Server Version#: 1.41.6.9685
Player Version#: 2025.15.0 (1053)
Recently I spent two weeks away from my home for work, and as has been my habit when I travel for work I download videos to plex on my iPad so I have something to watch on the long flights. I’ve done this numerous times in the past and typically the biggest issues I would have were related to the actual downloading of files. I will say that with the newest version of the app, downloading single files (more on this bit later) is now far easier and consistent than it used to be. Unfortunately, that is all I can say has improved in the newest version of the mobile apps.
For the rest of this post I want to focus solely on the user experience of these apps from a purely “offline” perspective. The points below are the issues/frustrations I encountered while attempting to utilize the app in a primarily “no internet” manner.
No ability to select multiple videos to download
This was a feature in the old player
Sometimes I might only want to download part of a season
Others I might want to download part of a playlist
Not being able to select multiple files and then download only the specified videos mean I either have to download an entire season (which only happened while I was on my trip) or I have to tap into each and every file I want to download and manually tap the rather download button for each file.
No ability to mass delete files
In a similar manner, when you want to delete the downloaded files you have to once again select every file individually and then delete them
We should be able to again select multiple files to delete, especially when having to delete a 20+ episode season of a show
Can only access downloaded videos via the download section when opening the app from a cold start
Sometimes apps need to be closed or they crash
Viewing downloaded files while offline no longer shows media in their respective libraries
This makes viewing videos as part of a playlist or season impossible
This was a capability of the old version and would simply lead to a “limited viewing experience”
Only keeping the “last view” in cache doesn’t lead to an intuitive experience
No visual indicator that a file is downloaded
When viewing libraries while actively connected to the server there is no visual indicator that the file is available locally
This again was something that was done in the old version of the player
When watching downloaded files changing wireless networks leads videos to reset playback from the beginning
Massively frustrating
This happens while in the middle of watching a video
This also impacts file play status
No skip into/outro buttons
Was this always a server only feature?
Watch count of files does not update automatically
At least when I started my trip, I would have to manually “Refresh Metadata” to update the watched status, and even then…
Played files do not show as fully played
When the play status is updated on the server there is still a little bit left to play in the metadata
This only shows on the web interface and NOT the mobile player
Resolving this issue requires either watching the final piece of the video via the desktop or manually marking the media as “watched” via a desktop client
Sometimes play status will not update at all
There were multiple movies that I very much did watch while not connected that never updated their play status even after refreshing the metadata multiple times
Which fine, there is always the ability to go into the server interface and manually mark a file as watched. But there is no reason that this should be required.
Disconnecting from the internet while the server media has been cached does negate the caching issue
ALL media still shows as available, even if it is not playable
Which wouldn’t be bad except that since there is no download icon there is no way to see at a glance which files will play and which won’t
Inability to intuitively sort downloaded files
Currently we are only given the ability to view downloaded media by either sorting by Title, Size, or Download Time.
When I want to watch a season of a show, none of those options are helpful or useful.
While connected to the server, and playing a video file that is known to be locally available on the device, the app DOES NOT play the local copy of the file
I happened to be connected to the internet and played a video that I knew was downloaded locally. Checked my server while watching the video and saw that there was a remote stream to my personal device
This is the exact opposite of what realistically should happen
There isn’t even a setting to prefer local files like there is in plexamp
All in all, using this newest player in a limited or no internet environment with locally downloaded media is both unintuitive and frustrating. While it is now far easier to download individual videos and watch those locally, attempting to do so with anything other than a couple of videos that are unrelated becomes a tedious slog to manage. I would consider myself a technically savvy user, and initially it took me a few minutes to even figure out where the downloaded files had been moved to.
This newest build of the app seems to have taken an “always connected” approach to media management. Case in point, in “offline mode” you are presented with a view of the server as it was last known, there is no representation of what currently is locally available. The fact that the app plays the remote server file and not the locally downloaded media also tells me the app assumes that there is a constant connection to the remote server. This is not always true, and I imagine is quite the opposite for a subset of users who rely on this type of offline mode for travel or spotty internet connections.
The largest issue I see is the lack of local caching about downloaded media’s place in a given library. Without this context the files are nothing more than an unsorted and jumbled assortment of random files with no context other than what appears on the video card. I will admit to having my annoyances with the newest design of the app, but I do enjoy the overall redesign and I think that the visual enhancements are a good step forward. However, the ongoing technical issues give me pause and raise concerns about the long-term stability of the mobile apps. If it were not for the fact that I cannot download and watch videos offline in my mobile browser, I would remove this app and simply watch videos in that manner until these accumulating technical issues were resolved.
I hope that the technical and usability issues with downloads in the newest version of the app can be resolved. Right now I do not have the need to watch videos offline, but I know others will, and at some point in the future I will use this ability again. My hope is that the mobile app team here at Plex can continue to work through their backlog of issues on these apps and begin to restore functionality to this current version of the app that was there in the past.
