and just follow the manual step-by-step.
you can skip step 1. the buildnumber you are search is “871812101”. that’s the last version of the old app from January 2025.
i did it on a arm mac and with VMware. after you install iTunes and Charles Proxy, it takes you 10 minutes to do the rest and you have your old plex back! yeah! have a nice weekend.
extract your old plex ipa with the Archive Utility. its stored under:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Archive Utility.app
kompress the folder content without the files “iTunesArtwork” and “iTunesMetadata.plist” again.
again(!) compress only the two folders “Payload” and “META-INF”
rename zip extension to ipa
delete installed plex app from your iOS device
drag and drop plex app from step 2/3 to your iOS device in finder. drag and drop works only with cable
So basically follow OP’s guide. When it comes time to send the .ipa to your phone, then switch over to medium article, build a new app via iTunes that doesn’t auto update, head back to OP’s original GitHub guide and then send that new .ipa via AppManager.
Will check back on “New Experience” version in 6 months once it’s out of Alpha.
Just want to make sure I follow here. If I’m on a Mac, I literally need a windows license (which I’d need to buy) running in a VM like parallels or VMWare to get this thing rolled back?
Thank goodness for this and the other posts on here detailing this method. It’s slightly fiddly but not too bad and I’ve managed to “upgrade” (downgrade seems inaccurate in this instance!) to the old version and block it from updating. Hopefully it will stay functional for a long time and survive the iOS 19 updates later in the year. No idea why Plex didn’t just push the preview app to the TestFlight beta channel if they really wanted to broaden testers instead of forcing it in the public builds.
For me the link in the instructions here to the old version of Apple Configurator was key to being able to install the app from the payload folder to prevent App Store updates.
Straight away I appreciate how snappy the original apps is. Press and hold on an item and the menu is right there. The new one you do that and you have a spinning circle just for the menu to populate. Crazy.
I’ve disabled auto updates on my Apple TV and Shield Pro but hoping similar methods will appear if Plex end up pushing this monstrosity to other devices.
@guygamer or others that have successfully done this, where were you able to find the old plex IPA file from January? That seems to be where I am running into a road block. I have the latest version of iTunes 12.13.1 installed on my Windows Machine. If I uninstall, and re-install 12.6.5 to allow app download capability, it is not clear to me how the old iTunes will have that app in its record either. I searched my iTunes purchased history on my phone and beside the new Plex app I want to get rid of, the only other trace of a plex app was from 2018. Can someone post the IPA file or share how iTunes 12.6.5 was able to find it on their system a little more specifically - most all online instructions about going back to a prior version assumes you have access to that IPA file which I have not yet found.
I did this and you have to use the Charles proxy app in the steps and modify it to change the version # to 871812101 It will download the app into the itunes folder on the windows machine.
It’s linked to your apple account so sharing it won’t work. Read through the steps a few times and then try it. Once you have the 8.45.ipa downloaded save it somewhere and you can airdrop it again to your phone if it gets overwritten by a new version.
Edit Request > XML Text > Replace the current Build version number of Facebook with the Build Number of Facebook v161.0 (826067593) > Execute > Execute. Now iTunes will download Facebook v161.0 instead of the latest version.
My apologies, I was not tracking that this process is actually downloading the old version directly from apple and I was thinking it was trying to find it from my old backup or iTunes history.
With that said, I followed the steps and kept getting a iTunes 1008 error when doing step 4 and after entering in the old plex version in the Charles Proxy. If I closed the error and tried to download the app again I would get a Downloading status in itunes that never downloads and I think it is a not even trying as the Download box under the App does not change to Downloading (vs Download or Downloaded) as in other instances. For those that run into this, I uninstalled iTunes and Charles Proxy and re-did all the steps with the same result two additional times. After my last attempt and a couple hours later of the Downloading screen never finishing, I cancelled the download again. I was about to give up when I tried to download the app one more time and the last time it worked. In each case I either typed or copied the plex version and ensured accuracy into the Charles Proxy and cannot explain why it never worked the previous 10-12 times I tried before it finally went through. I would suggest if you get the 1008 error wait a few hours a try it again. I know this is not satisfying and I wish I new exactly why mine finally worked after doing what I am confident was the same each time but just sharing in case it helps.
I have not manually dragged and dropped an app onto my my device before in iTunes but in case others were not clear, once the app in the iTunes 12.6.5 is downloaded as shown in the image below, you plug your device into iTunes so it shows up on the left side panel. You just select the app from the library and drag it over to the side bar where your device is and it downloads it to the phone (even though there is no App section listed within your device)
Your’e the best.
