We are also changing how remote playback works for streaming personal media (that is, playback when not on the same local network as the server). The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience, and as a result, we will no longer offer remote playback as a free feature. This—alongside the new Plex Pass pricing—will help provide those resources. This change will apply to the future release of our new Plex experience for mobile and other platforms.
Lol, I’m the server owner, so I am expected to pay to allow multiple accounts. Which is my exact complaint.
I had issue with offline usage, and found, with time, it only got worse. My lan clients eventually stopped showing my server unless I logged into my Plex account first. Maybe things changed since, my experience, Plex became overly dependant on a connection to their servers.
To little to late, I’ve since moved to Jellyfin, which solved my frustrations. I have no interest in moving back to Plex.
Plex also uses token based login that expires after 48hours, if you don’t have an active internet connection
A quick look, it seems hardware transcoding is locked behind Plex pass…