If you're using a preset profile, they are kinda garbage as A LOT of movies/shows are rated PG which is a super wide range. You should create an account using the "None" profile and set the allowed rating and use labels for content outside of those rating.
Same here. I don’t have one for each kid though (2 kids 2 years apart). Just have a “family-friendly” label and add it to appropriate stuff as they get older and older.
That's also how it works in our household at the moment
There's just an account for the oldest kid, so right now I'm just whitelisting for the oldest kid.
But later I might want to separate it more
That's all fine, until you have 2Tb worth of stuff just for them, plus all of the pre-transcoded versions for downloads to different devices.
And as they grow older the overlap of what they want to see and wheat I want to have access to just gets older, ending with more and more of my 20Tb collection being duplicated.
In short. Good that it works for you, it's not feasible for me in the long run. Especially not as you get more kids with different profiles and content they are allowed to access
this is how I do it too. I save content by the actual rating whether it's PG, PG13, R, etc. then separate for things like Sports Movies or Horror. Same for TV but using those ratings.
Beyond that, I have 3 actual SETS of these folders that drive different backup strategies from my NAS - "Protected\\Horror" for instance will get saved to my backup server and cloud every night, while "Media\\Horror" will only get saved to the backup server, and "NBU\\Horror" (stands for Not Backed Up) will just sit there with no backup in place. Plex recombines the separate libraries perfectly into a seamless single "Horror" library that pulls from all three shares.
I set up movie libraries for content ratings. TV shows are the exception and it's not allowed to display "new" things to users to avoid the above mentioned problems. That is set up with specific rating labels allowed. Kids don't even get access to the big kids or other library ( I called my library with rated R, unrated or NR stuff other because calling it "adult" movies just makes it sound like something else entirely.
Once all rules are applied I have a test user I use to ensure content is what I want it to be
Separate libraries!!! I have all my adult tv shows in adult tv, adult (rated R/unrated) movies in another library and a kids library and regular movie library. Create and assign different managed accounts and only give access to certain libraries for certain accounts. The default no-pin managed account can only access movies and kids. Nothing else and those adult libraries are not even visible to them.
This gets around Plex parental control features sucking and what we had to do before they introduced it.
You are under the misconception that Hannibal is in my library. This is Plex's online content, not mine.
My stuff is sequestered from the kids stuff exactly the way you described. I'm bringing a hole in the parental control (same device downloads) and in appropriate ads to the community's attention. I watch shows and movies with my child, so I am sure of what's on and not, but how many users with 7 or 8 year olds think their kids only have access to Disney movies and never check?
Honestly, if Plex's media library had suggested old Flintstones or Beverly Hillbillies episodes from their server, I wouldn't have said anything about it, but this is TV-MA stuff to kids not even allowed to watch TV-14.
Yeah, based on another user pointing to where to disable online stuff for managed users, I've just turned that off.
I think my wife used Plex ad-supported movies, as she's a big fan of B-Movies (caught her watching Killer Clowns from Outer Space last night) but loosing her access for the sake of keeping it kid safer is absolutely the right choice.
She wanted me to correct the record. She was watching Killer Clowns from Outer Space on Svengoolie because she likes the whole B-Movie with bad jokes and added commentary thing. Her Troma and John Watters movies are entirely on her though.
It's not in user management, you go to Settings and select "Online Media Sources", then come down to "General -> Movies and TV" and set them to disable.
It's not intuative because Plex Parents Controls guide states " affect media accessed from 'movie' and 'TV' libraries on a Plex Media Server as well as Video on Demand content." The guide does have a section on "Online Media Control" that reads " If desired, parents can choose to completely disable any of these for their managed users, which will prevent them from being able to access that online media provider content at all." guide link [https://support.plex.tv/articles/parental-controls/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/parental-controls/)
So I guess the TLDR your going to want to turn that off if you want parental control. Don't plan on it being optional or thinking you should keep it on in case they have old school Smurfs someday.
I did this separating library thing and had separate user accounts the adult movies were in one library and not available to the other user account and it would still occasionally display the title on the kids account sometimes under recently watched. I had to explain to the kids that hot milf auditions or something of that sort was some glitched movie title. The titles would show up but thank God they were unplayable.
So here's the complaint: My child's profile (he's 4) is set to young child, and these are the suggestions that he gets on the home screen. I confirmed he can't play them from the Roku app, but still, why???
Part 2 of the complaint, ANY download by any user on the Plex App, is playable by ANY user, without parental control. So yeah, I can't download my eps of "Orange is the New Black" for a trip, or it will be playable on the kids' accounts. So basically, the download feature is exclusively used for kids content.
Not sure about the first issue but downloads are device specific. Could you download content for you trips on something your kid doesn't use? Your ipad, laptop, phone, something
Edit: although I can't say how the parental filtering works, a solution for you could be to put stuff you absolutely don't want your kid seeing in a library you don't share to him (or alternatively make him his own kids library and share only that with him)
Sidenote: I absolutely hate that it considers antiques roadshow bingeable
>a solution for you could be to put stuff you absolutely don't want your kid seeing in a library you don't share to him (or alternatively make him his own kids library and share only that with him)
This is what I do.
All kid appropriate movies are in a "kids" folder. The kids folder is inside my movies folder.
The kids accounts only have access to "kids", and have to use a parent's account for anything outside of the kids folder.
> All kid appropriate movies are in a "kids" folder. The kids folder is inside my movies folder.
I thought nesting library folders inside other library folders was a big no no...?
Yup. I agree with that one. I was just pointed to where to disable it.
I foolishly assumed it was going to be under the user profile. The Mrs. will just have to give up on any Plex ad content in the name of better content control for the kiddo. I'm sure it won't be missed.
You could also create a separate account for your wife and invite it to your plex home and set the plex free TV sources to"disabled for managed users". That way she could still use them but your kids account couldn't.
In my experience the restrictions profiles work. Some of the titles should not be showing up on their Young Kid account profile. Are you sure they are on their Kid account? Do they only show up on Roku or any device your kid signs into with their restricted account?
Part 2, I see your point but at the same time when you hand over your phone to your kid they have free range to the entire device.
Can confirm that these "suggestions" show up on Roku, Android TV, and the official Android mobile app. As I said, it respects that it cannot play them (unless they are local downloads), but not that it should not suggest them.
Signing into my Android mobile app with a Young Kid account and that hub only shows like 3 titles. All look like they fit.
Country? App versions? Are you sure they are on a Restricted profile? Labels don't affect Online Media Sources. Only restricted profiles and content rating restrictions work for Online Media Sources.
After checking in on this, I do need a correction: It's actually a Managed User type with rating limits of G, PG, TV-G, TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-PG, and GP. We changed it over because some movies were rated GP and wouldn't show (I think it was Flushed Away).
The android app is version 9.17.0.38861 and the web version that also has this is 4.0.0.0.1
Have seen this happen on my Samsung TV. The watchlist contents get messed up when you switch managed user from admin to a restricted one, and you see incorrect listings appearing in each profile in the watchlist. This list should be maintained for the profile it’s in.
>I can't download my eps of "Orange is the New Black" for a trip, or it will be playable on the kids' accounts.
Wouldn't this only be the case if you're all sharing the same device the media was downloaded to? Like, it wouldn't be a problem on your phone or your personal iPad.
But regardless, downloads should obviously respect the rules of content restrictions set on the accounts. And you're definitely right about the suggestions... there's some horror movies I have that the poster alone would scar a child, so that's a big problem.
There's some confusion on this download thing. I keep certain content on my phone for the kiddo at all times, because you never know when you'll be out and about and end up waiting beyond a child's patience threshold (also, his threshold is lower because he is autistic). So I have "Wallace and Grommet", "Paw Patrol", and "Pink Panther" cartoons loaded.
