Parental & Session Controls

Since: 0.16.0

TL;DR

Phlix provides three layers of household control: Access Schedules restrict when users can stream, Tag Blocking prevents specific content categories from appearing, and Stream Limits cap concurrent streams per user or household.

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1. Access Schedules

Overview

Access schedules define time windows during which a user (or user group) is allowed to stream. Outside of permitted hours, playback requests are denied with an appropriate error message.

Use Cases

• Bedtime cutoffs for children (e.g., no streaming after 9 PM on school nights)
• Household bandwidth management during peak hours
• Content-free periods (e.g., no streaming during homework hours)

Configuring Access Schedules

Admins configure schedules in Admin → Users → [select user] → Access Schedule.

Each schedule consists of:

Field	Description
Days	Monday–Sunday checkboxes
Start Time	When access begins (e.g., 07:00)
End Time	When access ends (e.g., 22:00)
Timezone	The timezone the schedule is evaluated in
Applies To	Individual user or user group
Action	allow or deny (deny takes precedence)

Multiple schedules can be stacked — a deny schedule overrides an allow schedule for the same user.

Schedule Priority

When multiple schedules conflict, the most restrictive rule wins:

1. Explicit deny schedules always take precedence
2. Within the same action type, the most recently modified schedule wins
3. If no schedule matches (e.g., no schedule for a given day), access is denied by default

API Behavior

Playback requests made outside permitted hours receive:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "ACCESS_SCHEDULED_DENIED",
    "message": "Streaming is not permitted during this time window.",
    "next_available": "2026-07-09T07:00:00Z"
  }
}

Clients should display the next_available timestamp to inform users when access resumes.

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2. Tag Blocking

Overview

Tag blocking prevents content with specific metadata tags from appearing in search results, Explore, recommendations, or being played by users who are blocked from seeing that content.

Predefined Tag Categories

Phlix ships with blocking-friendly tag categories covering common parental concern areas:

Category	Tags Blocked
Violence	graphic-violence, gore, self-harm
Adult Content	nudity, sexual-content, adult-animation
Language	strong-language, profanity
Substance Abuse	drug-use, alcohol, tobacco
Fear-Inducing	horror, jump-scares
Thematic	war, political, religious

Custom Tag Blocking

Admins can also define custom tag rules. Tags come from the media's genre, content rating, and custom metadata fields. Tag rules are configured in Admin → Security → Content Blocking.

Per-User Tag Blocking

Users can set their own tag preferences in Settings → Content Preferences → Block Tags. User-level blocking is additive to — never subtractive from — admin-level blocking.

Tag Inheritance

When tag blocking is active for a user, all related surfaces are filtered:

• Home screen rows — Items with blocked tags are removed from all discovery rows
• Search — Results are filtered; a note says "Some results hidden due to your content preferences"
• Direct playback URL — If a blocked item is requested via direct URL, playback is denied

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3. Stream Limits

Overview

Stream limits cap the number of simultaneous active streams per user or per household. This prevents a single account from being shared beyond its intended number of simultaneous viewers.

Plan-Based Limits

Stream limits are typically tied to subscription tiers:

Plan	Concurrent Streams
Individual	1
Starter	2
Family	4
Premium	6

Limits are enforced server-side on every playback initiation request.

Household vs. Global Limits

• Per-user limits — A single user cannot start more than N streams simultaneously
• Household limits — All users sharing the same household/family account share a total stream budget

When a Limit Is Reached

When a user attempts to start a stream that would exceed their limit:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "STREAM_LIMIT_REACHED",
    "message": "Your plan allows {n} simultaneous streams. Please stop another stream before starting a new one.",
    "active_streams": [
      { "media_id": "abc123", "started_at": "2026-07-09T20:00:00Z", "device": "Living Room TV" }
    ]
  }
}

Clients can use active_streams to prompt the user to pick which stream to stop.

Transcoding and Stream Slots

Each transcode job (resolution conversion, HDR tone-mapping) consumes a stream slot. Direct play (no transcoding) also consumes a slot because it represents an active viewing session. Only idle (stopped or completed) streams are excluded from the count.

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4. Combining Controls

All three control layers are evaluated together on every playback request:

Request → Access Schedule check → Tag Blocking check → Stream Limit check → Allow

If any check denies the request, playback is blocked with the corresponding error code. The order of checks is: schedule first, then tags, then stream limits.

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Related Pages

• User Management — Creating users and assigning plans
• Server Settings — Global playback restrictions
• Security Hardening — Additional server hardening steps