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Plex has made a key to change to their in-apps purchasing structure for Android. Before, the multimedia streaming server had two different apps — one for those who pay monthly for a Plex Pass, and one for those who just want to pay a one-time fee for simple features.
Those apps have now been combined into an initially free download. You won’t be able to do much with the free offering alone. You can preview the service, but you’ll only be able to get a couple of minutes of playback. This is a good way to trial Plex to see if it’s right for you.
End up liking it? A one-time in-app purchase can be made to unlock standard streaming and playback features. Alternatively, Plex Pass users can sign in with their account and get full access to the standard set of features, as well as the extra goodies the Plex Pass provides (all of which you can read about at the tail-end of this post).
Other changes include a refreshed user interface, the ability to cast your device’s camera roll to any other device equipped with Plex and more. The upgraded app is waiting for you in the Google Play Store so head over there for the download, and be sure to read on if you’re wondering about the benefits of forking over a few extra bucks.
Free version
• Unlimited casting of photos and videos from the Camera Roll on your phone or tablet to Plex apps on Roku, Chromecast, Android TV, Fire TV, and Plex Home Theater (coming soon to Xbox One, Playstation, and other apps).
• Unlimited casting of any media on your Plex Media Server (free download available at https://plex.tv/downloads) to other Plex Apps.
• Remote control your big screen Plex Apps.
• LIMITATION: Playing media from your Plex Media Server on the device running this app is limited (one minute for music and video, watermark on photos) until the app is unlocked.Paid version
• Unlock unlimited streaming to your phone or tablet with a Plex Pass subscription that includes many other premium features (available at https://plex.tv/plexpass) -OR- a small one-time in-app purchase.Here’s a small taste of more things that Plex does to make your media experience awesome:
• Plex makes your media beautiful with artwork, rich metadata, and related content.
• Plex automatically converts your media on-the-fly to play on any device.
• Easily share your media with friends and family.
• Plex Pass feature: Sync media to your phone or tablet for offline viewing.
• Plex Pass feature: Sync media to your favorite cloud provider including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, so you can stream media even when your server is offline.
• Plex Pass feature: Online Trailers and Extras for the movies in your collection!
• Queue online videos from sites like Vimeo and YouTube and watch them later.
[via Plex]
What if you already own the app? I picked up the app off Amazon Appstore when it was free. Though they take awhile to update it there.
silly goose, that’s why it was free. Because it’s never updated. Only if you bought the stand-alone Play Store version they will honor it.
Thaaaat’s why those free apps of the day almost never updated… I thought it was something about Amazon, but now I see…
now imagine how mad you would be as a kindle owner
That is why I got rid of the Amazon app store years ago and got rid of all my free apps I had there. I then paid for them all in the Play Store. I’m much happier now.
I wonder how they are going to handle people who already shelled out $5 for the previous paid version on Android and iOS. Now are we going to have to pay again for something we already bought? That doesn’t make sense since it’s not even using their servers.
I just asked this same question.
Open the app the first time, there’s an “already paid?” button to link it up.
Yeah. Behind that reads that I’ll have to email them with the email I purchased Plex. Oh, the bother…
no. They explain everything in the announcements.
So, does this mean that it can only be installed and activated on “x” number of devices now that their own servers are handling the activation process? That would suck; some people have a lot of devices.
Why wouldn’t you put the amount it costs in the write up?
I thought Apple would have beaten Google at offering this kind of service. They certainly have the money to just buy AT&T/Verizon altogether.
I wonder if they’ve thought about that. Buy up one of those two guys and offer exclusive service to Apple devices. Then Google buys the other big dawg and offers service to only Android, Windows and BlackBerry(haha! JK!) devices. How crazy would that be?
Sir, are you lost?