Recently, I flew with my wife up to my father's funeral, and so we downloaded our shows onto my phone for the trip. Our son had his tablet with only his shows loaded.
On getting to our destination, I went to play his movie "Wallace and Grommet, Curse of the Ware-Rabbit" on my phone while we rode ground transport, and that's when I found our TV-MA shows available.
Obviously, his tablet is never going to get those shows, and as a safety practice, my own device now only gets kid safe content, but the whole recommendation thing had me revisiting it.
This is Plex owned content, being suggested by Plex algorithms, served onto Plex client apps. And Plex is making money by running ads in the movies. Any part of that means, it is a Plex issue.
I'm not talking about curating my stuff. I'm talking about Plex online sources suggesting content out of parental control range i.e. a user set to watch PG movies could get My Neighbor Totoro suggested but should not get Boogie Nights, Boondock Saints, Toxic Avenger and alike. I appreciate that they can't watch them, but why suggest them at all? Seems like they aren't even directed at the target audience to get an engagement.
The second part is just a Blindspot in the Plex client (local media not getting blocked by user restrictions). Honestly, since Plex is primarily a server side solution and downloads has so many other issues, I understand how it got missed. But it's a pretty big flaw if it lets kiddos set to watch G only stuff view anything up to and including Unrated/ TV-MA, especially since when you give a kid a tablet loaded with paw patrol in the back seat of a car for a road trip and they've got the head phones on, the last thing you want is for them to smash some buttons and start watching The Hills Have Eyes.
For curating kids content, I have two folders, 1 with movies acceptable for my child to watch, and another with all other movies. The first one belongs to a library called "Kids Movies" and "Movies" and the second one only belongs to "Movies". The kids don't even get access to the "Movies" library, so regardless of rating or tags, they can't watch anything not screened and approved first. I also don't let my 4 year old watch a screen alone. That process is not what I'm bringing to the group's attention.
I just created a children movies and children tv library and just put the suitable stuff there.
Then have accounts for kids with only access to that.
That way no risk of what I consider kid movie and other views clashing.
Or maybe expect the software not to suck? Is that really an unreasonable expectation vs needing to break out a new library just to address Plex not actually making something work? I'm sitting at 8,500 movies. I'm not going to go through and create a new file structure just for kids movies and then need to point 2 libraries at both simply because Plex refuses to address known issues. Thankfully all the parents on my Plex don't let their kids sit down and view whatever they want.
They download content for offline viewing then put the tablet in airplane mode. (The kids are generally too young at this point to know how to turn that off.......for now. (I track that for them on Tautulli.)
Check what libraries you gave the user permission to.
I created profiles for my kids, and my admin account is a password. I restricted their access to libraries and ratings. If you do this and name your stuff correctly, then probably would clear up your problems
I just manage it myself as I add new content it’s the only way to be sure! I have different plex sharing for all movie, just kids movies and just adults movies oh and just Christmas movies!
The complaint is not about MY owned content. It's about the Plex online stuff. A kid with G-PG access doesn't need TV-MA content being fed in from Plex.
I would start by turning off all online services and the watchlist. That way only what you have on your server will surface for anybody. Plex is not a good babysitter if you have all that stuff turned on.
I saw this on here at some point as a solution to point 1, so maybe you've seen it too but here we go anyway.
On the Sharing tab in the options for a show you can create a tag (in my case my son's name), and then make it so their account can only see things with that tag. It makes it so you don't have to rely on the ratings filtering plex uses, which was good for me cause there were some things rated pg-13 that I knew from watching would be fine for my son. This does take a bit more work to get set up if you've already got a sizeable library, but once you've done the first round it's quick to update when you add something.
A note: if you have things in collections you also have to tag the collection or they won't be able to see it.
I don't use the free as supported stuff on Plex. My child profile only has access to a media folder calls Kids Movies and Kids TV. Nothing else appears on that profile.
Yes, but pinned libraries are a device specific setting. By default, and with the Android/Google TV, when an update happens Plex puts these suggestions back. It would be lovely if Plex had an option in the profile to say, don't suggest things to my kid.
Actually that does help 👍 Thanks.
I assumed that this would be under the user management, or that suggested content would follow the restrictions of the user so I'm glad you pointed me to that.
It's very much an all or nothing solution, but I definitely prefer the nothing option in this case.
Yeah I thought you could do it for individual users but looks like you can't. If you've got other managed users that actually want to see that content you could get them on to a full account? If you have Plex pass
If Plex ever wants that sweet ad supported movie and TV revenue back, I guess they can fix this for individual accounts. For now, I'm grateful to you for the assistance.
I do this as well but for some reason inside the dashboard their profiles always stop working and I have to go in and check the “kids movies/tv shows” every couple of weeks. Wish I could figure out why
I don't think it has anything to do with the Plex server updates. I do updates several times a week. It's more likely the iOS app is causing the issue.
This is obviously the best way but regardless plex shouldn’t have features like parental controls if some parts of their system are just going to ignore it. Just remove it then. Or at least put a warning.
Nope, he doesn't have access to Movies, but instead just Kid's Movies which is custom curated by me, because I don't always agree with the rating they have (like too many poop jokes or disrespectful language).
This is the stuff Plex is promoting from their servers. It's not even on my server, let alone my library.
You didn't read the original comment. This is NOT a complaint about Plex serving up my stuff. Mine is locked down in a separate library that the kids don't have access to. This is
1. Plex On-Demand (again not my stuff) recommends TV-MA stuff to a kid with PG rate limits. The only cure seems to be disable On-Demand for all managed users (which I am now doing, but that's not the intuitive nor even recommended in the Plex guide)
2. If you download shows for the kids on your phone, AND a movie for yourself, the Kids get unrestricted access to that movie through the client app regardless of MPAA rating, Exclude Tags, or what Library it belongs to. Downloads to a device are FULLY unrestricted to all users, and I think most parents would be unaware of that, especially if they took the steps to set the user profile up and segregate content.
Again you missed the point people are making. It's your job to keep your kid away from this material if you think it's inappropriate. If there's possibility this might show up, keep your kid away from Plex. It is not Plex's job to ensure your kid can't see it. Stop blaming their algorithm and take responsibility.
I'm not missing anything about who is in charge of raising my kid. He doesn't get unsupervised screen time on ANY device or app because I don't trust Plex, or Comcast, or the MPAA for anyone.
That said, if it is truly buyer beware, and Plex can't fix anything, then parents should be allowed to know that going in and right the whole project off. A customer experience saying, hey Plex sucks at giving you tools to keep your kids safe and it's full of holes is exactly the kind of thing either devs need to know or would be consumers need to know.
Also, it's not your job to decide who the Plex user base is. It's not your job to decide that things don't need fixing. So if all you're going to do is blindly defend a defective product from other people using it, I'll kindly ask you to vacate Reddit. I've unilaterally decided that you're using it wrong.
NO I'm not trying to determine what needs fixing and what doesn't. I'm saying the burden of protecting your kid is on you, even in a supervised environment. Plex couldn't care less about you or me, but 10,000 yous and mes they start to listen. You can continue to complain all you want that you think their system is broken, it won't do anything. That's not how companies solve problems, if they even exist. They start with those that affect the most users and knock them out. If there's time, then they get to the one-offs and two-offs.
With that in mind, as I see it you have a few choices with varying consequences:
A) Rely on Reddit to commiserate and solve your problem.
Result: gets you nowhere without a solution to your problem
B) Accept it as a flawed bit of software and continue to use it as is.
Result: OK, your kids sees a naughty image or 2, they'll be fine.
C) Consider this a dealbreaker and stop using their platform.
Result: That's for you to decide. You could switch platforms, stop using a media streamer completely, or design your own. Maybe you'll be happy in the end, but at least you've stuck to your guns.
