Perfect, thank you. Really appreciate the info.
cheat code like controls is not user friendly or obvious to users
where do you document or instruct users on this besides responses in forums?
it’s such a bad design, I don’t understand Plex’s position on not going back to what worked better
I have made the switch to Emby and other than a few straggler remote users I am finished with Plex. That being said I was checking back in to see if any progress had been made on the absolutely horrible new UI. While this change is better than the mess before its still terrible. Just go back to the navigation on the side. Its superior in every way and what your customers want.
I cant for the life of me understand why privacy settings are EVERYONE or NO ONE for reviews etc. You have a follower system. why cant I see things from just people I follow?
Have you tried looking at the new design from across the room with senior eyes. Or use the new interface with a smaller TV in an apartment? I have and it is difficult to read the options from a distance.
Nah, nobody developing this did. This was clearly made on a phone.
Really like the new Libraries panel and the ability to reorder your favorites. Very clean and easy to understand.
The ability to reorder favorites was always there, but kludgy and not intuitive (needed to unfavorite and then favorite in the order wanted). The new way is a needed improvement.
I like the slide out panel better than drop down menu. Any thought on an option when the selector is at its left most position, another left would slide a panel menu from the left with the libraries. Then selecting a library would kick out a submenu to navigate down or clicking on the library would take you to your default view? Could keep the libraries icon on the top menu, clicking on it would do what it does now or slide out based on a config setting.
Submenuception
So is the Specials (Season 00) folder now going to appear AFTER the main series in a TV series?
Personally, I prefer this in general for reunions and special features, but I would also prefer an option to choose whether the S00 folder is before or after.
Some series have several in-canon prequels that should be in the first folder, and I can’t figure out a work-around (yes, I know that just hitting WATCH will play things in order by airdate, but that’s not a solution to where things should be placed and not usually how things are rewatched).
Previously, I’ve kept prequels in S00 and made up a season to put extras in a folder following the overall series seasons. Now I’m trying to determine how to keep a folder of prequels ahead of S01 with the new layout. Couldn’t it be a choice within the Advanced series options whether to have S00 appear before or after the rest of the series (or custom season orders in general, much like Collection orders can be custom)?
Or can there be two types of Specials – a literal S00 that applies to prequels, and a SPECIALS folder that Plex recognizes as bonus features?
This is usually where you change your file numbering to match Absolute Ordering, which should be following the story’s chronological ordering.
Yes, however there aren’t always Absolute Ordering options set up in TTVDB, and longer series shouldn’t all be in one Absolute folder.
I’ve used Absolute Ordering for shorter series like Man From Atlantis and TekWar to fix the issue, but longer series like The Six Million Dollar Man, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The Bay (2010) all have several prequels that should be before S01E01.
Someone actually created an Alternate Order for The Six Million Dollar Man at TTVDB that puts the films at the beginning of S01, but Plex doesn’t recognize that ordering option.
Well, to paraphrase the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Absolute Ordering for this program is made possible by effort from Viewers Like You.™ 
I don’t know enough about the lore of The Six Million Dollar Man to make one for it now, as I see three episodes labeled “Airs before season 1, episode 1”; two marked “airs after season 5”; and one with no ordering mentioned. I think Absolute Ordering can work for most shows (especially episodic ones). But I can see it being an issue if there is a large tonal or story shift between seasons (or production changes like a change is actors for a role or studio changes).
Absolute Ordering CAN work, and I’ve done it for some shows (and created it myself on TTVDB for others as you suggested), but it puts the entirety of the series together in one very long season, which is not the goal and doesn’t work well for shows with 5 to 7 seasons and 100+ episodes. It’s designed for short run shows and anime.
this is prob already known, so just FYI, the new preview build (9.1.33?) didn’t fix or improve this collection view issue as far as I could tell
Had the displeasure of trying this recently… how did this horribly designed interface pass?
I’ve found the piles of comments of how bad it is and then the complete ignoring of all feedback.
Everything is slower across the board on useability.
Horizontal navigation at the top is such a bad idea, especially when paired with the drop down menu that loads in.
This is just so painfully bad.
ASKING AI WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE WITH PLEX.. THERE IS NO HIDING FROM THE TRUTH!!!
The most common and biggest complaint about Plex—based on widespread user feedback across forums like Reddit’s r/PleX, review sites, and recent discussions—is its shift away from prioritizing the core personal media server experience in favor of streaming features, ads, bloat, and monetization changes that frustrate long-time users who just want a reliable self-hosted media player.
Key recurring issues
-
UI clutter and unwanted features — Many users feel the app has become overloaded with Plex’s free ad-supported streaming content (like “Discover” and recommended shows/movies), pushing personal libraries into the background. This makes navigation feel less focused on your own media.
-
App updates breaking functionality — Recent redesigns (e.g., the 2025 mobile and TV app changes) introduced bugs, removed features (like music in the main app or easy library access), and caused performance issues like buffering, crashing, or poor playback on devices like Roku, iOS, and Apple TV.
-
Monetization frustrations — Changes requiring subscriptions for features like remote access or mobile playback (especially post-2025 updates), along with intrusive ads in the free tier, have led to accusations of the company abandoning core users for a broader streaming audience.
-
Reliability problems — Frequent complaints about transcoding issues, slow library loading, subtitles not working, or remote streaming failures, often blamed on the app rather than user setup.
While Plex still has dedicated fans for its convenience in organizing and streaming personal collections, the vocal criticism (especially from lifetime Plex Pass holders) centers on it feeling “worse over time” despite updates. Alternatives like Jellyfin are often mentioned by dissatisfied users for being more focused on pure self-hosting without the extras.
Although Emby are actively looking to add that functionality because they listen to their users.
