plex home users vs friends

General Discussions
1

I currently run a plex server that allows my children to access the content both from within the house and also from elsewhere. They are set up as friends. My eldest also has his own server.
I need to restrict content from my youngest and am therefore looking to upgrade to a plex pass to be able to do this however I have some questions…

What is the difference between leaving my children as friends or adding them as home users? (I have read the documentation but it still isn’t clear to me)

Would putting them as users prevent them accessing the content from elsewhere as now?

Would any of these options require them to also need a plex pass?

Is there anything else to consider?

1 Like
2

Adding your kids as friends:

  • everyone has to have Plex account
  • no Plex Pass needed (unless you need some of the features)
  • everyone needs to get own Plex Pass
  • each of your kids can have own server(s) and also use yours if you share it
  • without Plex Pass you can’t set ip restrictions when you share libraries
    Setting up Plex Home
  • you need subscription but only 1, every home accounts benefits
  • all servers have to run under one Plex account, you would have to sign in with your Plex account on your sons server
  • you set up accounts, privileges and restirctions
  • easy user switching, very handy if you use common TV or tablet (no need to sing out and sign in with different Plex account)
  • iOS is not supporting user switching at the moment but it should soon

I’m fairly new to Plex my self and working my setup at the moment. I will run everything under one Plex account and every family member get’s Plex Home user with PIN.
I might be adding another server at my parents home but I will still use one Plex account for everything, so I can manage it all.

3

@Bartlomiej Baraniec said:

  • everyone needs to get own Plex Pass

Not generally true.
If you add their friend accounts into your Home, they get all the PlexPass benefits too. (like using certain apps for free)

@borochris Your son might be a special case. His server doesn’t get the Plexpass benefits, so he needs his own Plex Pass. You should therefore not add him into your home, (because every user can only be a member of one home. He might want to use the Home features on his own server, which is not possible if he is already a member of your Home on your server. But you can use all the age protection things with his friend account anyway. Only the fast user switching won’t be available to him.)

4

Adding your kids as friends:

  • everyone needs to get own Plex Pass
    This isn’t correct as none of my kids has one and can see all my shared content
    Thank you for the other helpful comments though.

I should have said that I do not use Plextv just plex server but run everything through chromecast to the tvs.

I am thinking at the moment I am going to just leave as friends as this seems like it will work and give me the things I need. I don’t really see any benefits in plex home, just problems

5

Borochris, I don’t think you understood what they meant by
"Adding your kids as friends:

  • everyone needs to get own Plex Pass"
    They were stating that each user would then have to have a seperate PLEX pass if they wanted to take advantage of the pass features such as:
    Plex Home (Parental Controls)
    Premium Music Libraries
    Mobile Sync
    Cloud Sync
    Camera Upload
    Early Access
    Free Access to Plex Apps