay for or permanently lose access to remote streaming.
Remote streaming was always free. It was specifically not labeled as a Plex pass feature until the change last month. By the logic in this thread anyone who ever bought a Plex pass lifetime subscription was never guaranteed remote access. Since that was free.
They’ve never established that those who bought a Plex lifetime before April of this year aren’t merely being grandfathered in for a limited time. Since remote streaming wasn’t advertised as included in the sale.
This would follow the logic being used here, because if remote streaming was always free it wasn’t a part of the Plex lifetime deal. Would mean that your lifetime subscription was for everything except remote streaming. They can still take that away from everyone and make it an exclusively monthly subscription feature.
From the Plex Pass page on January 2025 -
"Is a Plex Pass required to use Remote Access?
Despite the common misconception, the answer is “no.” That feature is free to everyone."
Sources:
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Yikes. Yeah, guess it’s time to build elsewhere. ggs. 
Have you even read this thread?
It’s not about Plex pass.
Respectfully, I do believe that the two are entirely related.
This topic started with the confusion as to whether or not the $5 that was paid to activate Plex on a mobile device should have been considered paying for remote streaming in perpetuity. In this case no, as stated by others that $5 fee was specifically not paying for access to remote streaming forever. It was paying $5 remove the 1 minute playback limit that was on the mobile device.
This confusion as others had stated in this thread comes from the idea of language not being clear. They thought they were paying for one thing, but in reality they were paying for another.
In this case they can now pay $2 a month for access to remote streaming which was previously free. But on the plus side they don’t have to pay a $5 activation fee on mobile. These two things as made clear in this thread should not be confused or conflated.
That is the fundamental core of this thread. Understanding what you are, and aren’t paying for.
To continue from that logical point we can look at Lifetime memberships and remote streaming as an identical situation. Which is where my example came from.
In both cases, activating the mobile app and in paying for a Plex lifetime, you are paying to access a suite of things that are specifically not remote streaming. An identical circumstance that could happen in the future is that Plex may decide that a one-time payment for a lifetime membership does not give you access to Remote Streaming.
There is previous and historical documentation that was very specific that paying for a Lifetime membership was not included in a Plex lifetime subscription because it was, at the time of paying for it, free. This is the same as what’s happening here because the documentation was clear that you weren’t paying $5 to unlock remote streaming on mobile. You were paying to get rid of the 1 minute streaming limit. At the time of paying for it, remote streaming was free and now it isn’t. Hence the reoccurring subscription for remote streaming to mobile.
To answer your question directly I have read this thread extensively, and no the mobile activation isn’t about Plex pass. This is about the $5 one-time activation on mobile. Yet, this entire conversation is foundationally about clarity for what you are and are not paying for. This may be something that others would believe important to consider when making an informed purchasing decision.
My goal is to be helpful and informative.
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I don’t think you are helpful. Drawing unrelated topics into the original topic is only serving to “muddy the water” and make things less clear.
Thank you for your feedback.
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I understood what I paid for, but would have never paid for it if I knew that streaming access would be taken away down the line.
It’s totally helpful. What’s to say they don’t update terms and screw the lifetime pass holders in the same way. Just because it was “only $5” doesn’t mean it’s right. Reminds me of what EA did with the game. Knockout City. Charging players $20 to play, then a few months later moving to free to play model before ultimately shutting down to to lack of players. There was nothing really given to people who paid and the money disappeared. It’s scummy, bad business practice and now I hold a license to a game/service I can’t use.
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Also, don’t think I didn’t notice the topics move from “Forum Feedback” to “General Discussions”. Scummyyyyyyyyyy. Who knows if the right people will see it or not. Even so, would it matter? They wrote the terms in a way that they could weasel out of and find a way to charge for something that was given for free(remote streaming), simultaneously while taking a “ONE-TIME” fee and then giving everyone else the same thing for free(minute restriction). LOL It’s kind of Ridiculous.
And since you closed the topic after this post, I’ll reply to you here with an edit to this one.
You pay money and have your services taken away from you. See how it feels.
Nothing scummy about it. “Forum feedback” is about the forum as such.
Moving it to “General” is appropriate. If anything, this move will bring it before more eyes.
Stop interpreting everything as negative.
I will now shut down this thread as it has run its course and will only go downhill from here on.
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