Attention data hoarders: Alexa loses its Plex appeal as voice feature gets canned
- Reference: 1776422712
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/04/17/alexa_loses_its_plex_appeal/
- Source link:
Debian's FreedomBox Blend promises an easier home cloud [1]READ MORE
For those not living in it daily, Plex is a media server platform that lets users stream their own collections of films, TV shows, and music from a central box to apps and devices around the house, with Alexa voice control bolted on as a convenience feature for hands-free playback.
In [2]a support notice , the company confirmed that its Alexa skill will be switched off on June 15, 2026, at which point voice control via Amazon's smart speakers will stop working entirely. New users are already locked out, while existing ones get a short grace period before the lights go out.
An email to users, seen by The Register , spells it out in plainer terms. "Due to low usage and shifting priorities, we made the difficult decision to remove the Plex Skill for Alexa," the company said, adding that after the cutoff date, "the skill will no longer function on your Alexa-enabled devices."
Plex stressed that accounts themselves aren't affected, and that its apps and web interface will carry on as normal – just without the hands-free bit some people actually used.
[3]
The news hasn't gone down particularly well with the subset of users who did lean on Alexa to drive their setups, especially those using Plex as a home for locally stored music rather than yet another streaming front end.
[4]The Roomba failed because it just kind of sucked
[5]AWS outage turned smart homes into dumb boxes – and sysadmins into therapists
[6]Techie banned from client site for outage he didn't cause
[7]You've just spent $400 on a baby monitor. Now you need a subscription
[8]Reddit reacted with characteristic restraint. One user lamented losing a kitchen setup that piped Plex through an Echo into a proper speaker system: "Something I've enjoyed for over six years. Goddamnit, this sucks." Another said the change would force them into clunkier workarounds, like piping audio over Bluetooth from a phone, because Alexa doesn't play nicely with local network media on its own.
Others took aim at the broader pattern rather than the specific feature. "I'm getting really tired of encouraging friends and family to try Plex… then Plex randomly withdrawing those features without any consultation or care for the customers," one wrote.
[9]
Plex isn't the first outfit to quietly retire an Alexa skill that didn't pull its weight, and it won't be the last. Voice integrations live or die on usage stats, and "low usage" is usually corporate shorthand for "not worth maintaining."
Still, Plex users have a couple of months to enjoy telling their speakers to spin up a playlist from a home server before that particular trick joins the long list of things smart homes used to do. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/22/debians_freedombox_blend/
[2] https://support.plex.tv/articles/115000320808-getting-started-with-alexa-voice-control/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aeJZKOw7XsGDslzBAWO0wwAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/22/irobot_opinion/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/21/aws_outage_aftermath/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/12/who_me/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/06/miku_baby_monitor/
[8] https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/1sn81fv/important_update_regarding_the_plex_alexa_skill/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aeJZKOw7XsGDslzBAWO0wwAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Open Source!
It's funny, but the instance of Kodi that I have running on an old RPi still works perfectly and streams to my devices just as well as it always has. If I really wanted voice recognition, I guess I could drive it with my completely offline Home Assistant system.
Buy products where someone else owns the software and service, expect enshittification and obsolescence. Don't expect pity.
Re: Open Source!
My instance of Plex also works flawlessly. I would never let an Alexa speaker into my home, though.
Re: Open Source!
Why not open source the skill? Anyone really wanting to continue using it could, with a bit of help from AI maintain the skill themselves
Re: Open Source!
Me: Alexa, play 2001: A Space Odyssey on Plex
AI maintained Alexa skill: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Re: Open Source!
If I understand right, Plex is a Kodi fork (i.e. other people's work) which costs money and features randomly disappear for that modern-day commercial software feel. I can see why so many people sign up for a subscription...
Re: Open Source!
Only the media player which nobody really uses is a Kodi fork. The server software is developed by them.
Talking to a pair of speakers…
or any piece of hardware is the bridge to insanity I will not cross even if it is paved with good intentions…hang on that a different path albeit with the same destination I suspect.
If you talk to your plants you are only off your rocker if they talk back. The same wiith toasters.
Talking to living people is hardly more sanity preserving in most cases. Best avoided too.
Paraphrasing Robert Owen: “ All the world is insane save thee and me, and even thou art a little lacking. ” (Owen's sense of queer not the current one.)
Re: Talking to a pair of speakers…
Would you like some toast? Some nice hot crisp brown buttered toast. No? How about a muffin then? Nothing? You know the last time you had toast. 18 days ago, 11.36, Tuesday 3rd, two rounds. I mean, what's the point in buying a toaster with artificial intelligence if you don't like toast. I mean, this is my job. This is cruel, just cruel.