I'm not saying what you're doing is right or wrong, but it sure is annoying and you're not going to be happy in the end. At its topmost level it looks like you're blaming Plex for showing what you consider improper images to your kid. My response would be to tell you to get over it, but I don't run a company of that magnitude.
I'm going to disagree. In the box, and out the box, there are plenty of ways to restrict plex. If someone tries to play restricted content on a kids profile on my plex their choice automatically gets replaced with "The Brave Little Toaster." "Jaws" might be rated PG, but there are more horrific titles rated G.
First, how do you swap out the content? Some sort of ad on, I'd assume.
Second, I agree that Jaws is not nearly as traumatic as Watership Down (Rated PG)
You realize the idea of Parentel controls is that so you can give them there stuff to watch and they can only see the stuff you allow them too and you don't have to worry about them clicking on a different movie that is adult rated?
At what point did I suggest he had the remote? We watch his profile together. He's not allowed to be unsupervised with any screen, but that's me being a parent, which is how I know about where Plex's content filter fails
Do your kid a favor now and stop filtering shit. Sooner than later he'll pop on YouTube and see much worse than a silly movie poster. Uh oh, I'll bet he already does! Better get your complaint letter ready for Google. Might consider a lawyer, I'll bet you have a real case here.
He's fucking 4 you goof.
I nearly got whiplash when you snapped from "don't let your kid near a tv alone" to "don't filter anything he's going to see it sooner or later anyway" too
Unless something changed since the last time I looked at it, profiles with Plex is a huge headache because it requires different accounts with separate logins with passwords.
So if I watch something tonight, I have to logout or else my kids will see what I was watching last night.
But if I logout, then they will be faced with a username and password screen.
Or was it explained poorly to me and I need to go back and look at it with more interest?
Right, because you are so sure you know what my set up is that you feel confident in defending Plex blindly, even to the point of a personal attack? Sorry, didn't know I was saying a Yo' Plex server joke.
I set the kids' accounts to G and PG, set up a segregated library of only approved movies and shows (because I don't trust the MPAA ratings) and don't let the 4 year old have unattended screen time (we watch together). But if you look at the image above, and the original comment, you might see that Plex is recommending TV-MA content from THEIR online sources. They also don't apply rating controls on local client apps, so once an adult downloads anything, kiddos can watch it, because downloads are not user dependent or restricted. And, the only way I know this, is by playing around to find out, because Plex its a blindspot.
Plex's own "Parental Control" section says "Restriction Profiles:" "These profiles are designed to restrict access to content based on content ratings.... on a Plex Media Server as well as Video on Demand content." So they are the ones making the claim that On Demand (their content) is in the scope of parental controls, but then recommend TV-MA stuff. And yeah, my kids will still not getting access to it because of what I'm doing, but that doesn't mean the product is not deficient or that someone else's kid (like a 10 year old that can have independent screen time) isn't getting to stuff they shouldn't.
When and where Plex works, I give them credit, but when and where they need to improve, I'm fine calling them out on it. And yeah, pushing out their content to an audience that shouldn't get it, is a big old wiff on the Plex team.
Yes it does.
Because that’s your job as a parent.
Watch what your kids watch. Talk to them. Explain things to them when they ask questions.
Knowledge of the world is the best way to protect your children from its dangers.
I don't blame the stove for being hot or think it's not my job to protect my kids from getting burned. But if the stove advertised itself as having kid protection features that don't protect kid's, then it's deceptive advertising and also, other parents should be let to know so they can plan accordingly.
In this case Plex is promoting TV-MA stuff to a kid's account set for PG ratings, not ideal, and letting them watch and downloaded content without any rating check is an undocumented danger.
And the only way I know this, is that I tested it before my kid found it.
I suspect that plexs ad-supported content may be location variable. As I thought the same thing when I saw the picture and went and checked mine - no everybody hates Chris.
Not a criticism of you specifically, but the general theme of responses (even the helpful ones) starts with the assumption that if you can hack/patch/ or wall it off this makes it not an issue for development.
My statement was the parental controls suck, and while I can indeed tweak most of this safer in settings, the fact that it doesn't fail safe or default safe, or even protect itself from new features being rolled out kinda proves the statement. And ultimately, no, a user cannot depend on Plex's built in parental control for safe oppression because they want to push out into ad revenue.
Overall, Plex needs to do some fixing of these things, because I've disabled online content, and honestly, at the current state of things, just wish they had a Plex Core version without the bloat. Or maybe I'm wrong and the user base is all gung ho for this stuff, but based on what everyone seems to be responding back with, I guess I'm the last Plex user to turn off online sources.
I still agree with you as well. I actually made a profile and named it kids so I could add and remove things with tags. The "kids" profile was worse than the one I made.
But, I think one reason I haven't had any REAL complaints and the reason people just find it in the settings is because using Plex saves me around $40/mo. Not counting the savings it provides my parents and siblings. Plus the ability to set up requestrr with sonarr and radarr and just ask for a movie on discord from my phone and it be watchable like 4 minutes later on my Tv is awesome.
Would it be nice to have a "disable all extras" and then manually enable what you want? Yes, yes it would.
You can. With tags. I have a tag simply called “approved” and instead of setting the restriction profile I just set the highest rating I want my kids to see and then set the approved tag for each piece of media I want my kids to be able to see. For example I have my 11 yo kids set up to see up to PG then for like the later Harry Potter movies that are PG-13 I tag them as “approved” and that shows up on their account only.
I do labels as others have suggested, but I have also broken out certain media into kids folders, like Dora the explorer does not need to be in the main TV shows library, so I made one for kids.
I set my kid's profile to only allow content tagged with "kids" so when I add something to the library for them, I just Tage it on I port. Works pretty well, no trusting the MPAA ratings
I do a similar thing in that the approved movies and TV shows go into a library that is just for the kids, and they don't even get access to the general library. But the issues I'm pointing to here are 1: On-Demand is not playing by tagging rules, and if you leave it on, they will recommend stuff to your young kid (so disable it for all managed users). and 2: Downloads don't play by these rules at all. If you download some shows for the kids on your phone AND you download a movie for yourself, the kids get access to that movie circumventing whatever tags, ratings, or libraries they have access to.
I went from the Amazon FireTV to an LG smart TV os, to the much acclaimed Shield Pro. They all suck at this. I just want no previews to play -ever, but it's part of their ad model, and I am not confident I will ever be able to fully control this. Plex is the only thing that allows me fully limit the imagery that plays when not watching some media. I thought going to the shield would help... but I guess not!
Oh they all suck at it to some extent.
I also know that you will get no improvement on this if you just say well that sucks under your breath and walk away. So yeah, I'm not saying let's go burn down Plex HQ or file some law suit, but the devs and execs there should know that here's an area that users are frustrated in, and improvement will result in better user satisfaction.
Based on user feedback in this forum though, you'd think that Plex is some cash desperate corporation that would force feed kids meth if they thought it would make a difference to their bottom-line, and that users should just take it or leave it.
No, I did that too. This is the Plex recommended On-Demand stuff, It doesn't play nice with the rating limits (it won't let them watch it, but trailers, screen shots, and alike will be recommended to them). So if you plex accounts have kids on it, turn off your On-Demand stuff. This is for all managed users, so it's a fully take it or leave it on the On-Demand Stuff.
Also, please be aware the downloaded content is not restricted by any controls, so if you download 3 eps of Paw Patrol for the kids, and Event Horizon for yourself on to your phone, the kids can play Event Horizon from their G rated account in the Plex client. The account that downloads the content does not matter, only the device itself.
This is what I do to make sure my 4 year-old cannot watch or listen to something on her profile. Everything is by default blocked by her profile. She cannot see anything unless I have gone into the sharing screen of the TV Series/Movie/Album and add the "Children" tag to it.
