We agreed in another thread that this was not the case
Can you remind me what we talked about? Sorry, my memory is terrible. I am not disbelieving you.
No problem 
You mentioned in this thread that the beta app was at - or about at - feature parity with the current released app.
I asked about a couple of features which, at least for me are important.
- Is there Theme Music?
- Are Photo libraries available?
- I was gonna ask if Music libraries were available but with the release of Caldera there’s probably no need for that.
To which you replied
That’s what I was referring to.
Ah, yeah I guess you’re right. I guess I should alter my language then to say it is at feature parity in terms of being a video player (I don’t really think a lack of theme music is enough to hold it back).
Does the Roku app have photo and music libraries? Genuine question, too lazy to look it up.
Yes. Both of these should be making their way to all clients. Eventually.
Thanks! I suppose you’ve been reading all the other things talked about in this topic. Hope you’ve been considering some of the things in regards to a bit more communication regarding the beta and the goals for its development. But I do want to voice that I appreciate that work on it seems to be progressing well, if slowly.
I’d agree. With music libraries making their return a few weeks ago and the LiveTV fixes, it’s pretty much there feature parity wise. Yes LiveTV doesn’t support Direct Play, there’s no TrueHD direct play or EAC3 Atmos, no theme music support, but it handles UHD content way better than the current release. These are all present in the iOS public client, so I wouldn’t personally hold release because of these features.
I’m sure some people are going to be angry with the horizontal top UI vs the left side navigation (it’s the same interface as the Roku), but hopefully having stable UHD playback balances that out.
I refuse to use or accept the new UI on any platform. It’s a huge step backwards in functionality and has some of the worst UX I’ve ever seen. I’ll just happily stay on the old version until I no longer can but hopefully it will last at least a couple more years until Plex gets their act together or someone inevitably steps up to become the new best.
You ever used Infuse? New UI is a massive improvement on that. I expect that the blowback from the tvOS community, if the released beta can actually compete with the features of Infuse, may be a bit softer since there are a lot of people like me who really dislike the Infuse UI.
But also, refuse or accept, its not going away. Its been a year of complaining about it. They obviously aren’t going to revert to the old style and people need to get over it. Yes, its a step down, but like…get over it…
I’m with SuperSecret on this. We need a left navigational menu like it was before. Why Plex keeps digging their heels in on a UI/UX paradigm that just doesn’t make sense is both baffling and infuriating.
The last two Testflight releases for Apple Tv have had an issue with
Settings / Advanced Freezes the app, a app restart will allow to use the app but still no access to Advanced Settings.
Works fine for me, although there are only 2 settings in there anyway. Include IP V6 Connections toggle and Reset Cache.
That was a reply to @SE56 !
Yeah I also don’t have any issue with the advances settings page.
Finally got in the beta. At least the app doesn’t look as bad as when I first tried it maybe 2 years ago. Functional wise, it isn’t that good. Live TV transcodes with the app but direct plays on the original app. That’s not good.
Plot twist…
As of today’s AppleTV TestFlight build(2026.16.0-1934), the navigation menu has returned to the left-hand side!!! The battle has been rough, but did we just win the war!? 
And the app feels REALLY good(my experience thus far). Although as mentioned, LiveTV still is transcode-only, and there are a few remaining GUI glitches, however, hopefully those will be fixed soon enough.
My only other ‘gripe/request’ is that they fix the audio buffering issue with AirPlay/HomePods. It’s a somewhat/well-known issue with non-Apple video players on AppleTV.
Well by golly you’re right. Menu is on the left now. Plex actually listening to feedback? That’s out of character for them.
Still no LAN API player access though. I’ll be happy if they add that back.
Hallelujah!
Maybe not the war but a significant battle …
(Unless they are teasing us and take it out again next month )
Here’s the announcement:
Was better on the Top, seriously.
I hope this explains the lack of progress on implementing HDR10+ and Atmos. The fact that Plezy can get itself up and running with these features in the span of 9 months based on the work of one person is a bit embarrassing. Like damn just get Claude to figure it out.
I’m still waiting for Captions on Replay (as the AppleTV App has for Apple Shows)
I like the left menu being back.
The bad news is that I lose the “cursor” when I click into a show and then move left back to the menu bar. I think the controls haven’t all been corrected for the change.