Re: Talking to a pair of speakers…
You have fallen into the trap of referring to them as 'smart' speakers.
They aren't. They are 'smart' microphones.
Alexa = Amazons microphone.
"Smart"
Being the most techy person in my family, I still find it amazing that my parents, brother, etc. have filled their house with this junk and I'm the only one who hasn't.
I have any amount of devices that I COULD tie into Alexa, etc. And I don't. Ever. None of them are reliant on it, but I don't even do it "just for a laugh".
I have heatpumps. But they are not only "smart" controllable from an app, and thus Alexa-integratable along with half a dozen other such services, including HomeAssistant, they are also remote controlled (with an IR remote) and they have buttons. So even if EVERYTHING goes off... I can just... take them off the wifi and use them like an appliance.
Same for an electric towel rail. Same for my CCTV cameras. Same for all kinds of stuff.
It's the same with AI nonsense. Everyone who doesn't work in tech is all over it, spending stupid money on ridiculous shite to save them having to press one button. And I'm in IT and I have absolutely no interest in it.
My phone does not accept voice control. NFC Is off by default (and it's in an NFC-protected case). Fingerprints and facial recognition won't help you get into it. And so on.
If I was to look around and see all the car mechanics avoiding a particular technology like the plague, I'd pay attention. If all the doctors were ignoring some fancy home-resuscitation device, I would too. If the locksmiths were telling me not to use a particular kind of lock, then I'd take notice.
But this obsession with voice, AI, always-listening devices, etc. is just scary. I'm by no means an apocalypse prepper type, but... no... I'll just have my media. And I'll press a button to play it. It's really not adding ANYTHING for me to have to say things out loud. It's actually slower and FAR less reliable. As I proved to a group of people once in a car with voice recognition. We needed to go somewhere, urgently. They said that they'd sort out the satnav. I knew the general direction so started driving that way. And then they spent SO LONG trying to get the car to recognise the town, street-name, etc. that eventually I had to force them to give up, and actually type on the satnav screen. They tried every intonation, several people's voices, wording it differently, nearby streets, etc. and in the end, I'd driven half way there already, was not familar with the area and suddenly NEEDED THE DAMN DIRECTIONS. Which we then got in about 30 seconds once we stopped playing games.
we made the difficult decision to remove
Oh, drop the bullshit.
They didn't want to pay the Alexa tax or they didn't want to pay to keep maintaining it or...
...somewhere along the way a bean counter or manager saw that this was costing currency units and not "delivering tangible value", therefore it got taken out back and shot in the head.
Now they're blathering about difficult decisions, like we're supposed to feel sorry for them for removing a feature that some people may have depended upon.
[disclaimer: I don't have Plex and hell will freeze over before I have Alexa, I'm just annoyed at the tone of the response]
Here's a third-party Plex Alexa Skill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPSYZyLXbg8
https://github.com/andresponte/askplex
OurJukebox still working nicely
We have the OurJukebox skill to stream from a home music server and it works great. The exact phrases you have to use to play specific m3u playlists can be a bit fiddly, so we've set up Alexa "routines" to alias what we actually say to what we're supposed to say. And if it stops working we'll just go back to pressing buttons.
Re: OurJukebox still working nicely
Why do I keep writing jukebox as "dukebox"? Duke, duke of earl at the end of King Ralph?
Re: OurJukebox still working nicely
Perhaps your play lists show a superior musical taste and are limited to the music of Edard Kennedy Ellington.
What are the best FOSS alternatives, even if you have to self host?
WWA testing cost
"The costs associated with WWA certification testing varies based on scope assigned by Amazon, determined by the device under test capabilities."
Certification price range estimation chart
Device type Range (USD)
Camera $1500 - $3000
Lighting $1500 - $4000
Plugs / Outlets / Switch $1200 - $4000
Video Door Bell $1500 - $3000
Door Lock $2000 - $2700
Vacuum $1100 - $2000
Thermostat $1800 - $3200
AC / Air Purifier / Fan $2000 - $3500
Security Panel $1500 - $2300
EXTERNAL WEBPAGE
https://www.ul.com/ul-solutions-interoperability-testing-and-works-alexa
Alexa last night:
Me: "Alexa play songs by X"
Alexa: "Playing songs by X on Amazon Music"
Me: "Alexa why aren't you playing"
Alexa: "I'm sorry I don't know how to help you with that"
Thick as a plank.
And ?
I gave up with the internet of shit pretty much before it started. Episodes like this, and expensive kit becoming useless overnight.
It's why I won't invest in this shit unless I can keep control forever.