Remote access - server offline (can get it to work through a browser tho...)

Plex Media Server Remote Access
1

Server Version#:
Player Version#: all up to date
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>

Issue Summary:

I am experiencing a bizarre remote access issue where my Plex Media Server is physically wide open to the internet, but official Plex client apps (iOS/Android mobile on cellular data and an external friend’s Google TV Streamer) stubbornly report the server as “Offline” / “Unavailable.”

I’ve tried everything mentioned, spent 10 hours going through forums and any guide i can. Setup firewall to pass app through, i’m not double nat and my ip is not cgnat, My VPN was setup to split tunnel then just turned off all together.

Then only way i can get it to work remotely is to type my plex address into my mobile browser, through a series of spinning wheels it eventually lets me into me server. very stranger. more details below.

The Strange Behavior:

  • If I turn off Wi-Fi on my phone and use cellular data, typing my public WAN IP directly into Safari/Chrome (http://[My-WAN-IP]:32400/web) successfully hits my server. I get a brief “This is not hosted by Plex, proceed at your own risk” warning, but once I click proceed, it logs me in and I can fully access and play my library.

  • Despite the browser working “perfectly” on the exact same cellular connection, opening the official Plex Mobile App or my friend’s Google TV App results in an instant “Offline” block.

Network Architecture & What I Have Ruled Out:

We have systematically gone through standard troubleshooting and ruled out the following hardware and routing issues:

  1. Double NAT & CGNAT: Completely ruled out. My eero router’s WAN IP matches my actual public IP address exactly

  2. Port Forwarding: Confirmed working. CanYouSeeMe.org reports a SUCCESS on port 32400.

  3. Eero Settings: Confirmed I do not subscribe to eero Plus / Advanced Security. IP reservation is locked to the host PC.

  4. Windows Environment: The Windows Network Profile is explicitly set to Private. Windows Defender Firewall has explicit inbound rules allowing Port 32400.

  5. VPN Complications: I use NordVPN on the host machine for split-tunneling torrents. We caught a background driver (NordLynx) hijacking the routing tables even when the VPN app was disconnected. We have since completely disabled the NordLynx virtual adapters in Windows Network Connections and locked Plex’s Preferred Network Interface directly to the host PC’s physical Realtek Ethernet card.

  6. Account Reset: I recently migrated/reset my server registries onto a brand new Plex account today. Maybe this is messing me up. I had to create a new accoutn since the original was locked to apple for a month, i didnt want to subscribe through apple so I switched my server to my new account.

Where it stands:

Because the network path is verified open (via canyouseeme and the cellular web browser test), the bottleneck is entirely software/handshake-based. It seems the official Plex apps are rejecting the connection due to a secure certificate (.plex.direct) mismatch or a cached routing token issue stemming from the recent account reset, and won’t fall back to the unencrypted open port.

Does anyone know how to force the Plex client apps to clear this cached security state and accept the verified direct IP path?

2

Did you check your log for CSR: 429 errors which may indicate your certificate is stuck and someone from Plex would need to manually refresh it?

If it is that, hopefully someone sees your response, otherwise you can post in one of threads for it: Certificate stuck on 429 rate limit - request reset - #78 by BadFurDay

Edit: just read your item 6, if it’s a new server, it’s likely not this, but will leave it up just in case.

3

Your server was missing a valid cryptographic certificate. I have triggered the generation of a new cert.
Please stop and restart your server now.