How to use Plex

Plex is how you watch our family movie and TV library. Think of it like Netflix, except the shows and movies are ours — running off a computer at home — and it’s free for you to use. This guide gets you watching in a few minutes, even if you’ve never opened Plex before.

What Plex is

Plex is an app you install on your phone, tablet, TV, or computer. When you open it and sign in, you’ll see our shared library: movies, TV shows, and a Kids section. You press play, it streams to your screen — at home or on the go. You don’t need to know anything about how it works behind the scenes.

Get the app

Plex is free and works on just about everything. Install it from the store on the device you want to watch on:

• iPhone / iPad — App Store, search “Plex”
• Android phone / tablet — Google Play, search “Plex”
• Apple TV / Roku / Fire TV / smart TV — your TV’s app store, search “Plex”
• Computer (Mac or Windows) — just go to app.plex.tv in your web browser; nothing to install

Tip

The TV apps are the nicest for movie night. The phone app is great for travel. You can use the same account on all of them at once.

Sign in and accept your invite

The first time, you need a free Plex account and an invite to our library. You only do this once.

1. Make a free account. Open the app (or app.plex.tv) and choose Sign Up. Signing in with Google or Apple is the easiest.
2. Find your invite. Check the email inbox for the address you gave Stephen — there’s an invite from Plex. Open it and click Accept. (No email? See troubleshooting below.)
3. Look for the library. Back in the app, our library shows up as a shared server. You’ll see the movie and TV posters appear.

That’s it — you’re in. From now on you just open the app and it remembers you.

Find what to watch

Along the top or side you’ll see categories: Movies, TV Shows, and Kids. A few ways to find something:

• Browse — scroll the posters in Movies or TV Shows.
• Search — tap the magnifying glass and type a title.
• Recently Added — newest stuff is near the top of the home screen.

Tap any poster, then press the big Play button.

Watching it

• On your phone but want it on the TV? Tap the little cast / AirPlay icon (a screen with waves) while something is playing, and pick the living room TV.
• Subtitles — tap the screen while playing, then the speech-bubble icon, to turn captions on or pick a language.
• It keeps pausing to “buffer”? Tap the settings/gear while playing and lower the Quality. A slightly softer picture that doesn’t stop is better than a crisp one that freezes.

Download for offline

Going on a flight or a road trip? You can download shows to watch with no internet:

1. Open the movie or episode.
2. Tap the download icon (a down-arrow).
3. When it’s done, find it under Downloads — it plays even in airplane mode.

Note

Downloads need the Plex app on a phone or tablet (not the TV), and you have to download them while you still have Wi-Fi. Do it the night before you travel.

When something doesn’t play

Try these in order — the first one fixes it most of the time:

1. Close the app fully and reopen it. (Swipe it away, then tap it again.)
2. Check your Wi-Fi or signal. Plex needs internet unless you downloaded it.
3. Lower the quality (see “Watching it” above) if it buffers or won’t start.
4. Restart the device if it’s still stuck.
5. Still broken? Text Stephen. Tell him what device you’re on and what you tapped — that’s enough to sort it out fast.

Asking for new movies and shows

Want something added to the library? There’s a separate, just-as-easy way to request movies and shows yourself — see How to request movies & shows.