I’ve used and enjoyed Pluto.tv for years. But, starting this past week, I’ve noticed that their webpage will not complete loading if I have my VPN on. I’m within the continental U.S. and connect to a U.S. VPN server, and have successfully accessed Pluto like this for years, but now it just brings up a black page. If I disconnect the VPN, Pluto comes right up. This behavior occurs in Edge and Firefox.
Just wondering if any others have seen this behavior while using VPN.
I have a VPN installed on router level and all my devices connect to that router. Interestingly, my Shield TV plays pluto.tv and so does my Android smartphone. But on any windows laptop or MacBook: black screen when loading pluto. All devices share the same IP. So, pluto seems to check whether there’s a vpn running and if it’s a Windows or macos, then it’s blocking it.
Only available for VPN in the US ONLY . from THEIR WEBSITE If you want to access Pluto TV’s full content library, you’ll need a U.S. IP address to access the service. Connecting to a U.S. VPN server will change your IP to one in the U.S
Why would you use a VPN living in USA?
Streaming IS legal…
Especially Pluto
Im having the exact same problem on desktop, im in Mexico and I like US Pluto TV and I use WeVPN but it doesnt work, it does work on mobile though and I haven’t tried on my smart tv
I had used three vpns successfully for pluto tv on my iphone until recently: ProtonVPN, NordVPN, and hide.me
Clearly Pluto aggressively started blocking VPNs, but the same VPNs work with Netflix and Amazon.
The US programming on Pluto TV is worth watching, but the EU and UK content is an utter waste of time for me, because I can get excellent UK and EU wide free content from the satellite.
In the end I uninstalled Pluto TV.
Canadian pluto tv is so much worse than US. I can’t believe you guys get all this for free!
Just installed the pluto.tv app on MacOS and it’s working despite being on a vpn connection. So it’s the browser that’s causing an issue. Tried chrome, safari and opera, and none of them works. Strange.
Privacy greater than piracy
U have a lot to learn boy
Thank you! This was the kind of ‘external testing’ I was hoping someone would do.
So, if other people are getting the same result, then it would appear that the Pluto.tv website is now not accessible when using VPN (either intentionally or accidentally). I’m guessing that it is intentional and they’re trying to push people towards their app for gathering marketing/telemetry data, and this info is rendered unusable via browser + any ad blocking or privacy add-ons/VPN/etc.
Just a guess, of course, but unless we hear an official response to my many inquiries about this from Pluto.tv, I’m betting VPN connections will no longer be allowed. It’s a shame, but that means I won’t be using or recommending them any longer.
Hey genius…
Pluto is not a pirate service
It’s a mystery to me. If I tether from my phone (aka: no vpn), then Pluto works on my MacBook using any browser. So it is the combination of vpn plus browser on a desktop.
It also seems to be limited to US-Connections. If I set my vpn to any other country, then it works. Sadly, the selection is super-limited in other countries. I use Nordvpn, maybe other vpn providers are not affected?
Immediately stooping to insults? Amazing. Obviously it’s not a pirate service, however VPNs are generally used for those two things. You mentioned streaming and people use VPNs to get around location locks with streaming.
Why do you automatically associate using a VPN with illegal activity?
I’m fully aware that Pluto streaming is legal. My question was if anyone else had noticed if Pluto.tv changed their protocols in order to prevent VPN users from accessing their site. And since getting an actual response from Pluto’s customer support is impossible, I asked in this subreddit.
I also use Nord. I haven’t tested it connecting as another country, because, as you mentioned, the selection is negligible compared to the continental U.S.
Thanks for your additional testing.
My point though was that the OP is probably interested in privacy
The post CLEARLY states that they are in USA
There is absolutely NO reason to use a VPN for Pluto in USA
because he is clueless
One more thing: if I use opera (with my nordvpn connection enabled) and use the opera VPN on top, then it works!