PlexAmp playback crashing Plex server

Plex Labs
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22

I was just out on my walk and right towards the end, Plex crashed on my Synology NAS. There was nothing unusual happening while I was listening. In fact, it seemed to be right when I returned home. I wasn’t skipping songs at the time, nor bringing up other playlists. Plex just crashes and Synology/Plex shows “Manually stopped” which is totally wrong as I did NOT manually stop Plex within Synology.

I see it has been 24 days since Plex Employee Atomatth replied. Unfortunately it is the only reply on this post created Oct. 21.

Does Plex have an update on this? This should not be happening. Others have uploaded their logs, as have I, so I don’t think providing more would be very helpful but can do that if requested by Plex.

What we need is an update and timeline as to when this will be resolved. I remain hopeful and have been very patient as others have been.

Please let us know.

23

I have been getting a similar issue as everyone else. When using Plexamp out on my runs and I skip a few tracks, it crashes the PMS and I need to restart it. I am using PMS on Windows with the latest beta, but it has been happening over the last month or two on several past beta versions. Also using Plexamp on iOS, iPhone 17, to the extent that matters.

24

I haven’t been streaming audio as often the last few weeks (it’s cold so haven’t been doing outdoor stuff as often which is when I was primarily using PlexAmp remotely) so haven’t noticed another hiccup yet… @evilattorney do you have a few server logs you can attach? I think they’ll want those for further research.

I’ll try and see if I can remind myself to run Plexamp more for troubleshooting\testing.

25

I can DM some logs if needed to a Plex admin, but rather not post any since they contain identifying information. Last time it happened was two days ago and it appears the logs from the crash time were just overwritten. I’ll stress test it by switching a lot of tracks on my next few runs to see if it will crash again, then set those logs aside.

26

The server logs are pretty innocuous really but maybe @Atomatth can chime in to have you send them over to them to attach to the internal issue they setup.

27

Unfortunately, my logs have full names in them of some users.

28

I don’t see anything new as far as updates or progress on this issue. We have not been able to reproduce the issue internally so any logs (PMS logs and Plexamp Logs with Debug logging enabled) would be helpful. Looking back through the thread I see QNAP, Synology, and now potentially Windows.

29

I am on PlexAmp version 4.12.4, starring React Native v0.72.15 on my iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The latest download for PlexAmp in the App Store is 4 months ago and is the same version as I have on my iPhone. That update was dated before I posted this Forum so clearly nothing has been done to address this in those 4 months.

Once again as examples, yesterday while on my walk, PlexAmp crashed (or more accurately, Plex crashed on my Synology). I waited a couple of minutes and was able to bring it back up - though I did have to use QuickConnect to restart Plex.

Then again today about 30 minutes into my walk, I simply skipped a song and the PlexAmp player just sat and spun - which experience has sadly taught me means Plex crashed on my Synology. Even repeated attempts to restart it using QuickConnect (which initially was successful each time) ended up failing whenever I tried to start the music again - meaning Plex would crash in Synology and show “manually Stopped” which I did not do.

I also tried clearing the music queue but it did not clear despite several attempts and I was back to square one. I finally sat down on a bench on my walk and turned off my iPhone (17 Pro Max). I waited a couple of minutes and restarted it. I then went to QuickConnect yet again to check and Plex was stopped for probably the 5th or 6th time while trying to get it working. Each time, I had to restart it. I finally gave up. (I did not reboot Synology with Quick Connect but can’t imagine that would be the solution-please advise).

Upon getting home and being back on WiFi, I logged into my Synology and Plex was showing on the dashboard, meaning it was running (which would be from the last time I did RUN/started it with Quick Connect). I then went to the PlexAmp and cleared the queue (which worked this time since I am now home and on WiFi). I then brought up a new playlist and shuffled it and it’s working fine now using PlexAmp on my iPhone without any problems.

This has been an ongoing issue for months and months when out of WiFi range.
I can upload logs if necessary but I should think this issue would be well-documented and can get addressed.

Simply put; why does it crash when away from WiFi? And what can be done to finally fix this for us Plex fans out there so we can count on the performance we should expect? Being forced to use QuickConnect for a simple task of listening to music via Plex on Synology is not something average users would likely know how to do, or should have to do (in my humble opinion). I use Sonos in my house with Plex and it has been working fine.

