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Turn on Plex Remote Access

Remote Access is the switch that lets people stream your Plex from outside your house. Phones on vacation, the in-laws' TV, all of it. Here is the happy path.

1
Open Plex in a browserGo to app.plex.tv on a computer at home and sign in with the account that owns the server.
2
Open SettingsClick the wrench icon in the top right. Make sure your server is selected in the sidebar on the left.
3
Click Remote AccessIt lives in the sidebar under your server's name.
4
Press Enable Remote AccessPlex now tries to open the door in your router for you. Give it a minute.
5
Look for the green check“Fully accessible outside your network” means you are done. Go watch something.

Got a red X instead?

Plex asked your router to open a door and the router said no. This is very common and very fixable. Head to the port forwarding guide and do it by hand. If streams work at home but break away from home, that is the same problem wearing a different hat.

Want proof it keeps working? Sign in with Plex below and Eyeball watches your server from the internet around the clock, and emails you the moment remote access breaks again.

Behind the scenes: Plex asks the router over UPnP or NAT-PMP to map an outside port to 32400 on the server. The green check means plex.tv managed to connect back in from the internet.

Fix it once. Eyeball will watch it from here.

Eyeball checks your Plex from the internet every minute and alerts you when it breaks. It's free, and setup is one sign-in.

What does this mean?

Plex gives us a token so we can see where your servers are. That token is allowed to do more than look up an address. Keeping it means you trust us with it. We never see your password. Some people would rather we not keep it. This is for them.

That's fine. Eyeball still watches your servers, and we never see your password. If your home internet moves, you may get an alert. Sign in once more and Eyeball picks up the new address.

🤓 Nerd details

The token is allowed to do more than look up an address. We use it to find your servers, then we delete our copy and ask Plex to deactivate the Eyeball device. Open Authorized Devices in Plex. Eyeball should be gone. If it is still listed, remove it there.

How Eyeball works