I can only speak to the iOS client but I assume it has feature parity with the Android client. EDIT: It looks like Android has more options in this area. You can see a screenshot of the iOS Sync Settings here.
I’d like to suggest having an option to disable automatic sync. Right now the iOS client only has an option to disable sync over Cellular connection but lacks anything to disable syncing completely. Myself and others have written about the problems with the current solution in this thread but I’ve cleaned up those for this thread and added them below:
Not all remote WiFi networks are equal. Some may provide enough bandwidth to update watched status or query Plex servers for information but not enough to stream or sync. Under the current system, Syncing will choke out other uses.
Tethering shows as a WiFi connection and will iperform full syncs over cellular
Because syncing is automatic, was you watch new items, the server will encode and push down new episodes to you. Keeping the WiFi antenna active and putting extra strain on the battery
Bandwidth limitations as well as data caps mean that transferring the large amounts of Sync data can put you at odds with your ISP
Plex automatically doing new syncs while on remote WiFi removes the advantage of syncing higher quality content than would otherwise be streamable
Automatic Sync will use up all available space as new files are ready to sync instead of letting the user control which new items are synced as they watch new episodes.
In Android there is a menu of choices when auto sync occurs. You can turn these on or off. I haven’t tested, but I would expect that if I had all of these off, sync would never automatically occur.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
In Android there is a menu of choices when auto sync occurs. You can turn these on or off. I haven’t tested, but I would expect that if I had all of these off, sync would never automatically occur.
I have used this a couple times in the past, but it’s a messy workaround when you still want to automatically sync when you return to your home WiFi.
Edit: I also wouldn’t mind just a separate setting for downloading synced content. I really don’t mind it trying to sync media info and keeping my progress up to date on the server, and can’t imagine that would take too much data.
So, tagged a bunch of shows to sync unwatched episodes before leaving for a camping trip. Only synced about 60% before I had to leave the house. Got to our spot and hooked up to my trailers wifi (mifi with 2 bars) and started watching synced shows on my iPad. 5 hours later, I noticed plex has consumed over 6 gigs of data trying to sync shows. The problem is, due to the bad connection it seems to keep retrying to sync and fails eating data mindlessly. I noted this same behavior at a hotel with crappy wifi. So, not being able to disable sync is simply no good. I’d like to stop using sync but will lose my local copies of shows that synced before I left the house. What to do … Let plex eat all my cellular data? Even better, overage charges sound fantastic! Please add back a disable sync feature. Many people have capped Internet. Cranking away on people’s data without an option to disable it temporarily is simply a bad choice.
I’m facing something different. I usually sync content to my ipad and see it before going to sleep so my computer is turned off. The problem is that if I fall asleep in the middle of a chapter once I turn on my computer it gets automatically deleted from my synced content as if I watched. The option to manually launch sync from the older version of the app is something I really miss because I hate to see that my content gets deleted automatically before even asking me.
It looks like there was a new release this morning and it doesn’t look like any of the changes address some of the issues that have been brought up here. Thought I’d see if we can get any response about how likely that is.
Not having this feature back in has now cost me hundreds of dollars due to the automatic syncing on the iPad when it’s on my iPhone hotspot (even when I don’t launch the app). Who at Plex can I send these bills to for reimbursement?
Like almost all software, Plex is provided as-is, with no guarantees or warranties, and is used at your own risk. T&C’s are published on the website and linked to from every page on here.
Not that I don’t feel your pain, but ultimately, Plex aren’t responsible for that. Especially if it’s restricted to wifi only. You could try blaming Apple for presenting a tethered connection the same as any other wifi (and be aware that it does, so all wifi services on your iPad will function as if you’re on “proper” wifi when you tether), but I doubt you’ll get far on that front either.
For now, disabling the Plex app from being able to operate in the background (within iOS settings) may be enough to stop it from doing background syncs at least.
Sorry for your costly experience. Hope it’ll be a suitable nudge to get this feature re-implemented sooner rather than later. Regressions suck, more so when they’re as costly as this!