There is a Plex update in the App Store that is 1 day old - Version 2025.31.0. My iPhone Plex version is 2025.29.0. I can’t imagine this update would fix the PlexAmp problem but advise. Perhaps it would, but it would be helpful to denote something in the fixes such as: Addresses a problem where PlexAmp can fail because Plex stops on your NAS (or something to that effect).

PLEASE get this resolved. Make it a happy holiday for us all. I truly am a Plex fan so I’m staying loyal but boy is this frustrating and I can’t help but get angry while out on a lovely walk in sunny Florida and trying to enjoy my music using PlexAmp.

Thank you.

30

If Atomatth says the issue indicates they couldn’t reproduce it then the more logs we give the better. Both client logs and server logs would likely help.

31

@bubbascant based on your last logs, you’re running an older PMS version 1.41.5.9626-9ba082670. Could you please update your PMS to either the latest public release 1.42.2.10156 or install the latest beta release 1.43.0.10389. I’d be more interested if you could run the beta release for a bit as there is a specific PlexAmp fix around the transcoder.

Though I’m not sure how related the original issue for this :backhand_index_pointing_up: fix is to the issue in this thread, but it would still be good to be running a newer version of PMS.

32

Thank you for your prompt reply. I have a few questions and observations in no particular order.

I’ve mentioned that this only happens when I am away from WiFi. Has that been investigated as to why? When I return home to WiFi, I am always able to quickly get things back as they should be. Seems like this should be easy to investigate and correct. I’m nearly 99% sure this is the behavior.

On my iPhone, I am on the latest version of Plex. The most recent PlexAmp update in the app store is 4 months old. Does this cause any of the problems I (and other users) are having with PlexAmp causing Plex to crash on my Synology NAS? It seems logical that a user should keep the two updated - which I have done. Since there is no newer PlexAmp app in the app store to update more recently than 4 months ago, I’m trying to ascertain the inter-workings.

On my Synology NAS as you correctly point out I am on an older PMS version. Does that tie into my question above in any way?

What I’m trying to ascertain is how these interact and then create the best outcome for users.

You said that there is a specific PlexAmp fix around the transcoder. But directly below it says (Plexamp) Transcoding tracks could result in missing data. Does that missing data create the crash of Plex on my Synology (where it goes to “Manually stopped” even though I didn’t stop it)?
To put it another way, would the beta release fix the issue users like me are having, so that transcoding doesn’t result in missing data (and I assume means it can cause Plex to crash on my NAS)?

Are there any settings I should use when away from WiFi to prevent these crashes? Meaning anything on my Synology NAS or my PlexAmp app that I can set so these crashes don’t happen?

Let me know if you’d like my logs. I saved one from yesterday (Plex on my browser - Settings-Troubleshooting-Download logs) and can upload. Would this contain the client logs and server logs or are those gotten in a different way. Please advise.

I have not upgraded from my current version for a number of reasons, chief among them whether the newer updates will solve the issue. Given that the user at the top of this forum exchange, Insomnic_1 - is using server version IS 1.42.2.10156 and they report the same issue I’m having on the older PMS version, it seems logical to conclude that upgrading to that version (one before the latest beta release) probably won’t fix the issue?….

Please advise.

As a fan of Plex, (and speaking for others I’m sure), I need to count on the performance where I can go on a walk and not be subjected to these crashes - and where I have to use Synology QuickConnect to restart Plex that inexplicably crashed - really sucks (sorry).

On a side note - The odd thing is this behavior seems to be since the new modification where Plex split things (movies and music). I’m not sure that’s correct, but it definitely started after that as my memory recalls.

Once again, thank you for your reply.

33

Client logs are grabbed directly from the client and will be more useful if you grab them shortly after a crash or you can provide a time\date for the crash to reference: https://support.plex.tv/articles/201869908-log-files/ (link has the different client logs). The client logs combined with server logs help give information for what’s reported on both sides of the environment (client and server).

I’m running the current beta these days with the new transcoder and haven’t had any specific issues - I played PlexAmp for a few hours yesterday on my iPhone and didn’t get a crash but I never went remote and remote is where I’ve experienced the issue. If you’d like to update to the beta just to test it’s pretty easy to reverse back to the public release.

