This one’s for the audiophiles, the visual junkies, and the lock-screen star-gazers. The next release is here, and it’s bringing the groove and the polish.
Added
Downmixing to stereo (new playback setting).
Preserving multi-channel audio when converting (new Downmix to Stereo conversion setting).
New visualizers: Aurora, Disco Ball and Hyper Paint.
iOS: Ability to star (highly rate) tracks from the lock screen.
Fixed
Tracks could end prematurely.
Playback start could be slower than normal in some cases.
Seeking could lead to track skipping.
Channel mapping for surround Opus modes was incorrect.
Crash from misformed/missing port in server connection URI.
Get rid of confusing incorrect sample/bit-rate display for audio output.
Codec badge could incorrect show 24-bit.
Editing playlist filters only worked on the playlist screen.
After seeking, a track could buffer indefinitely.
DSD tracks could result in an inappropriately large mixer sample rate.
DSD tracks wouldn’t display properly with visualizers.
Got a good collection of fixes for you beautiful people! Unfortunately the Windows release is going to be a while, GitHub is forcing an upgrade to a newer Windows/Visual Studio on runners, with the usual pain points
Fixed
DSD files weren’t playing gaplessly with strict sample rate matching.
When creating smart playlist, clarify that we’re doing so.
In some cases, downloaded items could end up displaying as empty.
Downloading shared smart playlists with some filters could result in no tracks being downloaded.
When downloading smart playlists under 5 hours of duration, only an hour at most would be downloaded.
Android: Beware of negative values for recommended album art size.
iOS: In some cases, premium upsell wouldn’t show spinner forever.
CarPlay/Android Auto: Don’t reload screen when going offline/online.
Linux: Support for 24-bit audio output for “digi” HAT devices (thanks to @tgp-2)
This is a new release for desktop (and headless!) to address a few issues. Lots of other stuff in the pipeline, but wanted to get this out for now because we know it’s been painful for Linux users, and we’re super sorry about that.
Fixed
Linux: The issue with the audio not working until outputs are toggled.
Linux: Lots of MPRIS issues.
Upgrade to Electron 41 (also improves Linux experience).
A quick follow-up to today’s release, mostly to fix a background that wasn’t behaving.
Desktop is 4.50.4; mobile testers get these as 4.50.3, so the build reaches you without another review round.
Fixed
Choosing the Smooth background no longer crashes the app, at the time and at every launch afterwards.
The Smooth background draws its gradient again instead of plain black.
Opening a Plex share link Plexamp can’t understand no longer crashes it.
macOS: the Intel download is actually an Intel build again. 4.50.3 shipped an Apple silicon binary under the Intel name, which Intel Macs refuse to open, and the links in the 4.50.3 thread now point here.
A big pass over downloads, and a lot of artwork work.
Downloads
Downloads that stalled part-way now finish, and keep going when you leave the app instead of freezing until you come back.
The Downloads count now means music you are still waiting on. Artwork and waveforms finishing in the background no longer read as missing songs.
Refreshing your downloads is faster, and no longer re-fetches artwork and album details it already has.
A downloaded smart playlist keeps its tracks through interrupted refreshes, and drops only the ones that genuinely stop matching.
Downloading a single track, or any selection of tracks, works instead of sticking on “Preparing”, and a download that cannot start now says why.
Downloads finish one item at a time, so an album’s artwork arrives with its music rather than after everything else you queued.
Artwork
Scrolling quickly through a grid no longer chases artwork for rows you have already passed, so the covers you are looking at arrive sooner.
Artwork that fails to load retries by itself and repairs when your connection returns, and a cover that failed once no longer stays grey.
Windows
Album art reaches the system now-playing panel and the apps that read it, and the taskbar icon is drawn from full-resolution artwork.
Remote control and casting work with a VPN connected.
Windows on ARM no longer reports that it cannot create a log file at every launch.
Also
An error no longer replaces Plexamp with a page of raw error text.
Opening an album whose details do not load no longer crashes the app.
The latest iOS and Android builds are still TestFlight and the open beta for now, and the Play one is still going through review, so it is not quite live yet.
Plexamp no longer closes by itself while paused, when another app or device changes the audio output.
Songs that leave a downloaded playlist or library are now removed from your offline library too, instead of lingering as entries whose files are already gone.
An album no longer disappears from offline search when some of its songs are removed.
Two in quick succession: 4.50.10 fixed downloaded music on Windows accounts with accented user names, and in doing so broke Plexamp at launch on every Windows install. 4.50.11 puts that right and is on the stable channel now. If you’re on Windows and Plexamp won’t open, grab the installer from the usual place and it will pick up from there. The mobile 4.50.10 builds went out to TestFlight and Play testing this morning and don’t need the fix, so they’re unchanged.
Everywhere
A downloaded album or playlist no longer loses tracks when one page of its listing fails to load during a refresh. Those tracks were treated as removed and their files deleted.
