I have been a Plex user for longer than I can remember and I have to agree with dozens of other posters that the Download Feature is a big step backwards in design and usability, even from the Sync feature. However, perhaps it can be redeemed.
The download feature is supposed to allow you to use Plex anywhere, irrespective of your wifi connectivity or bandwidth constraints but it’s design is implemented as an add-on (not a good one), forcing you to use a separate process and interface. You may as well just download to a hard drive manually.
Why can’t users just mark offline content using the same ‘user model’ as they do when connected directly to their Plex server? Why can’t the Plex client decide where to get it’s content when playing (either from the server or locally if offline). Instead, you have to go through a separate process, which places your downloaded content in a single, separate area under its own ordering, whilst the original menu is there but unusable if you are offline.
I think the best solution would be to extend the current system to allow you to play content from the current menu, or search, without the need you to figure out the quality of your changing bandwidth before selecting content. (There are other issues like the need to be able to configure what is downloaded from a central place and how to easily deal with 100s of photos but those are relatively minor).
There is a setting to prefer Downloaded content. If this is enabled, then playing your content even while viewing your server library will play the local version. There are some bugs around this we are investigating, but it is designed to work this way. Having the separate Downloads sections is so you can see specifically what has been downloaded. Also if you are offline and can’t browse your regular server library, you can browse from this dedicated section. Also to be clear, Sync worked this way too so I’m unclear on the step backwards part of your comment.
Thanks for the fast response. The preference for download setting is a useful optimisation but does not address the usability issue that many people have raised.
The separate download section is the problem - it’s an unnecessary complication…
Users shouldn’t have to navigate their content in one way if connected or within a bandwidth threshold, and via a flat list under ‘Downloads’ otherwise.
Suggestion: Why can’t Plex allow you to browse your regular library irrespective of the current bandwidth or connectivity - this us just metadata? The inaccessible items (not downloaded) could be greyed out?
The main issue here is the unnecessary effort needed to manage and maintain the same library via different interfaces. Of course anything can be forced on users but this is a basic user interface modelling principle - simplify, don’t complicate the user experience.
You don’t have to, it’s an alternative method of viewing your content.
Why can’t Plex allow you to browse your regular library irrespective of the current bandwidth or connectivity - this us just metadata?
Yes, but it’s a lot of metadata. It would be really resource intensive to cache all that info locally. Then it would take effort to update all that info again.
On an iPhone I’ve the setting “Prefer Downloaded Content=On” but when selecting from the library an already downloaded album it is streaming it from the Media Server (Windows) instead of playing the local one. I verified that from the PMS on the Dashboard menu.
If I shutdown (exit) the PMS then from the library on the Iphone I can not access any downloaded album and it says “No downloaded Content”
When having the PMS up the app keeps constantly crashing and I do not know what else to do. I’ve 31Gb of downloaded music,.
Really frustrating, on top of that my wife keeps asking me why we need to use Plex and not other app.
How can I get support to figure out what is going on?
PMS version 1.24.4.5081
IOS 14.8.1
Plex IOS app 7.24.1
How can I get support to figure out what is going on?
Please advice on how to proceed.
The app keeps crashing when I open the Download screen and I start browsing down, does not reach to the bottom of the screen, but as usual when I was ready to create the log did not crash anymore. But anyway, for any album that I tap to listen from the Downloads screen says “Loading” and then nothing happens, nothing is being played and it stays in the Downloads screen, it does not open the album. I tried to play Andrea Bocelli album.
By the way the, the downloads screen sort is too limited. This screen should look similar to the “Music” screen.
Here is the iOS log: PlexDebugInfo-7.24.1-1350 (2021-11-08 20.02.26 -0800).zip (15.8 MB)
Here is the PMS log: Plex Media Server Logs_2021-11-08_20-25-06.zip (674.5 KB)
In your logs, I don’t see you playing Andrea Bocelli. I do see you trying to play an Adele album. That one is failing because it can’t find the files that were Downloaded. It’s possible the Download failed.
Can you clear out all the Downloads, then Download just the Andrea Bocelli album you tried before. When it’s done, go ahead and try to play. If that fails, get me new logs. Also, turn off verbose logging in your iOS settings before doing this. You don’t need that enabled.
You probably do not see the play of Andrea Bocelli because as I said in my original post I was not able to play it. I said that for any album that I tried to play I got a “Loading” spinning message.
After restarting the phone I’m able to play Bocelli (after spending lot of time trying to find it since is not ordered alphabetically… which has non sense) or I can play any other until it crash again at anytime. And… it just crashed again. here are the most recent logs after the crash:
You asked me about Adele album if the download failed… well no the download never failed, but sometimes I’m not able to play anything because it says “Loading” or it keep crashing when going into Download menu (see attached logs). After restarting the phone or the app (some times restarting just the app help) works.
Not sure if it is important but the iPhone has more than 30Gb free.
I appreciate your help.
Thanks.
It should be. Keep in mind that for music it’s the thing you downloaded. Artist will be the artist name, albums will be the album name, and tracks will be the track name. Can you post a screenshot so I can see? You can also browse using the Library view and it will look just like on your server.
I do see where the app died. Unfortunately, there isn’t any information on why. We’ll have to wait and see if it made a crash report and sent the report to the devs.
You can also browse using the Library view and it will look just like on your server.
Can I access the Library view if the PMS is down?
We’ll have to wait and see if it made a crash report and sent the report to the devs.
The app keeps crashing. The app should have sent a report automatically, right?
Another weird thing is that sometimes when opening the app it shows an status bar saying “Downloading 1 of ” but should nothing pending to download since I did not request new things to download so no idea what is downloading.
I’ve verified that I’ve “send crash report On”, so tons of crashes reports you should have by now. Could you please let me know what is going on based on those reports?
What is the process to report a bug like this? How do we know someone will look at this or at least if the bug was recorded? How do I know a developer will look into this?
We pay to support the tool and company but then we do not get back support. Could you please clarify how this process works? Is there a place where to log the bug?
Thanks for confirming. I’m not aware of any other reports of crashes like this so I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ve confirmed the devs have received the crash reports I passed along. They are going to take a look, but considering it’s the weekend coming up, probably won’t have any info until next week.