I setup some downloaded songs on my primary client (iPhone) so even if the server crashes when I’m out and about I’ll still have some music to play. :slight_smile:

Since this isn’t a “happens to everyone” issue and they can’t replicate it in-house the more logs with specific details about the situation the better.

34

You should never feel the need to ask IF we want your logs, we always want your logs! So gimme!! :laughing:

As I mentioned, it would be preferable to check out the latest beta release. Mainly because this beta has major changes to our transcoder that we’ll be moving forward with regardless so identifying if your issue is resolved or still remains would be good know so we can continue to iterate.

35

I just had another crash this morning. Windows server funning the latest Beta version. I was out for a run using Plexamp and the music stopped around 7:10am today. Looking at the logs, it appears that Plex went into a transcoding loop trying to transcode the song “Man in a Suitcase”. It has played that song many times in the past without issue. I tried simply rebooting Windows, but Windows then hangs during reboot because it can’t close down Plex. Using taskmanager to first kill Plex appears to be the only way to cleanly fix the issue. I have never had this issue listening on my own LAN at home, it has only happened away from home.

36

I am uploading the PMS server logs from Dec 11th - which should have some information for you hopefully. Unfortunately I did not download the Plexamp -logs until now, but hopefully it will shed some light.

Plex Media Server Logs_2025-12-11_13-10-37.zip (3.2 MB)

Plexamp-Logs-2025-12-14-3.zip (402.3 KB)

37

With the beta version, can I roll it back to the version I’m on now? I would first hope you can get some insight with the logs I sent. May I please very quickly highlight some key points so those on this exchange are on the same page (as closely as possible anyway).

  1. This crash only happens when I’m away from WiFi and resolves itself upon returning. The last major incident was so bad I couldn’t restart PlexAmp to play after it crashed Plex on my Synology NAS when I used QuickConnect to restart it multiple times while out walking an away from WiFi. This is an important item I think (WiFi). It’s important to figure out why this happens (as I know is what we’re all trying to do). Perhaps it is transcoding?
  2. I don’t use Windows to play my music, nor is it downloaded to my iPhone. It plays from my Synology NAS using Plex. And I use (select) various playlists from my nearly 1,000 of them from PlexAmp. (I’m in the media business so I have a very fine-tuned library of playlists).
  3. I use the proper folder/file naming structure that Plex strongly suggests so that should not be an issue.
  4. I would still like to know the answer to whether the Plex app on my iPhone (which is only a few days old) has any issue with my Plex version on Synology - AND… whether the PlexAmp app - which is 4 months old, is contributing to the crashes.
  5. I should point out again that during these crashes, I’m unable to clear the queue of songs from a playlist I’m using. PlexAmp just sits and spins…..
  6. The beta release is for PlexAmp app, correct?
  7. Are there any settings in PlexAmp app that should be used when away from WiFi that would prevent these crashes? Same for the Plex on Synology.

Thanks so much for all the contributions.

38

Absolutely. You can install the older\public version just like you would when upgrading\updating. There’s a couple ways to get to those installers as well - here’s a quick Q\A topic on getting older versions (if you don’t just want the current public version): How Do I Roll Back to the Previous Server Version?

For 1. - I too tend to experience this when remote rather than local.

For 2. - I’m using QNAP and iOS PlexAmp but there’s a couple different environments reported here - but seems like iOS clients - so it feels like it’s not a server environment specific issue but maybe iOS thing? I also switched from iOS18 to iOS26 now which also impacts testing and troubleshooting.

For 4. and 5. - Because Plex is very server\client designed it’s likely a combo issue. Plex clients often flake out hard when contact with the server goes sideways as there’s no real clean function between “live” and “offline” for Plex clients or PlexAmp. PlexAmp will continue to play cached songs but any new fetch activity will throw it off and you’d have to switch to the specific Downloads section of the amp to continue - which sometimes doesn’t work unless you close\reopen Plex\PlexAmp on the client. The fact the Plex server is what crashes is very odd.

For 6. - the beta is server beta, I don’t think there’s a beta program for PlexAmp but I could be wrong (I will now wait for the collective gasp).

For 7. - without knowing what is causing the crash this can’t be answered yet. Since it’s not happening to a lot of people (there’s lots of folks using PlexAmp and only a couple of us in this topic) and not reproducible by Plex dev, it’ll be tricky to track down without more comparative troubleshooting and logs. Even logs might not show stuff because the crash could take it down before a log reference can be, well, logged.
None of my music transcodes so I don’t think it’s that, but it could be something with a character set not playing well (that’s happened before) or bit sequence in the encoding throwing it off (at one point back in the day a particular version of LAME encoding messed up playback on Winamp). The fact it crashes the server entirely - while QNAP\Syno report it’s still running - is very odd.

