Server Version#: 4.156.0
Player Version#: 2025.30.0
Device: ipad pro m4 11”, ipadOS 26.1
I can provide a server log if necessary, but that feels unnecessary - this smells like it’s a client bug.
If a video is paused and then the plex app is task-switched away from, then assuming it survives the major bug involved in task management, playback is broken when the video is played again.
Steps to reproduce:
- Start any video playing. Doesn’t seem to matter which codecs, etc. are involved.
- Pause the video.
- Task switch back to the OS by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
- If the app survives the task switch bug, then switch back to it either by hitting the app’s icon or by using ios’ task management UI to return (swipe up for tasks, select plex app).
- Start the video playing again with the UI’s play icon at the bottom of the screen.
On hitting play to start the video, one of two separate problems will occur:
- Audio will start playing and subtitles (if available) will be displayed in sync, but the video will be frozen at the frame where it was paused.
- The video will be frozen, and audio will stutter, playing little bursts in between several seconds of silence.
If the app survives the other bug, then this is 100% reproducible. If it doesn’t crash/get killed by the OS as a result of the other problem, then it seems guaranteed to happen.
In the case where audio and subtitles play, it’s sometimes possible to get video to start running again by hitting the -10s rewind control a couple of times. Otherwise, the safest bet is to close the video with the “x” UI element and start playing the video again.
This is not a result of iOS 26; the exact same behaviour was seen under iOS 18. This is also isolated to the plex app - no other apps on the device behave this way under the same circumstances.
This does not appear to be affected by audio streaming to a bluetooth device. It can be reproduced while playing through the device’s speakers.
It’s been this way since the revamp of the plex app. The old version never did anything like this.
It’s been months of hoping that a bunch of bugs that were introduced would get fixed with no results. The experience of using the new app is nothing but endless paper cuts, so I’m finally getting off my bum to report them myself. I’m also attempting to separate them where possible, though some may have common causes even they present differently.
