When I tell Alexa to use plex play command, it starts up saying the normal “playing blah blah” then my echoes play in sync with the TV screen showing. They are all starting play at the same time. My 2 echoes are both in my bedroom in a stereo linked mode on either side of my bed. I don’t use any echoes anywhere else.
Yes, as well, when this occurs, you can navigate the screen on the main menu screen, but you cannot play anything streaming on the tv anything else, like you tube or iptv, for example, as it shuts off the music for everything. The dashboard shows it completely stopped at that time as well.
Not an issue for me if I’m wanting sleep playlists, or music in the bedroom. Like you, I usually just play my music in the livingroom, and the bedroom is basically for sleep backdrop sounds or music.
Also, if the tv is off, it will still play when asked. Why I am pretty sure the link is the firestick app, not the tv, or the echoes.
As for the dashboard, and running streams, it’s only showing one.
Thank you for using our Plex Skill on your Amazon-enabled devices.
Recently, due to low usage and shifting priorities, we made the difficult decision to remove the Plex Skill for Alexa from the Alexa app. While it is no longer available to new users, we are reaching out to our existing users to provide advanced notice. Effective June 15th, 2026, the Plex Skill will be disabled completely and will no longer function on your Alexa-enabled devices
What this means for you:
|
Until June 15th, 2026: If you’ve already downloaded the skill, you can continue to use the skill as normal.
After June 15th, 2026: The skill will no longer work.
Your Account: Your actual Plex account and settings are not affected by this change. You can still access our service via our apps and at watch.plex.tv.
To remove the skill from your device, simply open your Alexa App, navigate to Skills & Games, find Plex, and tap “Disable Skill.”
We appreciate you trying out our voice features with the Plex Skill for Alexa. We look forward to continuing to serve you on our other platforms.
Just received the same email. I use this skill quite a lot as you can play any music in your own library unlike Amazon Music where you can only listen to some music plus adverts.
Maybe the reason why usage was so low is because, compared to how I used Alexa+Spotify, the Alexa+PLEX usage was just awful.
Spotify: 95% of the time it does what I asked first time
PLEX: 80% of the time it failed… or I’d have to jump through 2-3 prompts to get it to work
I find it an odd decision to remove, instead of improve on, support for a device/ecosystem that has worldwide-reach at a high volume of users. I haven’t had the feeling the Alexa has been any kind of priority for PLEX in over a year.
Yep, guess I’m going back to My Media For Alexa, or maybe iBroadcast.
The enshittfication continues apace - just installed Kodi on PC to flawlessly stream from satellite receiver after getting fed up with frequent audio sync drift in Plex for years.
Strange choice. Unless Amazon is charging for apps to have skills on their service, it sucks that for some of us where the app works just fine and needs no changes, they decide to REMOVE it rather than just leave it in and working.
I’m so mad about this. The Alexa integration is literally the ONLY thing I still use Plex for. They already totally enshittified the user experience for streaming my own personal library and now they’re removing the one feature I did still use. This is a feature I PAID FOR when I bought my lifetime pass. Plex used to be great but it has become total garbage.
Not that I take enjoyment in defending Plex Inc. here, but Plex Inc. has terms and conditions of their services that are bounded by their GENEROUS privacy policies that they actually defend on our behalf as well as their own. Even though it took the Plex user base tons of shouting at Plex to allow us to OPT in or out of sharing our data to their third party partners, I would rather see Plex continue to build up their API skillset to work with Home Assistant, an open source home automation system that plays nice with a helluva lot more devices and proprietary ecosystems. I hope that you realize that Spotify has far more egregious behaviors and downright strips away user’s rights by banning and takes users accounts away at whim. Plex needs to stick to focus on Plex and PlexAmp protocols that can play nice with actual manufacturers who can adopt their API’s instead.
The plugin didn’t work very well and was super clunky, but it did more or less work and was one of the only ways to easily play your personal music library hands free and on various smart devices in a widely used ecosystem. Very disappointing to see them discontinue an essential feature instead of improve it so it worked well and had a broader functional appeal. (I really don’t want to be forced into paying for yet another streaming service to get music when I’ve already purchased much of the music I want.)
This was pretty much the only thing I used Plex for and the reason I purchased it. (I technically have some of my video media library on there, but almost never use it vs other options.)
Please improve your plugin instead of abandoning it and your users!
Very disappointed Plex dropped another feature I used. Was the skill perfect? No, but it did the job of satisfactorily providing me access to my Plex media. “Usage is low.” It will be if an Alexa+ version is not provided. Was it that hard to update to be Alexa+ compatible? Skills are narrow in focus. Did it really require that much maintenance? Is the problem it used Plex’s bandwidth, i.e., not a device to device connection?
Well thanks guys. That was the last reason I was still using Plex. With streaming services so easy to use, I don’t need Plex to manage my videos anymore. Having the ability to play my music on any Echo device was super convenient.
Well, I’ll go dust off the old Serviio server and see if it works with Alexa. Or maybe it’s time to switch to emby…
Ah! Well, at least we know what’s going on now.. I’m off to experiment with My Media for Alexa now - so far so good. Never paid anything to Plex, so guess I shouldn’t expect much from them, but it does seem a rather short-sighted approach to bin this ‘skill’. Hey ho. Thanks to everyone who contributed (I didn’t expect much when I first posted, so I’m pleasantly surprised to have had such an informative response!) Cheers to all.
I am so furious about this. I utilized that Plex skill every day, now its completely gone. NOW I see no reason for me to pay PLEX for the services anymore. unreal.
I am going to investigate this DLNA server platform further. https://www.universalmediaserver.com/ I can stream these locally from my PC or some NAS device eh?
I don’t think it has Voice control but maybe, soon.
I’ve got thousands of local songs burned from CDs in my library that I enjoy through Plex to our JBL Authentics speakers in the house using Alexa. I agree with D_eight6 suggestion about a pursuit of Googles Home Assistant.
I use MediaMonkey to rip most of the CDs and manage my library. It’s pretty decent, but I don’t see anything other than casting out of them. I don’t want to go back and stream these songs again. I’ve already got em, at a higher quality, some with additional meta-data and pics, etc.
This is a bad decision. This is the main reason I have Plex to play music on my devices. This is how I avoid paying for Amazon music. I am angry about this. mainly because they ended the skill earlier than they said they would. Mine quit last week.