I think trying the server beta is a good idea as Plex has focused on the new transcoder release as the next public release and one of those fixes might address this bug even unintentionally (since we don’t know what’s causing it) - like the “missing data” fix Atomatth mentioned.

Personally I haven’t run into the problem again after switching to the latest Plex Server beta 1.43 but I haven’t done a good solid test as it’s dang cold and I haven’t been wandering away from home with music playing lately. :slight_smile:

39

Thank you for your replies. Let me offer some feedback on a few points.

For 2. - I am on Synology. There is no PlexAmp app within Synology itself, only Plex so when I refer to Plex crashing while using PlexAmp, I am referring to Plex “manually stopping” on Synology. Synology server itself never crashes. Somehow PlexAmp is causing this manual stoppage. It’s always when away from WiFI. And I can usually (not always) get Plex back up on Synology so PlexAmp can play again by using QuickConnect and going to my Synology settings and restarting Plex.

Here is where Plex shows on Synology. When PlexAmp causes PMS to crash (manually stopped), this PMS icon on the desktop (as the long, red arrow is pointing to) disappears. So when I log in with QuickConnect, that icon is gone. I have to go back to Restart PMS to get it to show again. Then PlexAmp can play again (but it’s not always successful as I’ve pointed out).

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I am on iOS 26.1 with my iPhone 17 Pro Max. This crashing happened before I got my new phone on September 19th. And it happens on my wife’s iPhone 13 Pro Max occasionally still. So I tend to rule out an iOS issue (unless it resides on both iOS - my wife is still on iOS 18.)

For 4. and 5. - When you mention “you’d have to switch to the specific Downloads section of the amp to continue”, what exactly are you referencing? My music always plays off my NAS. I don’t download music off my Music folder on my NAS (if you follow).

You said “The fact the Plex server is what crashes is very odd”. Again, it’s only the Plex app on Synology (part of the available apps available from the Package Center on Synology as shown above) that goes off and shows “Manually stopped” - which I most definitely did NOT do. It seems to be caused by skipping a song (or a couple of songs) or going to a new playlist for example.

For 6. - Yes, I would want to get more feedback from Atomatth on that point.

For 7. - Probably 99% of all my music is in ALAC lossless, or hi-res files such as .flac. Let me state again just to make sure I’m doing a good job communicating this “crash” phenomenon.

A. When out walking, away from WiFi, I can have an entire hour walk be free of any issues. But more often than I’d care to say, while simply skipping a track (or 2 perhaps), it can drop and show the “spinning” which means it’s not working. A quick check on my Synology using QuickConnect (requiring me to sign-in of course) shows “Plex” as being “manually stopped” - which I didn’t do. I then have to restart Plex app in Synology, which seems to work but not always. I don’t recall it ever crashing Plex within Synology if I’ve not skipped a song (or multiple songs, or tried bringing up a new playlist). It is always from an action ON MY PlexAmp app that causes it.

B. If I’m unable to get it back during my walk, I can always quickly get PlexAmp playing again simply by being on WiFi. I don’t use QuckConnect as I don’t have to. It simply will start when I go back to PlexAmp. I can clear the queue (which doesn’t work on point A), bring up a new playlist and so forth and PLEX app in Synology will not crash. “THAT’S the part I’m referring to when I say PlexAmp is crashing. It seems to be causing the Plex app WITHIN Synology to stop (manually stopped) - and when it does, I am unable to play music or bring up a new playlist when away from WiFi, but I don’t recall PlexAmp ever crashing Plex within Synology when I’m on WiFi.

To me, that is the #1 area to focus on. What does being away from WiFi do within PlexAmp as described above that crashes Plex app on my Synology (capture above)?

Before I do the Plex beta 1.43, I’d like to see how the correlation behaves between what I’ve described above (off/on WiFi) that causes Plex to stop on Synology. Synology itself doesn’t crash. Only Plex stops.

I am in Florida so I get out daily for walks or golf or whatever so I use PlexAmp all the time and it is so frustrating when it ruins the moment and crashes Plex on my Synology.

