As we all know, when Xbox Live is down or there’s no internet connection, Plex won’t start. The reason, as I understand it from a post made by Plex mod @Nights0ng is:
the Xbox app has to look up your local ip from the plex servers since 3rd party apps don’t have access to libraries to browse the local network
Perhaps I’m missing something trivial, but why not simply pop up a simple dialog for manual provision of the local server’s IP by the user? e.g. I’d check my machine’s ip with ipconfig and manually type that in Plex.
Of course it’s somewhat of a hassle compared to auto discovery, but it is much much better than simply not working in any way shape or form…
Just a note, you realize that post was made ~6 years ago. The app has changed many times since then. I do believe remote access is still necessary in many cases due to how the xbox operating system works.
You can manually add your server in the settings by ip address and port. I have never done this configuration to know the specifics however. At the time of my post, this was not something that was possible: Settings: Xbox One | Plex Support
That post was the most recent I could find containing an explanation for the Xbox Live requirement, if that requirement no longer exists that’s great news!
May I ask then, why does the Plex app require sign-in to even start? I’m totally fine with many cases not working when signed out, I just need one (local network content playback) to work and I’ll be a happy camper…
Honestly, I’m not really sure on the sign in requirement. In many cases if there have been Xbox Live sign in issues, sign in problems are not only Plex but YouTube and Netflix as well in many cases.
Have you tried the local server connection in the settings - should just take ip address and port. This should still authenticate using the user you are signed into the app as, but as I said above it’s not something I’ve ever used/tried.
I certainly agree many apps needlessly require Xbox Live access, and YouTube is a great example. Netflix however does work without it (just checked).
I did try the local manual server connection in the settings as you suggested, but as I suspected it had no effect with regard to the Xbox Live startup requirement (I’m guessing it’s part of the app’s manifest, meaning this is not even Plex’s code at work).
Now, you could say that what’s good for YouTube is good for Plex, but I think Plex is different. When my internet is down, YouTube is useless anyway and Plex is my go-to entertainment app to watch local content. However needless to say, no internet means no Xbox Live, which means no Plex even for local content - this is the frustrating part.
So it makes more sense for YouTube to say hey, our app only functions with internet, and in 99.99% of the time that’s the same as saying that Xbox Live is connected, so we might as well require the latter. But for many people (like me) internet will be down far more often that Xbox Live.
By this point I believe we have established this can be fixed. Netflix is proof that Xbox Live is not a strict app startup requirement, and local network discovery has already been solved with manual IP insertion. If not specifying this in the manifest causes other issues, in the worst case this can be solved by a “Plex - Local” flavor (which will technically be a different app).
