Apple TV's Missing Library Reload Button

Plex Players Streaming Devices
142

I’m curious too! Let me be clear and you can tell us how your experience differs.

First, we are talking about Library section of TV Shows. NOT the Recommended section.

Go into the Library section of your TV shows, filter by Unwatched, and sort by Last Episode Date Added. Watch one of the unwatched shows. When done, return back to that Library. Does the episode disappear since it’s been watched? Or is it still there?

Also, while watching that episode, add a new show/episode to your library. When you go back to the Library, does the new show/episode show up? Or is it missing?

In our experience, the Library won’t update to show that an episode has been watched or display any new episodes until you somehow force the Library to update. Forcing to update usually entails adjusting the filter somehow. The easiest way is to open the filter, uncheck Unwatched, wait a second, then check it again.

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143

Every time I have to change the filter to reload the content I wonder about the competency of Plex’s programming staff. Sad to see such a good application have such an obvious bug for so long.

I think the subject of this thread doesn’t represent the issue well, however…

1 Like
144

This is actually the second title because the original title was a question. However, the devs know the issue and have even responded to it. The gist of this issue is that they removed the Library Reload button. I think it’s pretty understood but if you have a suggestion for a better title, I’m happy to hear it.

145

@flyryan Ah I’m pleased you detailed out exactly what you’re seeing. After testing what you describe, I’m seeing exactly the same thing.

One interesting additional thing I’ve discovered about libraries using the TV show setup. Let’s assume this:

Libraries
----Tv Shows
--------Series Name1
------------Season 1
----------------ep1.mkv
----------------ep2.mkv
--------Series Name2
------------Season 1
----------------ep1.mkv
----------------ep2.mkv

Now if on your ATV, you go to the Season 1 level of the view hierarchy, then on your Plex server, you remove ep2.mkv, then back on your ATV you move up one level of the hierarchy to the Series Name1 level, then go back down to the Season 1 level of the hierarchy, the view has been refreshed and you only see ep1.mkv. So refreshing is happening at some points of the process.

The same refresh will also happen if you start on the Series Name1 level on ATV, remove ep2.mkv on your server, then back on ATV go to the Season 1 level, there will only be ep1.mkv.

However, if you are at the TV Shows level of the hierarchy, remove Series Name1 from the server (ie the whole tv series directory structure) then go into Series Name2 level on the ATV then back up to the TV Shows level, Series Name1 will still show. So no refresh in that context.

Also, if you have a Movies library, I can’t get a refresh to trigger without a force quit of the app, or toggling a watched/unwatched as you said.

If you look at the Plex server log in verbose mode and isolate that log to just the IP of the ATV, you can see information being sent to the ATV when you add or remove in any of the tests that I detailed above. Just nothing appears to happen client side.

So that’s as far as I’ve got in my testing today. Hope that helps someone at Plex central a brainwave as to what’s actually going on. Or, you know, add back the refresh button :slight_smile:

146

Just got new Apple TV 4K a few days ago. Main reason was to use Plex. I thought I had set up something incorrectly since I couldn’t get the library view on the aTV to update for changes made to my libraries on PMS. Being a novice to the aTV, I was actually restarting it in order to get the library views in Plex to update. Finally, after much googling (actually duck-duck-going in my case), I found this thread. I am profoundly shocked that this issue has gone unfixed for so long. What an embarrassment! The only positive is that at least I now know how to fix it without doing a complete restart of the aTV!

1 Like
147

I’ve found that the only sure way to reload the library after new files were added is to kill the app (double clicking the home and swiping up, similar to the iPhone), and then reload it. It refreshes the server content then and all the new shows appear, all without having to restart the AppleTV. It’s fairly quick and painless.

Much like others have said, this has been going on for quite a while, and the newly added files appear in the “recommended” lists, just not in the normal library.

I haven’t been able to get it to rebuild by checking/unchecking a filter like “unplayed”… at least not that I remember. Pretty stuck on killing the app every time I sit down to start watching.

No issue on the iPhone version or the web client, just the Apple TV.

148

@nettdata Frustrating isn’t it? And just to double check, when you say no issue on the iPhone version: you don’t have an issue because you can pull to refresh to update the content right? Not that the iPhone version automatically updates?

149

Add me to the list of folks that are very frustrated by this issue in the Apple TV app. I find myself constantly resorting the libraries to have them refresh which is very frustrating. Especially when I want to see Last Episode Date Added sort for my TV Library. I don’t see why this is such a huge issue for the developers to fix.

150

If you go to the top menu, under your server find the library you want to reload and then press and hold until the context menu pops up, and there you’ll find “Scan Library Files”. I believe that is where the old library reload button has moved to. I didn’t read all the previous replies so sorry if I’m repeating this answer.

151

Unfortunately, Scan Library Files does not address updating the Library view.

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How do you update Library in new PLEX version on Fire Stick?
152

So no Christmas miracle then?

:sobs:

153

Nope. :frowning:

It’s frustrating to watch a ton of other new features pop up on the AppleTV app (like the new streaming stuff) but this remain unfixed. I honestly don’t expect it to be fixed at this point. It’s a real shame too.

154

This is really absurd. This issue has been driving me nuts for months. I (incorrectly) assumed that competent (maybe thats the incorrect assumption?) developers would have something so simple fixed in short order. But now, after months, I finally decide to look for answers, just in case this was a case of user error. However, based on what I have found in this thread, this issue is well known. The ‘refresh’ button was removed because devs didn’t like it, and think its not needed. Except it IS needed because the auto refresh isnt working. It seems that this has been known, and logged as a bug for a pretty long time now. But the devs wont put it back because they don’t like it. Who the f**k cares what the devs like? Shouldn’t it be more important what the users (aka: customers!) like? Very simply, users want the app to be functional. If that means putting a refresh button back in, then tough, just do it. It seems to me that the users are the ones who pay the bills, their preference should carry some weight. Quit screwing around and just fix it already,

1 Like
155

Exactly bro

156

Unbelievable this drive my hole family nuts

157

Since its been 9 months, this is no longer a ‘short term’ workaround. Its such a hassle, my wife if pushing me to find a different app so she doesn’t have to deal with a no longer working Plex app. Since you seem to have some contact with Plex, can you attempt to convey to them the severity of the inconvenience here, and the absurdity of leaving a significant usability item unfixed for such a long time?

158

Is there any way to get some priority put on this? This is a longstanding issue. I understand not wanting to bring back the refresh button when a fix will be coming soon, but its been 9 months. Forcing users to live with a frustrating workaround just to suit some developer preference for that amount of time is stubborn arrogance.

159

Same here. I have to logout and login to refresh the library. This only happens on Apple TV 4k. On my app’s Samsung tv works fine and does it automatically.

160

Does this not work?

[try] selecting a filter and then re-selecting Unplayed to update the Library screen.

161

It works! At least I don’t have to logout and log in. Thank you! :wink: