Plex will impose Plex Pass requirement for offline viewing with client and not server

Plex adjusts the terms and conditions for offline viewing. Currently, clients of a ‘Plex Pass enabled’ server can watch content offline without having a Plex Pass themselves, but later, for new accounts, that requirement will be the other way around.

Plex is announcing the change along with the introduction of improved offline viewing functionality. That’s no longer called Sync, but just Downloads, Plex tells Reddit. The new function can be turned on in the settings. The new system should work better, as commenters on the post also confirm.

Plex explains the change on a faq page. “Existing Plex users are allowed to use downloads on any shared server as long as that server’s administrator has a Plex Pass. This will preserve the current behavior with Sync. New users have [in de toekomst, red.] need their own Plex Pass regardless of the Plex Pass status of the shared server.”

According to the faq, the change in who is allowed to download and watch offline will apply from a ‘date that has not yet been determined’. The company will announce that date as soon as it is available and it will be “a date in the future” anyway.

Any accounts that have existed since before that effective date will be able to watch offline as long as the server administrator has a Plex Pass. Accounts created after that effective date must have a Plex Pass for download and that requirement on the server administrator’s part is voided. The age of the client’s account is decisive, not the server’s.

Regardless of the requirement to have a Plex Pass and who must have that Pass, server administrators can disable the ability to download. For so-called Managed Users, who piggyback on the administrator’s account and are part of a Plex Home, nothing changes.

Plex is a streaming service that users self-host and fill with content. Administrators can grant access to the server to whoever they want and clients are available on a variety of platforms. The software is free, but some features such as skipping intros, video transcoding with hardware acceleration, downloads, and music streaming require a paid Plex Pass. It costs 4.99 euros per month, 39.99 euros per year or a one-off 119.99 euros. Sometimes the latter is discounted and costs around 80 euros.

Image via Reddit