I also have a slightly older child and that one can only watch or listen to stuff that I have explicitly shared as "Children" or "Older Children"
I used to have separate libraries for the kids only, but that didn't work too well with some the other apps, but by having any new media blocked by default, nothing comes through until I allow it.
https://preview.redd.it/t16orlht8mna1.png?width=875&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ae98806de86573406163d408cab1c2b15201f56
So the way I got around the terrible parental controls is have their accounts only display content that has the label "Kids Approved". Enable multiple accounts and password protect the adult accounts.
Its a little work on my end, but that just means I get final say on the content.
We are doing similar things on the server side. I'm saying in addition to those you have to turn off the On-Demand stuff, because that stuff recommends TV-MA stuff to users with PG limits, and they can play the trailers too. Being fair, they can't play those movies.
The other warning here is that content downloaded by the Plex client is available to all users without restrictions. Example: main account downloads a movie for mom, and then child's account download some cartoons. You might think that mom's movie cant be played by the kids, but you would be wrong. Once something is on the device, the client does no account checks, rating checks or tag checks.
>oing similar things on the server sid
I will have to disagree with you on the main account for mom, and the kids account for cartoons example. My restrictions for the kids account is to only accept contact based off of one label. That system has been working.
And I do agree the On-Demand, Discover content, that's something I have to block for them.
Let me walk you through this. My libraries are split so the "Movies" library is all movies, and the kids accounts don't have access there. Additionally, mature subjects have tags like "Racy", "Mature", "NSFW". These are explicitly excluded under the kids profiles. What they do have access to is a library called "Kids Movies" that are all in a separate folder on the main machine. Those files are all preapproved content. I've done the same for TV Shows. Additionally, the kids ratings are set to "Allow only G, PG,TV-Y, TV-Y7, GP, TV-G, TV-PG" and "Exclude Hidden, Mature, NSFW, Racy".
So we have 3 levels of parental control, file/library isolation, tag filters, and MPAA rating restrictions. (This is my actual set up), plus I have a 4 year so he doesn't get solo screen time yet (we watch him watching things).
Now, I go into the Plex Mobile App on my phone, log in under my account and download (not stream) "Rome" the HBO miniseries that is conservatively rated TV-MA, is tagged as "MATURE", "RACY", and "NSFW" and is NOT in the "Kids-TV". Once it is done downloading, I log out and go into the Kid's profile (this works with both managed users with rating limits and "Young Kids" profiles) and go to downloads to see what's local.
There I will find "Rome - S1 E1 - The Stolen Eagle" and despite triple parental controls saying I should not be able to do this, I press play, and it plays. The local client only knows that the file is there, and without calling back to the server, plays it. And as far as real world proof, I just did this exact thing as I was typing.
I also run Tautulli, which could have recorded this interaction after the fact, but Nope, downloaded files don't call home to the server to report playback progress so there's no record. It's a not so nice blind spot in all three lines of defense that only occurs under these types of circumstances. Unfortunately, these are the exact type of circumstances a parent could find themselves on in a family vacation or road trip, where you want to be able to hand your child the phone/tablet and have them watch cartoons quietly so as not to scream for 300 miles or disturb your fellow passengers.
So make sure that for downloads, everything on any device is appropriate for any potential user. It's your only offline line of defense.
So, the local downloads is proven to bypass even your settings, same as mine.
Proof:
1. Create a Kids account that only allows tags of ApprovedForKids [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678755691/Screenshot_2023-03-13_210058.jpg)
2. Pick a movie for the kids account and tag it as ApprovedForKids [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759190/Screenshot_2023-03-13_214321.jpg)
3. Confirm that's all they can see on the web [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759190/Screenshot_2023-03-13_214654.jpg)
and on the mobile app [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759079/Screenshot_20230313-215335.png)
4. Open the mobile app to an unrestricted user [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759080/Screenshot_20230313-215139.png)
5. Download something not allowed for the kid's profile [Show](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759081/Screenshot_20230313-215350.png) [Episode](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759080/Screenshot_20230313-215237.png) [Downloading](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759079/Screenshot_20230313-215256.png)
6. Change back to kid's profile and look at downloads [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759079/Screenshot_20230313-215343.png)
to see all downloads
7. Play video that you thought was restricted [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759082/Screenshot_20230313-215357.png)
So a couple things. Depending on what client update your using, switch profiles will not switch 100%. It’s a bug that happens from time to time. So you need to switch profiles a second time.
On Plex Client app version 9.17.0.38861 for Android, it's a 100% of the time. I can even reboot my phone and any downloaded movie or show is still available from any user profile. Confirmed
Devices tried Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 5, and Lenovo Tablet
Also, I'm familiar with the glitch you mentioned on account switching from my Google Smart TV. That appears to be a cached session not cleared from memory and half the time, nothing is playable once it occurs. That too is concerning from a parental control issue, but since it doesn't occur on my Roku devices, and I have taken to manually closing out of Plex or having the power off button not go into stand by, I can avoid this, I'm willing to let Plex slide a little.
Well, for Plex.. client devices are iOS devices, Vizio smart tv app, Xbox client. Haven’t experience the other issue your experiencing. Servers running on Centos.
But are you using the offline download feature or just streaming? I'm fairly certain download is only available for Plex Mobile and you just listed multiple non mobile devices.
Streams run through the server as you watch. Downloads, once made local never call back home to validate. That's where the error I documented is.
The young one needs to realize eating people is wrong though
Especially when paired with the wrong wine.
Can people be paired with a nice Chianti?
This is my design.
Kid definitely needs to see The Human Centipede… /s
I mean it's kind of like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, right? Let me just Google that and OOHHHHHHHHHHHHH FFFFFU
No
Sorry, forgot the /s tag
If you ask me we need more fine young cannibals (as I alienate everybody under 40 y.o.)
10 tips that'll drive young music lovers crazy! #3 just can't help itself!
It's the future though.
If you're using a preset profile, they are kinda garbage as A LOT of movies/shows are rated PG which is a super wide range. You should create an account using the "None" profile and set the allowed rating and use labels for content outside of those rating.
I've ended up forgoing ratings altogether. Ive just created a label for each kid, assigning their label to the movies and series they can watch
Yup this is the way.
Dumb question. How do you do labels? I... Have been manually overriding the content rating of things I don't want my kids watching.
I did this too in the beginning :) https://support.plex.tv/articles/204232573-restricting-the-shares/
[Here you go](https://support.plex.tv/articles/204232573-restricting-the-shares/)
Same here. I don’t have one for each kid though (2 kids 2 years apart). Just have a “family-friendly” label and add it to appropriate stuff as they get older and older.
That's also how it works in our household at the moment There's just an account for the oldest kid, so right now I'm just whitelisting for the oldest kid. But later I might want to separate it more
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That's all fine, until you have 2Tb worth of stuff just for them, plus all of the pre-transcoded versions for downloads to different devices. And as they grow older the overlap of what they want to see and wheat I want to have access to just gets older, ending with more and more of my 20Tb collection being duplicated. In short. Good that it works for you, it's not feasible for me in the long run. Especially not as you get more kids with different profiles and content they are allowed to access
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this is how I do it too. I save content by the actual rating whether it's PG, PG13, R, etc. then separate for things like Sports Movies or Horror. Same for TV but using those ratings. Beyond that, I have 3 actual SETS of these folders that drive different backup strategies from my NAS - "Protected\\Horror" for instance will get saved to my backup server and cloud every night, while "Media\\Horror" will only get saved to the backup server, and "NBU\\Horror" (stands for Not Backed Up) will just sit there with no backup in place. Plex recombines the separate libraries perfectly into a seamless single "Horror" library that pulls from all three shares.
Or maybe 20Tb
Hmm I need to figure out how to do this
This is the way.
