Yep, VPN will allow you to be on the same local network, and they’re only pay walling remote play.

She needs to update her app probably, it works fine for my wife on my server

Plex has pay walled FREE servers streaming to FREE clients only.

If you have a plex watch pass (for client) you’re good and can stream from any server. If you have a plex pass (for server) any one can stream from your server. But you have to have one or the other.

Same with me, 12 years, about $70, and it still works just as well as ever. I turn off any new features I don’t want, my friends and family can still stream from me for free since I have plex pass already, and it’s easy to share without having to pass around my IP address.

Probably because it works well, and has working clients on everything at this point. For some, a one-time fee was worth it when it was cheaper.

Sharing is also easier, as your friends just sign up to a plex account and you share your library with them. No need to send them an ip address and port, or fqdn that you have to maintain if your isp changes your ip address. It has its benefits, tbh, and the core sharing features still work for streaming. All the extra crap you can just turn off.

That why I think its still popular.

Your users are getting that because they have a plex account that they use to stream. They might stream from just you, but they could stream from any other shared server they’re connect to. That’s why they get this email.

If you have a plex pass and are a server owner, they can ignore this and keep streaming from you for free.

If they try to stream from a server owner who does not have plex pass, it won’t work unless the user themselves have a plex watch pass, which let’s them stream from any server that doesn’t have plex pass.

Since you have plex pass, your users won’t be impacted at all.

As a plex pass lifetime user, this doesn’t change anything for me.

I am, however, blown away that the price went from $75 CDN to $350 CDN over the last 10 years!! That’s just insane!