OwnMedia
Guides / Remote access

Away from home and friends

Watch your server from anywhere and share it with the people you choose, without opening ports on your router.

How it works

At home, the phone talks to the server over your Wi-Fi. For the internet, OwnMedia uses Tailscale Funnel: Tailscale, a free service, gives your server a safe address like https://my-pc.tail1234.ts.net. Only Jellyfin is reachable at it; nothing else on the computer or NAS is opened, and you don’t change anything on your router.

  • Windows: keep “Let friends watch from anywhere” ticked in the installer. It installs Tailscale, you sign in once in the browser, and it turns Funnel on. Didn’t tick it the first time? Run OwnMediaSetup again. Windows guide.
  • Synology: step 7 of the Synology guide.
  • Docker: one command on the host.

Have your own way already, a VPN or your own domain? OwnMedia works with any address your phone can reach.

You, away from home

Add the server in OwnMedia by its https://….ts.net address, or keep the home address and turn on the Tailscale app on your phone, signed in to the same account as the server. With the Tailscale app the connection is usually faster (see Speed).

On mobile data, OwnMedia can save traffic: set a quality for Wi-Fi and one for mobile data (gear icon in the server list). “Auto” measures the connection before a video, and the server converts only what wouldn’t fit.

Inviting friends

  1. In OwnMedia, open the server’s menu ⋮ → Share with friends.
  2. Type the friend’s name and pick the libraries to share. Photos aren’t included unless you add them.
  3. Send the link in any messenger or by email.
  4. The friend opens the link on their Android phone, installs OwnMedia if they don’t have it, and adds your server with one tap: no name or password to type.

The link works once, for 7 days: the first person who uses it gets the access. Send it only to the friend it is for.

A friend can only watch and listen: they can’t delete anything, back up photos to your server or share it further. Share only what you have the right to share.

Already have an invite link? In OwnMedia: Add your server → Have an invite link? and paste it.

A server of their own

Friends who like it can make their own server: the invite page and the app show three steps, and Send the link to my computer sends them the Windows installer from your server.

Who has access

In Share with friends, the Who has access list shows each friend: the phone they joined from, when they last used the server and what they are watching now. End access removes their sign-in from your server at once, and their app tells them the owner closed the access. (Needs the plugin version 1.7 or newer.)

Speed

  • Through Funnel (how friends connect), and through Tailscale’s relay when a direct connection isn’t possible, you get around 20 Mbit/s. That’s plenty for ordinary 1080p movies and shows (5–10 Mbit/s), but not for heavy 4K files: 4K at 60 frames per second needs about 40 Mbit/s.
  • With the Tailscale app on the phone, the connection is often direct and as fast as the internet at both ends allows.
  • For heavy files on the road: download them at home (long-press → Download), or choose a lower quality in the player and the server converts the video.

More details for NAS owners: if video stutters.