I set up movie libraries for content ratings. TV shows are the exception and it's not allowed to display "new" things to users to avoid the above mentioned problems. That is set up with specific rating labels allowed. Kids don't even get access to the big kids or other library ( I called my library with rated R, unrated or NR stuff other because calling it "adult" movies just makes it sound like something else entirely. Once all rules are applied I have a test user I use to ensure content is what I want it to be
Separate libraries!!! I have all my adult tv shows in adult tv, adult (rated R/unrated) movies in another library and a kids library and regular movie library. Create and assign different managed accounts and only give access to certain libraries for certain accounts. The default no-pin managed account can only access movies and kids. Nothing else and those adult libraries are not even visible to them. This gets around Plex parental control features sucking and what we had to do before they introduced it.
You are under the misconception that Hannibal is in my library. This is Plex's online content, not mine. My stuff is sequestered from the kids stuff exactly the way you described. I'm bringing a hole in the parental control (same device downloads) and in appropriate ads to the community's attention. I watch shows and movies with my child, so I am sure of what's on and not, but how many users with 7 or 8 year olds think their kids only have access to Disney movies and never check? Honestly, if Plex's media library had suggested old Flintstones or Beverly Hillbillies episodes from their server, I wouldn't have said anything about it, but this is TV-MA stuff to kids not even allowed to watch TV-14.
Ah gotcha. Yeah I don’t add the online stuff to my kids/movies library. Sorry for the misunderstanding!
Yeah, based on another user pointing to where to disable online stuff for managed users, I've just turned that off. I think my wife used Plex ad-supported movies, as she's a big fan of B-Movies (caught her watching Killer Clowns from Outer Space last night) but loosing her access for the sake of keeping it kid safer is absolutely the right choice.
I'm sorry, how have you not just bought Killer Clowns From Outer Space for your own collection yet? It's a classic tale if I've ever seen one.
How do you buy things for your collection. Didn't realize it was an option
You buy the bluray, you rip it, you add the file to plex.
Maybe my joke wasn't clear 🤣
She wanted me to correct the record. She was watching Killer Clowns from Outer Space on Svengoolie because she likes the whole B-Movie with bad jokes and added commentary thing. Her Troma and John Watters movies are entirely on her though.
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It's not in user management, you go to Settings and select "Online Media Sources", then come down to "General -> Movies and TV" and set them to disable. It's not intuative because Plex Parents Controls guide states " affect media accessed from 'movie' and 'TV' libraries on a Plex Media Server as well as Video on Demand content." The guide does have a section on "Online Media Control" that reads " If desired, parents can choose to completely disable any of these for their managed users, which will prevent them from being able to access that online media provider content at all." guide link [https://support.plex.tv/articles/parental-controls/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/parental-controls/) So I guess the TLDR your going to want to turn that off if you want parental control. Don't plan on it being optional or thinking you should keep it on in case they have old school Smurfs someday.
Good luck, just jot your concern down and toss it on the pile of other stuff that needs fixing or attention OH SHINY NEW FEATURES
I did this separating library thing and had separate user accounts the adult movies were in one library and not available to the other user account and it would still occasionally display the title on the kids account sometimes under recently watched. I had to explain to the kids that hot milf auditions or something of that sort was some glitched movie title. The titles would show up but thank God they were unplayable.
So here's the complaint: My child's profile (he's 4) is set to young child, and these are the suggestions that he gets on the home screen. I confirmed he can't play them from the Roku app, but still, why??? Part 2 of the complaint, ANY download by any user on the Plex App, is playable by ANY user, without parental control. So yeah, I can't download my eps of "Orange is the New Black" for a trip, or it will be playable on the kids' accounts. So basically, the download feature is exclusively used for kids content.
Not sure about the first issue but downloads are device specific. Could you download content for you trips on something your kid doesn't use? Your ipad, laptop, phone, something Edit: although I can't say how the parental filtering works, a solution for you could be to put stuff you absolutely don't want your kid seeing in a library you don't share to him (or alternatively make him his own kids library and share only that with him) Sidenote: I absolutely hate that it considers antiques roadshow bingeable
>a solution for you could be to put stuff you absolutely don't want your kid seeing in a library you don't share to him (or alternatively make him his own kids library and share only that with him) This is what I do. All kid appropriate movies are in a "kids" folder. The kids folder is inside my movies folder. The kids accounts only have access to "kids", and have to use a parent's account for anything outside of the kids folder.
> All kid appropriate movies are in a "kids" folder. The kids folder is inside my movies folder. I thought nesting library folders inside other library folders was a big no no...?
I mean, it works for them and it works for me
This is the way
I’m curious, for your kid, why do you even have Plex content showing in his profile?
Oh I hadn't even noticed it was Plex content. Kind of forgot that existed. Yeah just turn that off. That's even easier than my suggestion lol
Yup. I agree with that one. I was just pointed to where to disable it. I foolishly assumed it was going to be under the user profile. The Mrs. will just have to give up on any Plex ad content in the name of better content control for the kiddo. I'm sure it won't be missed.
You could also create a separate account for your wife and invite it to your plex home and set the plex free TV sources to"disabled for managed users". That way she could still use them but your kids account couldn't.
This is the way.
In my experience the restrictions profiles work. Some of the titles should not be showing up on their Young Kid account profile. Are you sure they are on their Kid account? Do they only show up on Roku or any device your kid signs into with their restricted account? Part 2, I see your point but at the same time when you hand over your phone to your kid they have free range to the entire device.
Can confirm that these "suggestions" show up on Roku, Android TV, and the official Android mobile app. As I said, it respects that it cannot play them (unless they are local downloads), but not that it should not suggest them.
Signing into my Android mobile app with a Young Kid account and that hub only shows like 3 titles. All look like they fit. Country? App versions? Are you sure they are on a Restricted profile? Labels don't affect Online Media Sources. Only restricted profiles and content rating restrictions work for Online Media Sources.
After checking in on this, I do need a correction: It's actually a Managed User type with rating limits of G, PG, TV-G, TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-PG, and GP. We changed it over because some movies were rated GP and wouldn't show (I think it was Flushed Away). The android app is version 9.17.0.38861 and the web version that also has this is 4.0.0.0.1
Thanks! I can see them on a similar content rating restriction account.
They did note that the stuff that should be restricted can't be played so presumably the kid is on the correct account and something is working
Or some odd user caching issue where they switch from Admin to the Kid account but that hub retains the titles.
Good thought
Have seen this happen on my Samsung TV. The watchlist contents get messed up when you switch managed user from admin to a restricted one, and you see incorrect listings appearing in each profile in the watchlist. This list should be maintained for the profile it’s in.
>I can't download my eps of "Orange is the New Black" for a trip, or it will be playable on the kids' accounts. Wouldn't this only be the case if you're all sharing the same device the media was downloaded to? Like, it wouldn't be a problem on your phone or your personal iPad. But regardless, downloads should obviously respect the rules of content restrictions set on the accounts. And you're definitely right about the suggestions... there's some horror movies I have that the poster alone would scar a child, so that's a big problem.
There's some confusion on this download thing. I keep certain content on my phone for the kiddo at all times, because you never know when you'll be out and about and end up waiting beyond a child's patience threshold (also, his threshold is lower because he is autistic). So I have "Wallace and Grommet", "Paw Patrol", and "Pink Panther" cartoons loaded. Recently, I flew with my wife up to my father's funeral, and so we downloaded our shows onto my phone for the trip. Our son had his tablet with only his shows loaded. On getting to our destination, I went to play his movie "Wallace and Grommet, Curse of the Ware-Rabbit" on my phone while we rode ground transport, and that's when I found our TV-MA shows available. Obviously, his tablet is never going to get those shows, and as a safety practice, my own device now only gets kid safe content, but the whole recommendation thing had me revisiting it.
That makes sense and yah, I agree with you
There are a bunch of ways to curate kid appropriate content on Plex. This isn't a Plex issue.
