Media guide
Share Jellyfin with family
Get Jellyfin to your parents' TV or a friend's laptop without touching your router.
You'll need
- Jellyfin running on a machine at home
- Docker on that machine
- A free Seawise.io account
Step by step
Everything happens in your browser except step 1.
Run the Seawise.io container
Run this on the machine where Jellyfin runs. The container connects out to Seawise.io, so you don't open any ports on your router.
On Docker Desktop for Mac or Windows, replace --network host with -p 8082:8082.
$ docker run -d --name seawise \ --restart unless-stopped \ --network host \ -v seawise-data:/config \ ghcr.io/seawise-io/seawise-client:latest
✓ Container started
Set a password
On a computer at home, open http://your-server-ip:8082 and create a password for the container's page.
Connect it to your account
Give the server a name, click Connect, and approve it in the seawise.io tab that opens. Sign up for free there if you haven't yet.
Add Jellyfin
Fill in the name, the address and the port Jellyfin uses (8096 by default), then click Add.
--network host, use localhost. On Docker Desktop, use host.docker.internal. If Jellyfin runs on another machine, use its local IP, like 192.168.1.20.
Open it from anywhere
Jellyfin now shows on your Servers page at seawise.io. Click it from any browser, on any network, and you're in.
Share it
Go to Portals, create one (say, Family), and add Jellyfin to it. Then open its sharing settings and add the email of everyone who should get in.
Skip this step if Jellyfin is just for you.
What they see
Send them the portal link. They sign in with the email you added, using Google, GitHub or an email link, and tap Jellyfin. Nothing to install, on any phone, tablet or laptop.
Set Jellyfin up for family
01
One Jellyfin user each
In Jellyfin, go to Dashboard, then Users, and add a user per person. Everyone gets their own watch history and Continue Watching.
02
Choose what they see
Open a user and use the Library Access tab to pick their libraries. Handy for keeping the kids out of your horror collection.
03
Mind the upload
Your home upload speed is the real limit. If a stream buffers, lower the quality in the Jellyfin player so it transcodes to a smaller stream.
If something's not working
Jellyfin shows as offline on seawise.io+
The container can't reach Jellyfin at the address you entered. On the server, check that http://localhost:8096 opens Jellyfin. If Jellyfin runs in another container without host networking, use the server's local IP instead of localhost.
Someone gets a no access page+
They signed in with a different email than the one you added. Ask which email they used, or add that one to the portal too.
Videos keep buffering+
Usually your home upload speed. Lower the playback quality in the Jellyfin player, or check whether you've used your plan's monthly bandwidth on the seawise.io Analytics page.
The Jellyfin app on a TV or phone won't connect+
Seawise.io's sign-in happens in a browser, which those apps can't show. Use the browser on the device, or make the app public (Admin plan) so Jellyfin's own login protects it.