Large downloads start sooner. Track details are fetched fifty at a time while downloading begins, instead of all up front.
Mobile
Android recognizes Plexamp as a music app again, so system shortcuts and automations that start music can find it, and headset buttons work when Plexamp is not already playing. (Android)
Automatic Car View works on Android again. (Android)
Desktop
Downloaded music plays, and its artwork appears, on Windows accounts whose user name contains accented characters. Downloads completed but nothing would play back. (Windows)
Plexamp starts again on Windows. 4.50.10 closed itself on launch, whatever the user name. (Windows)
Desktop is on the stable channel now. The mobile 4.50.12 builds are on their way to TestFlight and Play testing.
Mobile
Overnight download refresh works again. Since early August the background wake had been declining every playlist, artist and album refresh while reporting them done, so downloads only refreshed when the app was opened.
Bluetooth headset play works right after pausing. The output stream kept running for three seconds after a pause, so the phone told the headset Plexamp was still playing and its button sent pause instead of play. (Android)
Desktop
A track change now replaces the notification instead of adding another one, so Notification Center no longer collects a row per track, and the notification shows the album artwork.
Playing a download no longer empties its file on Windows accounts whose user name contains accented characters. Every download played this way was cut to zero bytes on first play, so those need downloading again. (Windows)
Plexamp no longer files a crash report every time Windows signs out, shuts down or restarts while it is running. (Windows)
The Flatpak can now open audio devices directly through ALSA, so a DAC can be selected as an output instead of only the PipeWire or PulseAudio server. (Linux)
Crash reports from the Flatpak now carry stack traces. (Linux) Flathub
The Linux Flatpak is now on Flathub’s beta channel, for x86_64 and arm64. The stable Flathub listing is still the old 4.13 Electron build, so it takes the beta remote:
That remote is Flathub’s beta, not ours: it carries the stable releases, so you get 4.50.12 and not a -beta.N build. The download is about 26 MB because WebKitGTK and GTK come from the GNOME runtime instead of being bundled, though Flatpak will fetch that runtime the first time if you don’t already have it. arm64 is new, so a Raspberry Pi or an Asahi machine can run it from Flathub for the first time.
It is the same build Play ships, signed with the same certificate, so Play can still update over it in place and the app will tell you when a newer one is out. Both of those are brand new and have only been exercised in CI, so please shout if installing it over an existing Play build does anything strange.
Downloads page
That same page lists the current build for every platform, desktop and Android, on both the stable and beta channels. It reads the release manifests directly, so it cannot go stale.
Desktop is on the beta channel now and TestFlight has it, with Google Play still reviewing. The main one: beta builds no longer check your account for beta access, so you can just run them.
Fixed
Beta builds no longer need beta access on your Plex account.
Music you play shows up in Played straight away, with its album and artist artwork.
Downloaded albums browse again.
Browsing downloaded music is smoother.
Android: the tab bar no longer leaves a band of empty space beneath its icons.
Desktop: a network stall no longer freezes the app.
Windows: installing and updating no longer asks for administrator rights. Plexamp goes in your user folder again, so uninstall 4.50 once first or the old copy in Program Files will sit there alongside it.
The beta cycle above landed on the stable channel. Desktop updates itself; mobile went out to TestFlight and Play testing.
Added
Android can now be downloaded as an APK from plexamp.plex.tv, for devices that cannot use the Play Store. Same build Play ships, so Play can update over it later.
Music you play appears in Played straight away, with its album and artist artwork.
Your equalizer preset is applied at launch again.
Browsing a downloaded playlist, radio station or Played is fast again.
A remote player that changes IP address is found again within about a minute.
Beta builds no longer ask for beta access at sign-in.
The Keep Played Music setting now says it applies to music played on this device.
Linux: FLAC, AAC, ALAC, APE, Musepack and DSD play again. None of the decoder plug-ins had been loading since the 4.50 rewrite.
Windows: installing and updating no longer asks for administrator rights. Plexamp goes in your user folder again, so uninstall 4.50 once first or the old copy in Program Files will sit there alongside it.
Desktop: a network stall no longer freezes the app.
Mobile: browsing downloaded music is smoother.
Mobile: background downloads hand the whole queue to the system at once, so a large download no longer waits for the previous two.
Mobile: the overnight refresh works through as many downloads as its time allows instead of stopping at three.
Mobile: the background gradient no longer dims each time you rotate the device.
Android: Bluetooth headset and car buttons respond faster after pausing.
Android: the tab bar no longer leaves a band of empty space beneath its icons.
Android: external equalizers such as Poweramp EQ can attach to Plexamp again. Set Audio Interface to OpenSL ES or AudioTrack.
Android: the back button closes a menu instead of going back behind it.
Music Plexamp analyzed itself no longer crossfades when Sweet Fades is off. It only happened the first time you played something your server had not analysed.
