I agree, the move to the top is regressive. That said, that’s the least of the current issues in iOS. If there’s a lack of feedback, here’s a start:
Content is forced into landscape vs the legacy app that lets you do either orientation, there is a setting in the new app to toggle “Force Landscape” that rather obtusely locks to the other orientation when un-selected
Double tapping in landscape no longer fills the screen if you want widescreen vs 4:3 etc
New app doesn’t have a way to see playback information such as audio and video codecs, playback bitrate etc
Cast, Skip, Sleep Timer etc is all missing from the new app
Long pressing on the new app does nothing about 50% of the time when it is supposed to open a menu for play/mark played etc
Many, many others bugs and UI oddities, not to harp on the menu but the legacy app menu is vastly superior, folder navigation is bad. The old app was quite a bit better, but I would switch to the new one if the above issues are resolved and Plex fixes the direct play codec issues with TrueHD etc with the new apps.
Disappointed with the move to push this to a public release. The usability and feature set just isn’t there yet. In its current form, it is just a worse product than the current app.
I’m not going to jump on the “Plex now hates it’s existing users” bandwagon either, but it seems clear that they had a deadline to launch the new app with their revenue-generating content as the focus, and all the other personal media features, while not ignored per se, put on the back burner for later attention.
That’s really the only explanation for releasing the app in it’s current state as a public main channel release. The cynic in me has dark thoughts towards VC investors and the actual impetus for this redesign.
If this was true, the app would not have released in the state it did.
Generally people like it when feedback is also acted on, not just when it’s read. The feedback you received throughout this preview was enormously negative, and then Plex pushed the preview version live with no consideration for any of that feedback.
The thing that we all don’t really want to admit is that the vast majority of their client app users likely do NOT use anybody’s personal media server to view content, so as loud and annoyed as we in the forums are, it’s probably diluted.
If the majority of their revenue came from PMS owners, they would not have designed the app to make it more difficult to access that content while making it easier to access their ad-supported content.
This partly is the result if them offering lifetime licenses as a quick cash grab… Those license holders have a much easier-to-ignore voice.
To your point, that’s probably why they held out for so long on raising the price. It was a price point where people were willing to let the bugs and errors slide but allow Plex devs and their executives keep “improving” the app.
However, MANY of the original Plex users knew that the Plex Lifetime Pass prices were unsustainable.
When I subscribe to Costco for their annual membership, I know that they bring value to my household, regardless of what the membership cost is. Paying a nominal fee to get entrance on perks and benefits isn’t the problem for Costco since they managed to refine their infrastructure throughout the years at a reasonable and competitive membership price… and I’d be willing to pay $500 a year for their membership.
The PROBLEM with Plex Inc. and their apps is that it USE TO bring value. Many have voiced our frustration on the lack of granularity in the settings. It always seemed like pulling teeth out of their mouths to get them to understand. We require ADVANCED under the hood options in the apps. The foundation in which Plex was founded on was messy but doable during the XBMC days since there were tons of advanced options in those apps.
As features were added, such as Mobile Photo Uploading, Gaming, Podcasts, Tidal, and so on, the bugs, the time lost on tinkering with our server setups or app settings, was just not adding value. Many of the users of these services had high hopes for improvement but the foundation in which Plex Inc. had, had been full of holes, leaving many of us deeply disappointed each time a feature was scrapped. Plex was bringing value, but they kept failing because the foundation they built their clients on was complex and trash… BUT at the very least, at BARE MINIMUM, users had access to Advanced settings. With each and every UI makeover, the apps are being more wall gardened.
The NEW and IMPROVED 2025 version of Plex apps are now unrecognizable of what it used to be. Users have lost control over their own media server that is now on brand with a multi-national media company conglomerate. Each and every iteration of Plex apps, with the exception of PlexAmp (the royal gem), shows how frustrating it is to be a user of the Plex ecosystem. They have become the likes of Apple and Google.
Who releases updated and modern while stripping all the features we have had for years!! Tap to zoom, verticals phone for PIP allowing you use other apps. Layout and redesign not in love with. If they improve the user experience and add new functions or features yes we’d love it. Stripping them away and releasing beta software as new is nonsense. Really disappointed. Shame iOS doesn’t let your roll back the update
This is the big question. Smaller projects seem to have a MUCH better grasp of the situation. Plex (presumably) pays its employees, which makes it mind boggling how this new app shipped. It’s not even Alpha state. I don’t get how open source manages to write better code.
Because when you have investors (especially VC), you have somebody to actually answer to besides the users. The dev team was likely given a directive along the lines of “You WILL release the new app in Q1.” The devs themselves probably pushed back as much as they professionally could without risking their employment, knowing it wasn’t going to be ready. But again, the need to start pushing their ad-supported services heavier to get more revenue to make the investors happy, so you end up with what was released.
I think it is probably worth acknowledging that among the millions of people who use Plex, literally zero of those users asked Plex to take VC funding in order to accelerate growth, thus necessitating a sales layer and alternate sources of revenue, thus leading to weird pivots in functionality. So it’s difficult for me as a user to not just continue advocating for what I want in the program and rolling my eyes at absurd communications double-talk designed to serve unknown and absent VC funders (see recently: Plex is going to connect users even better than before by disabling the main feature users use to connect with no replacement)
The release is a train wreck everyone saw coming miles ahead. Why would plex release a sonos level disaster of an app when it was known before how the community would react to such a lackluster release?
Why would anyone still do testing? Still waste their time when plex clearly does not value the input (anymore)
So you basically admit that this launch was terribly rushed, that you are ignoring your TV clients which I use almost exclusively and that our customer feedback is falling on deaf ears. Congratulations on ruining our Plex experience. As a lifetime paying member I want my sidebar and my freaking photos and music back, and apologize for this sloppy and user hostile release. Enjoy the sleazy buck you made.
All Plex had to do was copy everything that the Infuse app by Firecore on iOS had been doing for the entire time 
