How to Use Plex as a Hub for Your Streaming Services

Plex is a pretty flexible program. You can host your own movies or use it as a hub for all your streaming services. But like everything Plex-related, you’ll need to set it up first.

Table of Contents

• How to Connect Your Streaming Service to Plex
• Use Plex to search for content
• Plex acts like a TV guide app instead of a hub

How to Connect Your Streaming Service to Plex

Unlike hosting music on Plex, connecting the streaming services you subscribe to isn’t as complicated. In fact, it only takes a few clicks to get started:

1. Launch Plex, then open Settings . You can find that by selecting the wrench icon in the upper right corner.
2. On the left side, select Streaming Services .
3. Find the streaming service you're subscribed to using the search box.
4. You will see a small checkbox to the right of the streaming service. Check it and the service will be connected.

You want to do this with every streaming service you have, and ideally on a device that can access that service.

For example, if you have a Smart TV that can access Plex but doesn’t have Max or Netflix , you won’t be able to access those streaming services. We’ll explain why, but for now, keep that in mind.

Use Plex to search for content

So you’ve connected your streaming services to Plex. What next? First, head back to the Plex home page. Along the left side, you’ll see the Discover option . Go ahead and check it out!

Now, first, you’ll see a collage of the movies and TV shows that are trending on Plex, as well as the streaming services you’ve selected. This is a pretty cool way to see what other subscribers are watching, recommending, and adding to their watchlists.

More importantly, you want to focus on the Your Selected Services subsection . You'll see all of the streaming services you've selected in a neat row. Selecting one of those will change what you see to what that service offers.

But what if you want to find a specific movie? Of course, you can search on Google , but instead, use the search function in the upper left corner. The author of this article wants to watch Mad Max again, so he searches, selects from the list, and is taken straight to the information page.

Instead of having to bother opening a browser, Plex will tell you which streaming services have Mad Max, free or not. For example, if you see it on Prime, the service you subscribe to, select Prime and voilà - Prime launches, straight to Mad Max.

Plex acts like a TV guide app instead of a hub

Remember how we mentioned that you should have a device that can access all the streaming services you want to connect to Plex? That’s because Plex doesn’t stream content to you. Instead, Plex is more like a high-end TV guide app. You’re not setting up Plex as a media server.

Instead of launching each streaming service in hopes of finding something to watch, Plex organizes all your selected libraries into one space. That way, you have the entire content at once instead of a small portion.

One feature you’ll likely use is adding content to your Plex watchlist instead of streaming services. It’s much easier to have one watchlist than three or four. Many people have even started adding movies and TV shows to services they don’t own, like the mountain of unwatched anime on Crunchyroll.

Yes, Plex can act as a hub for your streaming services, but people like to think of it as a one-stop TV guide. It’s easy and simple to connect everything, and since you can create your own watchlists, you rarely, if ever, need to open other apps until you decide to watch something. Why bother when it’s all there. Plex even has free live TV channels!