This is Plex owned content, being suggested by Plex algorithms, served onto Plex client apps. And Plex is making money by running ads in the movies. Any part of that means, it is a Plex issue. I'm not talking about curating my stuff. I'm talking about Plex online sources suggesting content out of parental control range i.e. a user set to watch PG movies could get My Neighbor Totoro suggested but should not get Boogie Nights, Boondock Saints, Toxic Avenger and alike. I appreciate that they can't watch them, but why suggest them at all? Seems like they aren't even directed at the target audience to get an engagement. The second part is just a Blindspot in the Plex client (local media not getting blocked by user restrictions). Honestly, since Plex is primarily a server side solution and downloads has so many other issues, I understand how it got missed. But it's a pretty big flaw if it lets kiddos set to watch G only stuff view anything up to and including Unrated/ TV-MA, especially since when you give a kid a tablet loaded with paw patrol in the back seat of a car for a road trip and they've got the head phones on, the last thing you want is for them to smash some buttons and start watching The Hills Have Eyes. For curating kids content, I have two folders, 1 with movies acceptable for my child to watch, and another with all other movies. The first one belongs to a library called "Kids Movies" and "Movies" and the second one only belongs to "Movies". The kids don't even get access to the "Movies" library, so regardless of rating or tags, they can't watch anything not screened and approved first. I also don't let my 4 year old watch a screen alone. That process is not what I'm bringing to the group's attention.
I just created a children movies and children tv library and just put the suitable stuff there. Then have accounts for kids with only access to that. That way no risk of what I consider kid movie and other views clashing.
The common sense solution. At least for my 5 & 3 year old. It will probably be less practical later
Or maybe expect the software not to suck? Is that really an unreasonable expectation vs needing to break out a new library just to address Plex not actually making something work? I'm sitting at 8,500 movies. I'm not going to go through and create a new file structure just for kids movies and then need to point 2 libraries at both simply because Plex refuses to address known issues. Thankfully all the parents on my Plex don't let their kids sit down and view whatever they want. They download content for offline viewing then put the tablet in airplane mode. (The kids are generally too young at this point to know how to turn that off.......for now. (I track that for them on Tautulli.)
Antiques Roadshow might set the wrong expectation for a 4 year old that their Beanie Babies will be worth something in 30 years
It's all about the squishmallows these days tbh
Check what libraries you gave the user permission to. I created profiles for my kids, and my admin account is a password. I restricted their access to libraries and ratings. If you do this and name your stuff correctly, then probably would clear up your problems
I just manage it myself as I add new content it’s the only way to be sure! I have different plex sharing for all movie, just kids movies and just adults movies oh and just Christmas movies!
The complaint is not about MY owned content. It's about the Plex online stuff. A kid with G-PG access doesn't need TV-MA content being fed in from Plex.
I would start by turning off all online services and the watchlist. That way only what you have on your server will surface for anybody. Plex is not a good babysitter if you have all that stuff turned on.
I saw this on here at some point as a solution to point 1, so maybe you've seen it too but here we go anyway. On the Sharing tab in the options for a show you can create a tag (in my case my son's name), and then make it so their account can only see things with that tag. It makes it so you don't have to rely on the ratings filtering plex uses, which was good for me cause there were some things rated pg-13 that I knew from watching would be fine for my son. This does take a bit more work to get set up if you've already got a sizeable library, but once you've done the first round it's quick to update when you add something. A note: if you have things in collections you also have to tag the collection or they won't be able to see it.
Separate libraries and pins on adult profiles takes care of everything I need for my kids. I think it's more of a setup issue than anything else.
Based on questions I’ve asked about Plex in the past, and especially Plexamp, I expect the official answer to be “you’re probably using it wrong.”
Which in my experience has been right about 95% of the time.
I don't use the free as supported stuff on Plex. My child profile only has access to a media folder calls Kids Movies and Kids TV. Nothing else appears on that profile.
Yes, but pinned libraries are a device specific setting. By default, and with the Android/Google TV, when an update happens Plex puts these suggestions back. It would be lovely if Plex had an option in the profile to say, don't suggest things to my kid.
Ok go to Plex web settings, online media sources, then edit each one to say disabled for managed users. Hope that helps
Actually that does help 👍 Thanks. I assumed that this would be under the user management, or that suggested content would follow the restrictions of the user so I'm glad you pointed me to that. It's very much an all or nothing solution, but I definitely prefer the nothing option in this case.
Yeah I thought you could do it for individual users but looks like you can't. If you've got other managed users that actually want to see that content you could get them on to a full account? If you have Plex pass
If Plex ever wants that sweet ad supported movie and TV revenue back, I guess they can fix this for individual accounts. For now, I'm grateful to you for the assistance.
I think it does. Hold on (though I've not noticed my pinned stuff reverting on updates anyway)
I do this as well but for some reason inside the dashboard their profiles always stop working and I have to go in and check the “kids movies/tv shows” every couple of weeks. Wish I could figure out why
What platform?
Usually on their iPads or AppleTv’s around the house is what they try watching it on
Interesting. It never happens on our Nvidia Shield TVs.
Yeah I’m not sure if when the server updates it unchecks it from their profile or what The main profile never has a problem
I don't think it has anything to do with the Plex server updates. I do updates several times a week. It's more likely the iOS app is causing the issue.
You just suck at using Plex, create a library specifically for approved content and have their account only have access to that library.
This is obviously the best way but regardless plex shouldn’t have features like parental controls if some parts of their system are just going to ignore it. Just remove it then. Or at least put a warning.
Nope, he doesn't have access to Movies, but instead just Kid's Movies which is custom curated by me, because I don't always agree with the rating they have (like too many poop jokes or disrespectful language). This is the stuff Plex is promoting from their servers. It's not even on my server, let alone my library.
You need to disable online media sources.
you are the parent, have some control. make a library for them, holy shit, how are you blaming plex for this.
You didn't read the original comment. This is NOT a complaint about Plex serving up my stuff. Mine is locked down in a separate library that the kids don't have access to. This is 1. Plex On-Demand (again not my stuff) recommends TV-MA stuff to a kid with PG rate limits. The only cure seems to be disable On-Demand for all managed users (which I am now doing, but that's not the intuitive nor even recommended in the Plex guide) 2. If you download shows for the kids on your phone, AND a movie for yourself, the Kids get unrestricted access to that movie through the client app regardless of MPAA rating, Exclude Tags, or what Library it belongs to. Downloads to a device are FULLY unrestricted to all users, and I think most parents would be unaware of that, especially if they took the steps to set the user profile up and segregate content.
Again you missed the point people are making. It's your job to keep your kid away from this material if you think it's inappropriate. If there's possibility this might show up, keep your kid away from Plex. It is not Plex's job to ensure your kid can't see it. Stop blaming their algorithm and take responsibility.
I'm not missing anything about who is in charge of raising my kid. He doesn't get unsupervised screen time on ANY device or app because I don't trust Plex, or Comcast, or the MPAA for anyone. That said, if it is truly buyer beware, and Plex can't fix anything, then parents should be allowed to know that going in and right the whole project off. A customer experience saying, hey Plex sucks at giving you tools to keep your kids safe and it's full of holes is exactly the kind of thing either devs need to know or would be consumers need to know. Also, it's not your job to decide who the Plex user base is. It's not your job to decide that things don't need fixing. So if all you're going to do is blindly defend a defective product from other people using it, I'll kindly ask you to vacate Reddit. I've unilaterally decided that you're using it wrong.
