Let’s set aside the scraping issue for now and focus on the login problem.
Although some regions may experience difficulties connecting to Plex’s metadata providers due to network issues, resulting in scraping failures, users with Apple devices or PCs can still access their servers normally. They can manage and browse their server content without any issues.
However, under the same network conditions, Android devices may encounter problems such as being unable to log into the Plex app, connect to the Plex server, or browse the server content. In some cases, it takes an excessively long time to enter the Plex app.
So, why can Apple devices access Plex normally under the same network conditions, while Android devices cannot? This issue has been widely reported, with many users experiencing it. Is there a difference in the login authentication mechanisms between the Plex apps on Apple and Android devices?
Can the login authentication issue on Android devices be resolved? Through testing, we’ve found that by first disconnecting from the network and then opening the Plex app on Android, users can enter the app quickly, seemingly bypassing the plex.tv account authentication process. After reconnecting to the network, the Plex app and server access function normally. Does this indicate that Plex could optimize this aspect to allow normal use of the app even when there are network issues? This could at least work locally, as many users are currently unable to access the Plex app on Android devices within their local networks.
There has been a long-standing forum post ([Feature-Request] Built in local authentication server (prevent plex.tv outage)) discussing the possibility of logging in and accessing one’s server via local authentication or other methods when unable to connect to plex.tv.
If it were possible to log into Plex-related apps or services without going through plex.tv, could that resolve the network-related issues? Compared to the scraping issue, the login authentication problem seems to be more serious.
