Dear Plex,
We’ve been together for a long time.
I was there in the early days. I paid for Plex Pass month after month until the lifetime pass went on sale for $75, and I bought it without hesitation. It felt like an easy decision because Plex was solving a problem beautifully. It just worked.
Over the years, I’ve watched features come and go. I’ve watched the interface evolve. I’ve watched Plex try new things, expand into new markets, and chase new opportunities. Some of those changes made sense. Many of them didn’t.
Slowly, the experience that made me fall in love with Plex has been fading.
Today, using the Roku app often feels like work. It takes too many clicks to get to the content I actually want to watch. My own media—the reason I bought Plex in the first place—feels buried beneath content I never asked for and never watch.
And then there’s the internet dependency.
If my internet connection drops, why does it take minutes for local playback to start? The files are sitting on a server inside my house. The client is inside my house. Yet somehow we’re waiting for permission from somewhere else before I can watch my own movies.
That isn’t progress.
What made Plex special wasn’t free streaming channels, ad-supported content, or becoming another media platform. What made Plex special was that it was the best way to enjoy my media.
About three or four years ago, Plex and I were in perfect harmony. The interface was simpler. My library felt like the star of the show. The experience was elegant and predictable.
Lately, though, I’ve started looking over the fence.
The girl next door is named Jellyfin.
She’s rough around the edges, but she reminds me of the Plex I fell in love with years ago. She gives me those old-time vibes—the feeling that local media comes first and everything else is secondary.
I don’t think this relationship is beyond saving.
In fact, I think Plex could win back a lot of longtime users with just a few changes:
- Listen to your core customers.
- Bring back a simple left-hand navigation menu across your apps.
- Prioritize local media over Plex-owned and promoted content.
- Make local playback work instantly without requiring an internet connection.
- Focus on reliability and simplicity before adding more features.
Here’s the thing: people will pay for software that is beautiful and just works. We already proved that by buying Plex Pass.
You don’t need a boob job and lip filler.
You were already the prettiest girl in the room.
Sincerely,
A longtime Plex user who would rather stay than leave