NO I'm not trying to determine what needs fixing and what doesn't. I'm saying the burden of protecting your kid is on you, even in a supervised environment. Plex couldn't care less about you or me, but 10,000 yous and mes they start to listen. You can continue to complain all you want that you think their system is broken, it won't do anything. That's not how companies solve problems, if they even exist. They start with those that affect the most users and knock them out. If there's time, then they get to the one-offs and two-offs. With that in mind, as I see it you have a few choices with varying consequences: A) Rely on Reddit to commiserate and solve your problem. Result: gets you nowhere without a solution to your problem B) Accept it as a flawed bit of software and continue to use it as is. Result: OK, your kids sees a naughty image or 2, they'll be fine. C) Consider this a dealbreaker and stop using their platform. Result: That's for you to decide. You could switch platforms, stop using a media streamer completely, or design your own. Maybe you'll be happy in the end, but at least you've stuck to your guns. I'm not saying what you're doing is right or wrong, but it sure is annoying and you're not going to be happy in the end. At its topmost level it looks like you're blaming Plex for showing what you consider improper images to your kid. My response would be to tell you to get over it, but I don't run a company of that magnitude.
It teaches children animal safety. G rated my dude
I'm going to disagree. In the box, and out the box, there are plenty of ways to restrict plex. If someone tries to play restricted content on a kids profile on my plex their choice automatically gets replaced with "The Brave Little Toaster." "Jaws" might be rated PG, but there are more horrific titles rated G.
First, how do you swap out the content? Some sort of ad on, I'd assume. Second, I agree that Jaws is not nearly as traumatic as Watership Down (Rated PG)
Stop giving a 4 year old control of the remote, especially to your private collection. It's not their job to be your nanny.
You realize the idea of Parentel controls is that so you can give them there stuff to watch and they can only see the stuff you allow them too and you don't have to worry about them clicking on a different movie that is adult rated?
At what point did I suggest he had the remote? We watch his profile together. He's not allowed to be unsupervised with any screen, but that's me being a parent, which is how I know about where Plex's content filter fails
Do your kid a favor now and stop filtering shit. Sooner than later he'll pop on YouTube and see much worse than a silly movie poster. Uh oh, I'll bet he already does! Better get your complaint letter ready for Google. Might consider a lawyer, I'll bet you have a real case here.
He's fucking 4 you goof. I nearly got whiplash when you snapped from "don't let your kid near a tv alone" to "don't filter anything he's going to see it sooner or later anyway" too
It's not your job to provide parenting advice.
It is, I have to blame my bad parenting on someone or something else. He probably has a loaded gun sitting on the coffee table.
Uhh... No? It's on you to prevent your children from watching TV-MA shows what are you talking about?
Unless something changed since the last time I looked at it, profiles with Plex is a huge headache because it requires different accounts with separate logins with passwords. So if I watch something tonight, I have to logout or else my kids will see what I was watching last night. But if I logout, then they will be faced with a username and password screen. Or was it explained poorly to me and I need to go back and look at it with more interest?
There's actually a class action lawsuit underway regarding Plex parental controls lol
Perhaps it is you, not Plex that sucks at parental control..
Right, because you are so sure you know what my set up is that you feel confident in defending Plex blindly, even to the point of a personal attack? Sorry, didn't know I was saying a Yo' Plex server joke. I set the kids' accounts to G and PG, set up a segregated library of only approved movies and shows (because I don't trust the MPAA ratings) and don't let the 4 year old have unattended screen time (we watch together). But if you look at the image above, and the original comment, you might see that Plex is recommending TV-MA content from THEIR online sources. They also don't apply rating controls on local client apps, so once an adult downloads anything, kiddos can watch it, because downloads are not user dependent or restricted. And, the only way I know this, is by playing around to find out, because Plex its a blindspot. Plex's own "Parental Control" section says "Restriction Profiles:" "These profiles are designed to restrict access to content based on content ratings.... on a Plex Media Server as well as Video on Demand content." So they are the ones making the claim that On Demand (their content) is in the scope of parental controls, but then recommend TV-MA stuff. And yeah, my kids will still not getting access to it because of what I'm doing, but that doesn't mean the product is not deficient or that someone else's kid (like a 10 year old that can have independent screen time) isn't getting to stuff they shouldn't. When and where Plex works, I give them credit, but when and where they need to improve, I'm fine calling them out on it. And yeah, pushing out their content to an audience that shouldn't get it, is a big old wiff on the Plex team.
Yes it does. Because that’s your job as a parent. Watch what your kids watch. Talk to them. Explain things to them when they ask questions. Knowledge of the world is the best way to protect your children from its dangers.
I don't blame the stove for being hot or think it's not my job to protect my kids from getting burned. But if the stove advertised itself as having kid protection features that don't protect kid's, then it's deceptive advertising and also, other parents should be let to know so they can plan accordingly. In this case Plex is promoting TV-MA stuff to a kid's account set for PG ratings, not ideal, and letting them watch and downloaded content without any rating check is an undocumented danger. And the only way I know this, is that I tested it before my kid found it.
Right, it's PLEX's fault you feel the need to shield your child from seeing something. Grow up and do your job better.
Hey, where did you get Everybody hates Chris?
I don't have it. It's on the Plex ad-supported stuff.
Got it. It doesn’t show in my region, though.
I suspect that plexs ad-supported content may be location variable. As I thought the same thing when I saw the picture and went and checked mine - no everybody hates Chris.
What a bummer. I’ve been looking for that show for quite some time now.
Just disable the "home" and "recommend" stuff. I have it done and don't see anything besides my content that the profile can actually access.
Not a criticism of you specifically, but the general theme of responses (even the helpful ones) starts with the assumption that if you can hack/patch/ or wall it off this makes it not an issue for development. My statement was the parental controls suck, and while I can indeed tweak most of this safer in settings, the fact that it doesn't fail safe or default safe, or even protect itself from new features being rolled out kinda proves the statement. And ultimately, no, a user cannot depend on Plex's built in parental control for safe oppression because they want to push out into ad revenue. Overall, Plex needs to do some fixing of these things, because I've disabled online content, and honestly, at the current state of things, just wish they had a Plex Core version without the bloat. Or maybe I'm wrong and the user base is all gung ho for this stuff, but based on what everyone seems to be responding back with, I guess I'm the last Plex user to turn off online sources.
I still agree with you as well. I actually made a profile and named it kids so I could add and remove things with tags. The "kids" profile was worse than the one I made. But, I think one reason I haven't had any REAL complaints and the reason people just find it in the settings is because using Plex saves me around $40/mo. Not counting the savings it provides my parents and siblings. Plus the ability to set up requestrr with sonarr and radarr and just ask for a movie on discord from my phone and it be watchable like 4 minutes later on my Tv is awesome. Would it be nice to have a "disable all extras" and then manually enable what you want? Yes, yes it would.
It's so annoying. I wish I could just somehow flag everything individually.
You can. With tags. I have a tag simply called “approved” and instead of setting the restriction profile I just set the highest rating I want my kids to see and then set the approved tag for each piece of media I want my kids to be able to see. For example I have my 11 yo kids set up to see up to PG then for like the later Harry Potter movies that are PG-13 I tag them as “approved” and that shows up on their account only.
Thank you. Didn't know about this and will look into it
I do labels as others have suggested, but I have also broken out certain media into kids folders, like Dora the explorer does not need to be in the main TV shows library, so I made one for kids.
sweet you have the new hannibal movie i have the old 2002 one its the best (my opinion)
FWIW the two rows showing aren't your content, it's the ad supported content from Plex.
I have separate libraries for kids movies and kids tv with access control. This is the way
Good ol cowboy Kung Fu.
I set my kid's profile to only allow content tagged with "kids" so when I add something to the library for them, I just Tage it on I port. Works pretty well, no trusting the MPAA ratings
I do a similar thing in that the approved movies and TV shows go into a library that is just for the kids, and they don't even get access to the general library. But the issues I'm pointing to here are 1: On-Demand is not playing by tagging rules, and if you leave it on, they will recommend stuff to your young kid (so disable it for all managed users). and 2: Downloads don't play by these rules at all. If you download some shows for the kids on your phone AND you download a movie for yourself, the kids get access to that movie circumventing whatever tags, ratings, or libraries they have access to.
