Bug Report: Transcoding capped at 2Mbps / 480p on iOS app

[cpthk]

Server Version#: 1.25.9.5721
Player Version#: 8.1.1 (iOS)

Hi, my iOS app on iPhone 13 Pro is unable to play media higher than 480p. The options available are either Original (Direct Play) or up to 2Mbps (480p) with no options in between. Below is a screenshot of the “Quality” option from the video player.

Below are the settings applied on the app:

I have done the following:

1. Set up and tested port forwarding to the Plex Media Server

2. Disabled Relay from Plex Media Server settings
3. Verified there is no problem with Double NAT using traceroute command
4. Verified the connection to PMS is direct from PMS Dashboard (No bottleneck in bandwidth)
5. Verified hardware transcoding is working from PMS Dashboard (No bottleneck in transcode)

6. Reset the cache on iOS app
7. Uninstalled and reinstalled Plex iOS app
8. Purchased Plex Pass to ensure I am not limited by the free membership

None of the above has changed the options available. Is there anything I can do? My current suspicion is that the mobile app’s “Limit Cellular Data” toggle is broken and it’s always on, thus not allowing 720p and above when on mobile data. (The option was enabled to show the options being limited to 2Mbps / 480p). Would appreciate an input on this issue. Thank you.

EDIT - When I connect my iPad to my phone’s hotspot connection (thereby being on WiFi but remaining a remote connection), all the options appear correctly. Additional reasons to suspect a bug in the iOS app.

[ozsmac]

That is odd, I’m seeing the same issue on iOS (iPhone 13 Pro and iPad Pro 12.9")

Plex Server: 1.26.0.5715 on MacOS
Plex Player: 8.1.1 and 8.2 (2517)

See this issue with a few different file types, so more a Plex issue that content related.

[tom80H]

Thanks for sharing. I can see the same when using the playback quality settings during playback (independent if it’s a local or remote stream)

Edit:
Correcting my initial response. I was only seeing the limited playback quality options when streaming locally because I used a lower-quality video to test (DVD quality, so the 2 Mbps@480p was simply the “next best” transcoding target). With higher quality files, I also get to see the higher playback quality options while streaming locally.
I do however see what you’ve described when streaming remotely (there, even the higher bitrate file only offers 2 Mbps@480p or lower playback quality options).