I’m looking forward to more feedback. Hopefully my further replies will help. Thanks!

40

Saying “Plex” can mean the server app or the client app so when I’m saying “Plex server” I’m referencing the Plex Media Server app vs the Plex app that’s installed as a player\client or PlexAmp client. It’s understood, at least I’m assuming it’s been understood, that saying “plex server crashed” means the Plex Media Server app is crashing or locking up or becoming unresponsive, not that the Syno or Qnap or server environment is crashing. It’s common nomenclature to refer to client\server platforms this way rather than as “apps” but might not be as familiar for you or others so that might be confusing when I’ve referenced it this way. Hopefully that helps clarify.

The “downloads” section in PlexAmp is if you set any playlists for offline access by setting them as downloaded playlists. This would allow you to continue to play music when unable to communicate with the server. It’s not really related to the bug itself other than as a workaround or reference for troubleshooting. You also have a cache setting in PlexAmp which pulls upcoming songs to your device so if you’re skipping tracks that are cached and it’s still crashing Plex Media Server app that’d be good to know as well for troubleshooting.

What “causes Plex to stop” is what we’re needing additional troubleshooting and logs so I don’t think anybody can give you this assurance at this time. The information provided about experiences aren’t enough alone to pinpoint the issue and Plex devs couldn’t replicate (though I don’t know if they are testing “remote” - sometimes hard to do in a lab).
Though it’s possible I’m misunderstanding your question.

The established evidence we have is that it seems when remote, PlexAmp playback works fine for a while but then may cause Plex Media Server to lock-up\crash\stop responding which makes PlexAmp no longer function. Plex Media Server then needs to be restarted. For those impacted it happens regularly. All we can say for sure is PlexAmp playback crashes Plex Media Server app and seems to be triggered by being remote when something happens eventually to some people sometimes. That initial “something” is what is unknown and trying to track down. It’d be a lot easier if it was happening to more people; the fewer people experiencing it the more likely it’s an environment specific issue that’s a particular commonality for us as individuals but not common for most users which will be very hard to track down. That’s why the hope is a similar error in the logs for each of us would corroborate the bug and point to a resolution.

Currently the conditions we have is:

  • It happens to people running Plex Media Server on Synology, QNAP and Windows so it’s likely not the server environment (at one point I thought my QNAP version might’ve been a factor).
  • Being remote is a primary factor. I did get hit while I was on wifi one of the times but where I was coulda had a connection issue (unlikely, but possible) and switched to cellular or hopped AP (I have multiple wireless access points setup and they play nicely together but that’s never perfect).
  • It doesn’t seem to happen with the same song file so it’s likely not a file specific issue.
  • It does seem to be iPhone users specifically and on both iOS18 and iOS26 so it could be an iOS thing either on the OS side or the PlexAmp iOS client.
    That’s why getting client logs can also be helpful.

Installing Plex beta is a non-destructive low impact reversible test to see if the bug is fixed in the newer server version. The bug might’ve been a code error in the current public server that is fixed in the newer server beta version as a minor code fix without it ever being identified as related to any specific issue or worth noting in release notes. That “fixed but dunno what it was” happens all the time and updating is just a common easy check when it’s an option.

41

Whelp… was outside doing chores outside the house today and got hit with this bug. I wasn’t really “remote”, though it’s possible I lost connection at one time or another, and Plex Media Server locked up on me.

Server: 1.43.0.10389
PlexAmp: iOS v4.12.4
iOS: 26.2

QNAP reported Plex as “running” but when trying to load Plex just kept getting “no content” errors.

PlexAmp gave me a no content error but continued to play cached songs so I didn’t notice until I came back into the house.

Crash was today 2025-12-15 between 2 and 4PM central time.

Since server was stopped I manually grabbed logs for @Atomatth before restarting server.

Crash Logs 2025_12_15.zip (830 Bytes)

Plex Logs 2025_12_15.zip (4.4 MB)

PlexAmp Logs :

Plexamp-Logs-2025-12-15-1.zip (597.9 KB)

Edit: My router\AP device history shows my iPhone never left wifi but it did hop APs

Edit: I had to restart Plex Media Server twice before clients could connect. Here are logs from after restarting in case it helps:

Plex Media Server Logs_2025-12-15_15-50-11.zip (2.8 MB)