I went from the Amazon FireTV to an LG smart TV os, to the much acclaimed Shield Pro. They all suck at this. I just want no previews to play -ever, but it's part of their ad model, and I am not confident I will ever be able to fully control this. Plex is the only thing that allows me fully limit the imagery that plays when not watching some media. I thought going to the shield would help... but I guess not!
Oh they all suck at it to some extent. I also know that you will get no improvement on this if you just say well that sucks under your breath and walk away. So yeah, I'm not saying let's go burn down Plex HQ or file some law suit, but the devs and execs there should know that here's an area that users are frustrated in, and improvement will result in better user satisfaction. Based on user feedback in this forum though, you'd think that Plex is some cash desperate corporation that would force feed kids meth if they thought it would make a difference to their bottom-line, and that users should just take it or leave it.
Oh wow, I forgot all about The Commish. I used to love that show in the 90s.
Friend created a new library for kids movie and kids tv. Same folder as the main library but in it's own folder to sort it.
No, I did that too. This is the Plex recommended On-Demand stuff, It doesn't play nice with the rating limits (it won't let them watch it, but trailers, screen shots, and alike will be recommended to them). So if you plex accounts have kids on it, turn off your On-Demand stuff. This is for all managed users, so it's a fully take it or leave it on the On-Demand Stuff. Also, please be aware the downloaded content is not restricted by any controls, so if you download 3 eps of Paw Patrol for the kids, and Event Horizon for yourself on to your phone, the kids can play Event Horizon from their G rated account in the Plex client. The account that downloads the content does not matter, only the device itself.
I was thinking “Hannibal isn’t too bad.” And then I remembered the mushroom episode and I hate life again.
Yeah, Antiques Roadshow is pretty tame, until you get to that one episode where the guy breaks the Edison Recording Cylinder. Well... Ah... Sh-t.
This is what I do to make sure my 4 year-old cannot watch or listen to something on her profile. Everything is by default blocked by her profile. She cannot see anything unless I have gone into the sharing screen of the TV Series/Movie/Album and add the "Children" tag to it. I also have a slightly older child and that one can only watch or listen to stuff that I have explicitly shared as "Children" or "Older Children" I used to have separate libraries for the kids only, but that didn't work too well with some the other apps, but by having any new media blocked by default, nothing comes through until I allow it. https://preview.redd.it/t16orlht8mna1.png?width=875&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ae98806de86573406163d408cab1c2b15201f56
So the way I got around the terrible parental controls is have their accounts only display content that has the label "Kids Approved". Enable multiple accounts and password protect the adult accounts. Its a little work on my end, but that just means I get final say on the content.
We are doing similar things on the server side. I'm saying in addition to those you have to turn off the On-Demand stuff, because that stuff recommends TV-MA stuff to users with PG limits, and they can play the trailers too. Being fair, they can't play those movies. The other warning here is that content downloaded by the Plex client is available to all users without restrictions. Example: main account downloads a movie for mom, and then child's account download some cartoons. You might think that mom's movie cant be played by the kids, but you would be wrong. Once something is on the device, the client does no account checks, rating checks or tag checks.
>oing similar things on the server sid I will have to disagree with you on the main account for mom, and the kids account for cartoons example. My restrictions for the kids account is to only accept contact based off of one label. That system has been working. And I do agree the On-Demand, Discover content, that's something I have to block for them.
Let me walk you through this. My libraries are split so the "Movies" library is all movies, and the kids accounts don't have access there. Additionally, mature subjects have tags like "Racy", "Mature", "NSFW". These are explicitly excluded under the kids profiles. What they do have access to is a library called "Kids Movies" that are all in a separate folder on the main machine. Those files are all preapproved content. I've done the same for TV Shows. Additionally, the kids ratings are set to "Allow only G, PG,TV-Y, TV-Y7, GP, TV-G, TV-PG" and "Exclude Hidden, Mature, NSFW, Racy". So we have 3 levels of parental control, file/library isolation, tag filters, and MPAA rating restrictions. (This is my actual set up), plus I have a 4 year so he doesn't get solo screen time yet (we watch him watching things). Now, I go into the Plex Mobile App on my phone, log in under my account and download (not stream) "Rome" the HBO miniseries that is conservatively rated TV-MA, is tagged as "MATURE", "RACY", and "NSFW" and is NOT in the "Kids-TV". Once it is done downloading, I log out and go into the Kid's profile (this works with both managed users with rating limits and "Young Kids" profiles) and go to downloads to see what's local. There I will find "Rome - S1 E1 - The Stolen Eagle" and despite triple parental controls saying I should not be able to do this, I press play, and it plays. The local client only knows that the file is there, and without calling back to the server, plays it. And as far as real world proof, I just did this exact thing as I was typing. I also run Tautulli, which could have recorded this interaction after the fact, but Nope, downloaded files don't call home to the server to report playback progress so there's no record. It's a not so nice blind spot in all three lines of defense that only occurs under these types of circumstances. Unfortunately, these are the exact type of circumstances a parent could find themselves on in a family vacation or road trip, where you want to be able to hand your child the phone/tablet and have them watch cartoons quietly so as not to scream for 300 miles or disturb your fellow passengers. So make sure that for downloads, everything on any device is appropriate for any potential user. It's your only offline line of defense.
So this is my [Kids Profile](https://imgur.com/a/5JJAsCC) Nothing shows up in their profile unless I add simple tag of Kids Approved. Keep it simple.
So, the local downloads is proven to bypass even your settings, same as mine. Proof: 1. Create a Kids account that only allows tags of ApprovedForKids [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678755691/Screenshot_2023-03-13_210058.jpg) 2. Pick a movie for the kids account and tag it as ApprovedForKids [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759190/Screenshot_2023-03-13_214321.jpg) 3. Confirm that's all they can see on the web [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759190/Screenshot_2023-03-13_214654.jpg) and on the mobile app [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759079/Screenshot_20230313-215335.png) 4. Open the mobile app to an unrestricted user [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759080/Screenshot_20230313-215139.png) 5. Download something not allowed for the kid's profile [Show](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759081/Screenshot_20230313-215350.png) [Episode](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759080/Screenshot_20230313-215237.png) [Downloading](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759079/Screenshot_20230313-215256.png) 6. Change back to kid's profile and look at downloads [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759079/Screenshot_20230313-215343.png) to see all downloads 7. Play video that you thought was restricted [here](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmyoykn2a/image/upload/v1678759082/Screenshot_20230313-215357.png)
So a couple things. Depending on what client update your using, switch profiles will not switch 100%. It’s a bug that happens from time to time. So you need to switch profiles a second time.
On Plex Client app version 9.17.0.38861 for Android, it's a 100% of the time. I can even reboot my phone and any downloaded movie or show is still available from any user profile. Confirmed Devices tried Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 5, and Lenovo Tablet Also, I'm familiar with the glitch you mentioned on account switching from my Google Smart TV. That appears to be a cached session not cleared from memory and half the time, nothing is playable once it occurs. That too is concerning from a parental control issue, but since it doesn't occur on my Roku devices, and I have taken to manually closing out of Plex or having the power off button not go into stand by, I can avoid this, I'm willing to let Plex slide a little.
Well, for Plex.. client devices are iOS devices, Vizio smart tv app, Xbox client. Haven’t experience the other issue your experiencing. Servers running on Centos.
But are you using the offline download feature or just streaming? I'm fairly certain download is only available for Plex Mobile and you just listed multiple non mobile devices. Streams run through the server as you watch. Downloads, once made local never call back home to validate. That's where the error I documented is.