Plex RSS Import Lists suddenly not working

General Discussions
1

Server Version#: 1.43.2.10687
Player Version#: N/A

I’m getting a persistent 401 Unauthorized from Plex’s own account API when using tokens generated moments earlier via a third-party app’s PIN authentication flow (Pulsarr, a Plex watchlist-integration tool). This is blocking RSS watchlist access (rss.plex.tv) for my account.

Steps taken to isolate the issue:

  1. Completed PIN auth for a third-party app (Pulsarr) against my account — succeeded, new token issued, new device authorization appears correctly under Settings > Devices > Authorized Devices.
  2. Immediately tested the new token directly against Plex’s own API:
    curl -s "https://plex.tv/api/v2/user" -H "X-Plex-Token: <token>" -H "Accept: application/json"
    Result: {"errors":[{"code":1001,"message":"User could not be authenticated","status":401}]}
  3. Reproduced the identical 401 from two independent networks (my home server and a separate desktop on a different IP), ruling out any local network/proxy/DNS issue on my end.
  4. Reproduced across multiple separate fresh PIN-auth attempts/tokens, not a one-off glitch.
  5. Also tested the corresponding rss plex watchlist feed URL with the same token — same underlying 401, with the RSS proxy reporting it’s failing to validate against plex.tv/api/v2/services/user.
  6. Confirmed my account itself is fine: normal browser login at plex.tv/web works without issue, and I can view my Authorized Devices list (which shows the Pulsarr device entries being created successfully).
  7. Checked status.plex.tv — no active incidents reported for Authentication and API server (plex.tv) at the time of testing.

So: device authorization completes successfully and appears in my account, but the resulting token is rejected by Plex’s own API immediately and consistently, from multiple networks. This is blocking watchlist RSS functionality entirely.

Any ideas why tokens issued to my account (via PIN auth) are being rejected by api/v2/user? Happy to provide the specific token/device client IDs privately if useful.

Thanks.

2

Hi there,

to add to this: I have an automated script that fetches the RSS feeds (mine as well as friends) every hour. Since at least 15 hours (last time it pulled was yesterday 18:00h GMT+2), I get a 401 from the script.

When I try to reach the URL manually, I get a blank screen in Firefox and an “unauthorized/You must provide a token!” message in Chrome or Floorp. Adding my token in the usual way leads to a 404. The script has not changed for months; I got these errors occassionally before, but not so often in a row.

According to https://status.plex.tv/ all systems are running. My wild guess is that something with the RSS feeds is broken, as other API related functions in my script work as usual?

Best Regards

3

Server Version#: 4.160.0

I am running Radarr 6.3.0.10514 and Sonarr 4.0.19.2979 in docker containers under a Syno NAS. It connects to my Plex server (Version 4.160.0) also running in a docker on a different Syno NAS. I have a lifetime Plex pass.

My Plex Watchlist and Friends Watchlist have been connected via Radarr and Sonarr “Import Lists” for a long time and working perfectly. Both have suddenly reported: “All lists are unavailable due to failures”

I’ve reviewed both the Sonarr and Radarr settings for Plex in “Settings >> Connect” and in “Settings >> Import Lists”. In “Settings >> Connect”, all is well and the Plex auth token is working perfectly. In the “Settings >> Import Lists” area, the URL’s for the Plex Watchlist and Friends Watchlist are both correct and all settings are normal. My Plex server is running perfectly as far as I can see.

In the Radarr/Sonarr logs, I can see:

026-07-29 10:34:37.0|Warn|HttpClient|HTTP Error - Res: HTTP/2.0 [GET] https://rss.plex.tv/12345abcd: 401.Unauthorized (82 bytes)
<Error error="Unauthorized" message="You must provide a token!" statusCode="401"/>
2026-07-29 10:34:37.0|Warn|PlexRssImport|Unable to connect to import list

If I open a browser and try to got to https://rss.plex.tv, I get the same "401.Unauthorized “You must provide a token!” error. This leads me to believe that the issue is with Plex online and not within my control.

I’ve updated Plex, Radarr, and Sonarr to the latest available versions and all settings that I can see and would consider relevant are spot on and 100% accurate. Any ideas as to what is wrong here??

4

Same here. My watchlist and my friend’s watchlist URL no longer works. Glad it wasn’t just me.

5

Same issue as this user? Freshly issued Plex tokens immediately rejected (401) by plex.tv/api/v2/user

6

Similar result, but I’m not using “…a third-party app’s PIN authentication flow (Pulsarr, a Plex watchlist-integration tool)” to generate anything.

7

Same issue, but with Radarr and Sonarr watchlist integration. See my post: Plex RSS Import Lists suddenly not working - #4 by stohara

8

Confirming this is affecting another Plex Pass account as well. Both newly regenerated Watchlist RSS and Friends’ Watchlist RSS URLs now return 401 Unauthorized: You must provide a token!, including when opened in a signed-in browser.

The authenticated Plex Discover/API endpoints still work and can retrieve both watchlists successfully, so the account token and Watchlist data are healthy. This appears isolated to the rss.plex.tv Watchlist RSS authorization service. Our last known successful conditional RSS response was July 28; the 401 failures began later that day.

Could Plex please investigate and restore generated Watchlist RSS feed authorization?

9

Thanks for reporting everyone. I’ve brought this to the attention of our backend engineer team. They are looking at it.

Should I merge the other thread into this one? Would that be helpful?

10

Feel free!

11

I just restarted my Script-Docker, and it runs through again. Seems fixed :slight_smile:

12

Sonarr & Radarr both working now, but Radarr gives me a “No results were returned from your import list, please check your settings and the log for details.” and the “Lists unavailable due to failures” message still shows. Let me pop a movie in the friends list and see if that clears it up.

Curious. Sonarr tested fine with nothing in the watchlists, then disabled the warning, Radarr gave me the “No results…” response and kept the warning on until I actually added movies to the watchlists and then tested…

All seems to be working now on Plex side now! Thanks @Atomatth and Plex team!

13

Seems to be working again, thank you.