This forum has been pretty quiet lately and I hope that Plex hasn’t taken that to mean that all is fine and well with the app as it stands.
I think the reason it’s been so quiet is that most people have given up on testing it because it’s so bad right now. I know I certainly have quit trying to use it.
Hate to say this but it is obvious they don’t really care what people think.
This tends to be the case when products are being made worse.
We do still read all the feedback and are still making changes/fixes based on that feedback.
Maybe, but I think I can see the writing on the wall - with the pricing/remote playback features going into affect at the end of April, that means they want these apps released by then. And that’s pretty concerning due to where they are at…
Kinda doesn’t matter what we want as the apps need to be released so they can start monetizing…
I wish that were true but just a quick look at the version changes between builds show that almost none of the issues people are having or the features missing/broken are being addressed.
For example, people have called out the clunky new navigation on Apple TV since it’s release and all we get from build changelogs is that you are tweaking account settings, privacy notices etc.
We are not feeling listened at all.
All i can say is just because an issue is not fixed yet does not mean we are not working on it. Some issues are easier to fix than others so you see those “easier” fixes sooner even though they were reported later. The person(s) who work on setting getting account settings tweaked is not the same person(s) who does app loading work, playback stuff, etc
Thanks for replying on here and giving at least a glimmer of hope for change. I think the thing that is causing a lot of the frustration here is that updates only address bug fixes or slowly adding back missing features and Plex Employees only seem to engage with that type of feedback. That is despite the majority of feedback and criticism being on the new direction, especially the poor UX.
There’s been no interaction/engagement on that and not a single visible change since the Preview started that shows any willingness to redesign/rethink this approach. If the majority of testers are constantly telling you the new design is not user friendly, intuitive to use and that burying everything in deep layers and tabs and horizontal scrolling is not a good experience and many say that they’d rather switch product than use it, then maybe the new UX is just… not good… and that a rethink based on user feedback is required. Maybe you guys are (hopefully) having that conversation internally but if so it would help to communicate that so that people know that feedback is being valued and listened. Otherwise it feels like a waste of time testing if Plex came at this with a pre-determined outcome they are to determined to force down people’s throats regardless of whether it’s actually any good..
I take your point on things taking time to fix and hope that by “fix” that includes the whole UX. It’s why I’m trying to give Plex the benefit of the doubt and not jump on the “Plex hates its users/Personal Media” bandwagon like some have. Again communication is key. I’m sure you’d get earn good will and the benefit of the doubt if someone from Plex said “Hey guys, we hear you on the UX experience and are working on rethinking our approach and redesigning elements to address feedback and ensure we launch an app you’ll love. But it’s going to take quite a bit of work so it will take a little while before you see that filter into the Preview releases so bear with us as updates mainly focus on bugs, performance and bringing back missing features until those changes are ready”. I think most users would accept that and give you the chance to improve things.
Really simple question with a really simple answer - is the side navigation piece going to be in the “new experience”? It’s really a yes or no answer.
Because that’s been asked in one way or another 100 times and no one from Plex has answered - and anyone with any sort of experience with the “Plex Experience” knows that means “no and you will like what we give you pleb”.
Pretty sure the side navigation isn’t coming back (at least not anytime soon). That would be a pretty significant change and Plex is so far along in the dev cycle already that they’ve indicated most stuff is set in stone…
so once again, the biggest pain point for a good deal of people is ignored. this is just like the last time we went through this nonsense complete with radio silence.
Definitely not! We are still hard at work on all of our clients. Keep reading…
You are right that the updates on the TV side of things haven’t been as frequent lately. The truth is that we have a LOT of clients and made a deliberate choice to focus on our mobile clients recently, thus slowing down the flow for the TV apps. The good news is that this transition is allowing us to build against a unified code base which will allow for faster and more consistent changes across all clients going forward.
While there are only so many hours in the day to work on things, but the good news is that the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction and the focus is coming back to TV as I write this.
No, the side nav will not exist in the new experience - to clarify the side nav has been moved to the top as you currently see on the AppleTV app and there are no plans to modify this approach before launch.
I just want to also say that we do read and see this feedback internally. While I am not offering it as an excuse, we have been busier than normal for a while now with this work and some recently announced changes. Your comments are always welcomed and appreciated, even if we don’t always comment on them. So from me to all of you, thank you for your continued feedback here! 
I dislike the top navigation and think that it makes navigation way too cumbersome.
Just wanted to say thank you for the feedback and echo other opinions that the top nav really isn’t as good as the sidebar from a usability perspective so i hope that you may reconsider in the future. Appreciate all the work though, i think the new app has a lot of potential.
I also don’t understand the reasoning for the change. Such a huge departure from the functionality of the existing app! You’d think they would understand that users remember the way they use an app and a change like this is probably going to frustrate a ton of existing users.
I think if they found a way to make an option to pin libraries to the top navigation next to the consolidated library navigation it would be more manageable. I don’t care if I have to scroll left/right vs up/down, but I don’t want to have to go into folders to get to a library.
Thank you for coming here and addressing this. I am looking forward to the future of Plex, and it is reassuring to know that you are reading those bullet points threads.
I’m still worried about getting the app into a decent state before an eventual launch soon, I really hope it can be done. I would hate for the app to receive bad reviews at launch because of all the work you’ve put in already.
I hope a couple of builds can be pushed out before the release to priority address performance issues and UX, especially the navigation on TV.
For example, the lack of focusing back to the grid of content automatically when you press the left arrow to select browse, hence forcing you into another click (right arrow) on TV; but also the lack of microphone control for search and the made up keyboard that takes longer to type than invoking the Apple TV one, or the rest of the grid not loading until you reach the end of the currently loaded items.
Those are minor changes that will significantly ease pain points with the transition, and I hope the Plex team is listening.
On iPhone the experience is near perfect as it’s fluid and touch control is making it easier. And I have little to say outside of the player lacking feature parity.
So you are intentionally borking the navigation experience? What POSSIBLE advantages (for the user) are there to moving the nav piece up there - adding scroll time & adding clicks to get to the personal media sections of the library is good how exactly? Or is the main goal of this new “experience” to increase dwell time within the app to increase click-through on all the pay-for features no one wants?
Cant wait to see the new Android experience.
We are too! But - please know that like I mentioned before, we had shifted focus over to mobile clients for a while but that is shifting back this week and next and we will be getting new builds out before release. Additionally, I can confirm:
On the topic of quicker access to your favorite libraries that is planned work. We recognize that this is a big topic and have work scheduled in this area.
The top navigation does not make sense logically. A list of choices is easier to read and navigate when presented vertically, and the collapsing sidebar nature allows it to get out of the way when not being interacted with. Your current design intrudes into the top of the content presentation area with the Libraries subgroup, because vertical screen space is at a premium in any widescreen display aspect.
This is why taller (16:10, 4:3) aspect ratios work better for computers with productivity apps. You’re losing vertical space to window title bars and toolbars and a wider screen display does not allow much usable document view.
