Local server connection stops working on iOS

Plex Players
1

Server Version#: 1.28.2.6151
Player Version#: 8.8 (on iOS 15.6.1)

I have added a local server by it’s IP address (through settings->advanced->server connections), which works fine until the Plex application restarts. By restart, I mean when opening the app I see the splash screen again.

After the app starts again, the items from the local server are not shown. When I visit “server connections”, the server is still listed. In order to get the items to show again, I have to remove the server and then re-add it.

The Plex app is not logged into an account, the local server has been added manually.

This issue happens on both an iPhone 13 and an older iPad. Each will work fine until iOS kills the Plex app. Both behave the same and lose the server once the app restarts.

2

For some clarity, simple steps to reproduce this are:

  1. open the app
  2. add a local server through settings->advanced->server connections
  3. (at this point you can access the server as expected)
  4. force kill the ios plex app (swipe the app away)
  5. open the app
  6. (now you won’t see anything from the local server, although it still is listed in the server connections list)

The only way to see the items seems to be to remove the server and re-add it.

Edit:

This continues to happen with Plex server version 1.40.5.8854 with iOS 17.6.1.