Plex iOS player activation - Family sharing issues

Plex Players Mobile Devices
1

Server Version#: Version 1.32.8.7639-fb6452ebf
Player Version#: Latest iOS app, iPhone 13

Hi,
I Recently purchased the in-app iOS activation as it was supposedly possible to share that purchase with all my iCloud family members. I’m the admin of both the Plex Server and the iCloud family group, everything is up to date and ticks all the boxes from this support article.
I’ve tried on different devices, beside the iPhone used to make the purchase none other works.

I’ve been through different posts on this forum related to that matter but I’ve never seen a proper answer to this problem. Anyone has an idea on how to activate that option on other devices?

Thanks,
Florian

1 Like
2

UP and additional question:

Do other users need their own Plex account?
They have their own iCloud accounts part of the family, but as of right now they’re connecting through my Plex account under different profiles.
Is it relevant?

3

Well I found the answer to that question by creating an account that has the same email address for iCloud & Plex, and the answer is No, nothing changed.

I also reached out to Apple and everything works on that side so it’s not iCloud related.

How do we get answers from the support team on this forum ? No @?

4

Hi there, was going to open an identical thread. Same here. Restore purchase works on my other apple device (signed with the same apple id where i bought it), but on all other family devices it doesn’t work at all.

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5

I am having the exact same issue. Reached out to the support team and they redirected me here, where clearly this is an ongoing issue.

Purchased the iOS activation on one device in my icloud family, and on another iOS device (also in the family, from a different icloud account) signed into the same plex account, when I click “Restore Purchase” I get the popup “No previous purchase could be found for this Apple ID. You can activate with a one-time purchase or a Plex Pass subscription”.

I have enabled purchase sharing on both accounts, but does not solve the issue.

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6

Also having issues with family sharing. I got it to work once by deleting, reinstalling, logging in again and doing the restore, but the next time I loaded the app it was asking me to purchase again.

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7

Upping this thread.

No help at all from Plex, asked for a refund they turned me down and asked to reach out to Apple… lovely customer service out there…

If anyone has a solution please let us know below

8

Same issue. Really frustrating that they outline exactly how to do it and it doesn’t work. No matter how many times I try.

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@BigWheel @s_ios_dev @steve_barnegren @tom80H
Trying my luck with you, could you by any chance help us fix or clarify this issue please? Or add in the loop someone that could?
Thanks! :crossed_fingers:

10

Just to be clear this would have nothing to dow with your Plex account. App sharing is handled by the app store. I don’t think we intentionally changed anything in this regard as far as allowing it with our app but will get someone to double check

There is trouble shooting steps here to make sure you are sharing the purchase correctly. If you can't find your family's shared apps and content - Apple Support

11

Came onto the support forums as this is the exact same issue I am having too … Also followed all the apple support info about checking IDs in use etc and still no joy with either of my kids’ iPads.

Any other tips? Did the “… double check …” bring up anything?

Thanks

12

The app is still set to allow family sharing for the in app activation purchase. If you can share you iOS logs from one of the devices that does not work we can see if there is anything unusual but i’m guessing there is just a fail after it does a check

13

Thanks for the reply.

I followed the iOS logs instructions and attach the zip file …

PlexDebugInfo-8.31-7837 (2024-03-20 20.22.49 +0000).zip (1.5 MB)

If its of any use - I removed all restrictions from my child’s iPad and then restarted it before running the Plex app. I played a video file and waited for the “Playback limit” message and tried to activate again, but no joy. This was all completed about 2015 UTC (a few minutes before I created the log file)

Thanks

14

It shows it is checking but it is not finding the purchase as it normally would. Have you contacted Apple support to make sure it is showing your kids account on their end?

2024/03/20 20:14:22.762 (3534) 🔧 PMUnlockAppManager.m:345 | Unlock Manager: Restoring purchases.
2024/03/20 20:14:22.774 (3534) 🔧 PMOriginalPurchaseValidator.m:24 | IAP: Receipt doesn't need refreshing - returning early.
2024/03/20 20:14:22.775 (3534) 🔧 PMUnlockAppManager.m:350 | Unlock Manager: Restoring purchases - falling back to IAPManager.
2024/03/20 20:14:22.775 (3534) 🔧 PMIAPManager.m:205 | IAP: Restoring purchases
2024/03/20 20:14:23.926 (3534) ➖ PMIAPManager.m:247 | IAP: finished restoring 0 transactions
2024/03/20 20:14:23.926 (3534) 🔧 PMUnlockAppManager.m:166 | Unlock Manager: No previous transactions were found to restore.
15

Maybe some good news !

I somehow managed to make it work on my family members’ devices.
What I did on each of the device was refresh the Plex purchase page, enable iCloud purchase sharing on their devices, refresh, then disable, refresh, enable,… again and again until it suddenly worked.
So I can’t really explain what’s the key to make it work, but I attached the logs from the day it worked so maybe @BigWheel you’ll find some explanation in there.

You can see it working at the timecode 2024/03/05 20:20:12.664 in the logs of that day.
com.plexapp.plex 2024-03-05–13-54-24-988.log (845.0 KB)

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16

I’m in the same trouble with iOS Family Sharing with wife and child, no way I can enable the purchase on their iPhone nor. iPad. All other iOS apps works without problems in Family Sharing, so it’s something about your Plex App!

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@BigWheel Any luck with the logs I shared?

18

+1

I have the exact same problem that folks here have mentioned. Reached out to Plex support and they redirected me to the forum. @BigWheel any luck?

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I made a report for it to be looked into but I’m not sure what we can do since all we do is ask Apple via their API and wait for a response from them

20

Where exactly do I find this mysterious “Restore” button? Is it an ios thing, or a plex thing?
I’m a total noob at this. I added five people to my ios family so that they could share my activation fee. Initially, I couldn’t even fully access my own database on my phone until I paid the onetime activation fee. Now, I can’t figure how to allow my other family members the same access. They can only get limited playback access. Does it matter whether they initially signed in through Google or Apple or Facebook? Not a huge deal, since the activation fee is only $5, but what the heck?