I think this is based on some comment by a Plex employee saying the New Experience apps are “almost ready”, like the deployment is coming very soon. This makes no sense, because so far Apple TV is the only 10-foot UI platform that has had an actual preview period. They have yet to get any public reporting of bugs on Android TV, Roku, or Smart TVs.
Watch Together can certainly be added in the near future while they are getting feedback on these other platforms, before the public release rollout (also they are supposed to be changing the pre-play screen to add more media details to it).
My thoughts exactly. I literally bought plex pass specifically for the photo backup feature, and then days later they announced it was going away, which was the very first kick in the shins by plex…
I have been following the Allow Watch Together For TV Shows // mod: more than 1 episode at a time topic for years, only to see Watch Together be removed completely. I’m heartbroken and quite frankly losing my mind with plex right now. What’s next? Removing live TV? I ask that because that’s the last reason I’m still using Plex…
Anyway this feature request obviously gets my vote. How can a company so obsessed with social media and “connecting people” remove something so vital to connecting them? You went all out with social features a couple releases ago, but you remove Watch Together?
Please dont remove Watch Together Feature. I understand you want people to rent movies or purchase in the near future. At least give Plex Pass members the permission to initiate a Watch Together session if those user’s are current members of PMS where the content is being streamed from that specific shared PMS. This with let core users benefit from their membership and non Pass member’s will be more encouraged to purchase Plex Pass; Which is the exact reason why the membership is named Plex Pass.
Me and my husband use this frequently to watch shows together at our own computers or in different rooms. I don’t want to see this option leave plex! We love plex dearly, but this is just the saddest.
Just chiming in to say that Watch Together is easily >80% of my viewing since it’s the only decent way to watch shows together with family member who don’t live in the same house.
Plex has otherwise been great, and I’m not looking forward to putting the effort into swapping to Jellyfin and retraining my parents on how to use a new app. But if Watch Together gets removed and not re-added I’m basically going to have to.
The thing is so confusing to get going… I think they would have more people using it if A: it wasn’t a dance of exiting plex and going back in and doing a handstand for 32 seconds… B: Put a chat window in the bottom right and whatever, make it so the user can move it to where they want. The nerds (me) have plenty of bluetooth keyboards, and we can ship one to our friends via amazon for like $10. No need to get rid of the feature. Also, you can hire me and I can make it better.
Would be an awesome feature to be able to live group text chat with everyone while watching. Could fade in and out after a few seconds sort of like YouTube comments for live videos.
This is disappointing news. Watch Together is one of the best features of Plex. It has given me the opportunity to have regular movie nights with my family and friends that live in other States. It may have started as a pandemic feature, but its use has evolved into something else. The use case of long-distance viewing with family that I’m also reading here shows it’s worth keeping and gives Plex an edge over other streaming platforms. I sincerely hope, Plex reconsider removing this feature.
The removal of Watch Together is probably the most braindead decision I’ve seen in a long time. I’m refusing to update my server any further until we get some kind of response that indicates that a replacement is in development. I’ve also canceled my Plex Pass and will not renew it until this feature returns. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just use SyncPlay with JellyFin in the mean time.
One of the killer features that kept me coming back to plex during the years of playback issues with Apple TV.
Work away from time to time and theres not better way to watch our latest recording or tv show together easily.
I, like many others, hope this is reconsidered. Require plex pass for all users if you must, would be worth all the hassles for those who really really need it.
With your raised prices coming in for lifetime pass, I thought I might take the plunge, buy one now and beat the increase before the end of April so I can retain the remote viewing feature.
It’s bad enough that is going to be behind a paywall now… But if you are removing the other main feature I want to use, being “Watch Together”, I don’t see the point in buying it, or in fact, even using Plex now.
With the current changes I’m witnessing, I’m half expecting you to reintroduce this in the future as an extra pay monthly feature!
Unfortunately, you will have missed the boat with gaining a paying customer here… And I think a lot will feel a similar way as we all move to alternatives.
It’s a shame, you were top dog for a long while with a love for your community, until money became a your main motivating factor.
Keep the Watch Together feature a key experience instead of removing it entirely! Lots of my friends have moved out so now one of the only ways we can do things together is using the Watch Together feature when we want to watch something.
Only found out about this now. This is basically the only reason I use Plex, I can find other ways to share media. Will likely migrate to Jellyfin if this pulls through, already had it setup as a backup for reasons exactly like this.
