Server Version#: 1.19.5.3112
Player Version#: 8.3.1.19108
I re-installed the Plex media server on a spare home computer last week. It works quite well. I was pleased to see that an android app was available and hoping to get away from Google Play/YouTube Music (which also has a poor user experience, IMHO), I bought the Android App.
THEN I discovered that even when you buy the app, there are limitations on how it can interact with the server. Well, that was money wasted.
I bought a Plex Pass to finally get the full use of the system.
But since then, It’s been nothing but a nightmare using the mobile app.
The navigation makes no sense.
Syncing items (either pulling or pushing from the server) is slow and the feedback as to what is actually on my device is poor.
[in fact, the limitation of “syncing” is a design problem. Why just sync? Why not let me “download” and delete local files as i want? This arises because I can’t seem to find a way to STOP syncing an item on the device.
When choosing what to sync (music, for instance), I would like to have some insight into the bitrate or format of the files on the server, so I can make an informed choice about bitrate for the synced version. I have a LOT of FLAC files on the server, because I want high quality, high bitrate/frequency music to listen at home. But I can’t store that much music at FLAC filesizes on the phone. Knowing which of my files on the media server is a FLAC file/album, and which is an MP3 (because I also have 1000s of them!) will help me choose what bitrate to sync.
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If the original is a lossless file, I’ll likely choose a 320kps MP3 bitrate for syncing
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If my MP3 on the server is only 256kps, why would I force the server to transcode it UP TO 320kps?
further: when I’m out and about (or driving!), I want to play my synced files (usually, that is, after all, WHY I SYNCED THEM) so why is it so hard to see JUST the local files on the device?
And why is the synced files view in a different place on my car’s Android Auto view than it is on the phone? (it’s under Music> Plex Server)
And speaking of Android Auto view: why only playlists? ■■■■playlists. I want to play albums, or I sometimes want to just “shuffle all” (on the device, of course), but those aren’t options on the dashboard. And, they’re hard to get to on the mobile app, too.
OH! that reminds me: why are synced files on the phone hidden in some deep folder in the file structure? why are they not in the /Music folder? Can the mobile app be modified to look there for OTHER local music files and let me play those, too? Couldn’t the app just sync to the music folder so, if necessary or desired, I could play my Plex content with another media app on my phone?
So many strange decisions in the Plex Mobile app that I just cannot fathom.
PLEASE FIX YOUR UX/UI to a sane structure. I would hate to have to use a different solution/player on my phone. The ability to push and pull files from the server to the device is a strong feature. I don’t want to go back to manually dragging files from the media server’s HD to the phone’s internal memory and using another app to play back while I’m out of the house…
thanks for listening, and I’m willing to look at suggestions for UX design changes.
