I have discussed this with your support and I understand that Google Play doesn’t allow to share the in-app purchases with other members of the family.
The idea would to have a paid version of your Android app, so that it can be bought once and shared with the family members.
You can do this buy purchasing Plex Pass and adding your family as managed users.
Yes, I could. But I don’t need any of the Plex Pass features and the overall cost will be higher considering monthly subscription or a lifetime, unless I am missing something.
Well app access is one of the Plex Pass features, so you do need at least that, and I do believe that most people who get serious enough about Plex to start needing in app purchases will quickly find themselves benefitting from many of the other perks of Plex Pass as well. Also with the app being $5 per device it is not really in the best interest of Plex to allow some sort of in app bulk license as opposed to just encouraging people with families to look at Plex Pass lifetime. If you catch it on sale it regularly drops to well under $100 which is pretty reasonable considering what you get. I understand where your coming from but I just can’t see it being something that would be good for Plex as a company with Plex Pass already existing. I̶f̶ y̶o̶u̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ i̶t̶, i̶f̶ y̶o̶u̶ m̶a̶k̶e̶ t̶h̶e̶ i̶n̶ a̶p̶p̶ u̶n̶l̶o̶c̶k̶ p̶u̶r̶c̶h̶a̶s̶e̶ 1̶0̶ t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ (̶n̶o̶t̶ u̶n̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ f̶o̶r̶ a̶ f̶a̶m̶i̶l̶y̶)̶ y̶o̶u̶ h̶a̶v̶e̶ a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ p̶a̶i̶d̶ f̶o̶r̶ h̶a̶l̶f̶ o̶r̶ m̶o̶r̶e̶ o̶f̶ a̶ l̶i̶f̶e̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ p̶a̶s̶s̶ i̶f̶ y̶o̶u̶ c̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ i̶t̶ o̶n̶ s̶a̶l̶e̶. Based on @OttoKerner’s response this I don’t think this is valid. I thought it was per device. Whatever ends up being the solution for you though, I hope you find something that makes you happy! Good luck friend!
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It’s not even per device, but per app store account.
Which means if you e.g. sign all your Apple devices into the same Apple ID, you only pay once for the app on all your iDevices.
With Android, you need to remember that Amazon devices use their own, separate app store. So if you have an Android device which uses Google Playstore and another one which uses the Amazon app store, you need at least buy the app in both these stores once.
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The real problem here is that I would avoid (and I don’t think I am alone about this) to use my Google account in, say, my kid’s device as I have the app activated there. Once you add the account, it will start to sync email, calendar and such, which is not really what you want to do.
I don’t believe no one is losing money in adding an app that you can actually buy and add to the family library.
The other workaround I could think of is to create a Google account only to use the Plex app and pay for it, but that’s a lot of overhead.
Well ultimately I think your only option is going to be Plex Pass. They years ago had a paid app that you would buy through the app store and it functioned like the in app purchase you make right now. The problem was that the .apk was heavily pirated and people ended up circumventing the need to purchase the app. This is true of a lot of apps and why a lot of the companies have gone to in app models for unlocking them. Maybe somehow you’ll sway them into bringing some kind of paid app to market, but I really doubt that will ever happen again.
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I forgot to say thanks @Blkbyrd @OttoKerner, I really appreciate the feedback.
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Just want to extend others suggestion.
Since this is a feature-request, I doubt Plex will add a alternate solution since they already cover 2 extremes:
- Single or few members with few devices: Unlock each device once for lifetime.
- Many members with many devices: Plex-Pass.
Your suggestion is trying to get a middle-ground between those two. It’s like Plex will have to come-up with more leaner version of Plex-Pass on device level which is one time and a little less expensive that full fledged Pass.
My suggestion considering you don’t care about any Pass features and only need unlimited playback capability is to try Kodi. It’s available for Android Phone/TV, Fire TV, PC, etc. Just install that and use Plex addon. Experience won’t be same compared to native Plex Phone, TV, etc. app but it seems to fit your scenario perfectly. Also, if you know for sure all family members will stay on Android then purchasing on separate Google account and using that will also be fair choice.
If you happen to get extra cash in future (or even collect from family members by describing the Pass features 
) then purchase Plex-Pass Yearly or Lifetime (save 20-25% during sale) and not only enjoy Pass features but you don’t have to worry if any family member move to Apple, Amazon, etc. devices in future as Pass covers all of that.
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