Server Version: 1.41.3 on QNAP
IOS App Version: 2025.16.0 (1068)
I concur with ALL comments relating to the new App Download functionality - I fly frequently and have always had TV Shows downloaded to watch/listen to during flights - now when offline going to the downloads it lists every episode individually by Title (TV Show Title /Season / Episode #) instead of being grouped by TV Show & Season. Now when you start watching an episode there is no indication whether you’ve watched an episode and when the episode ends you must go back to the long list to start the next episode. I’ve searched to see if I was missing some setting to auto play next episode as the previous app functioned but have not found a solution.
Also having all the same issues the OP has. It was really frustrating to spend time downloading a whole catalog of content for my travels only for none of it to actually play due to “Source errors”.
Great post, detailed and focused on the user experience and impact. I find myself using Plex (or wanting to) in the same kind of circumstances and bumping into the same limitations and broken UX.
‘quality’ settings do nothing, or make things worse
7.2gb movie file on server, download on high quality , ends up 7.7gb on device, delete, switch to medium, re download, 7.7gb again, haven’t tried low yet.
Same problems as OP here. I’m really surprised fixing downloads doesn’t seem to be high on the priority list. I would think it’s a highly used and critical feature for many people, particularly those with children. Is there a roadmap for this at least?
Hello, I recently bought the lifetime pass before the price increase.
I was under the impression with the app I could download from my Plex server to my device and watch when traveling with or without an internet connection.
I’ve never been so pissed off with a purchase than with this. I am having same issues as OP and also other issues.
It’s incredibly non intuitive or non working to first of all get into the app successfully, locate something that you have downloaded, successfully get it to play and continue to play uninterrupted, and with features that I thought I paid for?
Already I have been traveling multiple times offline and online, tried different suggestions from community but I might as well go back to manually copying and using VLC.
Why is this so hard? What is the point of this spaghetti code they use for playing offline videos? I’m pulling my hair out here.
I shouldn’t have to use steps to prepare my Plex app for offline playback. Spend hours downloading my content to get ‘source error’, black screens, app not opening in offline mode, login required in offline mode, no subs, no skip intro etc etc
Even if I follow recommend steps it doesn’t work, there’s always some issue somewhere along the path to getting a video to play.
What have I paid for? and why have I paid for it?
The new charge for lifetime is 250… Unbelievable..
I didn’t think that they could make downloads worse, but they did. All of the above are pain points for me and the ability to download is essential to me as a traveler where wifi is not available on every flight.
It wasn’t perfect, but used to work so much better. At least give us the ability to set gradual quality on each file rather than this meaningless High, Medium and Low BS.
Plex downloads on windows app, or iphone are terrible. It’s the most basic of features that they have a freaking 3 leggeded dog coding. Ask AI to do it and you’ll get a better , more reliable, system. It’s so sad, that it’s so terrible. OMG!!!
As a Lifetime Plex pass holder I feel I’m entitled to complain about the new app experience. this app is absolute garbage and since i’m on IOS / IpadOS there is no way for me to revert to the old one. I wanted to prep to go on a plane for 12 hours and wanted to give myself enough content to be spoiled for choice, and here I discover that Not only are all the downloads jumbled into a giant folder instead of how they were in the previous version nicely sorted into their shows and seasons but The UI of the new app experience is completely more confusing to navigate. Who approved this? There is no way in which this is better than what we had before and I can’t even go back. Can I just get a Plex Classic app that runs the old UI with the old downloads system? Yeah it was slow af but at least once things were on the device they worked like a charm and displayed properly. I feel like I was bait and switched buying a Plex pass only for the features they support to immediately jump to looking and acting like they were vibe coded by some intern. Guys I love Plex, I love its presentation, It made me feel like I had a physical media library all conveniently available on my iPad and beautifully displayed. Now after having perfection this is nothing but a step backwards, off a cliff with no parachute. This entire update stinks.
Just want to chime in here as a long time (10+ years) plex fan, lifetime pass holder, and power user (unraid server w/ 80+TB library)… and the overhaul to the downloads ui is comically bad.
The main issues for me is that all the episodes get dumped into one pile. I often use downloads for my kids when we travel, and my 6 year old having to sort through hundreds of TV episodes to find the one movie I just downloaded for them is absurd.
Why in the hell can the download page be sorted like our other libraries?
I have a more basic question. After recently updating my plex clients for iOS iPad os and Roku os, my locally stored content seems to have disappeared. I have zero interest in using plex as anything connected with streaming content. I just want to be able to watch my locally stored content. I guess access to locally stored content is hidden behind some menu settings, but I have spent a goodly amount of time attempting to do so without success. Help…
Seriously….when is downloads going to go back to automatically deleting watched downloaded files and adding new as based by the criteria selected? Amde enough of looking for movies and episodes in a mess of a pile. Put the damn downloads back in a library like it use to be. I didn’t agree to a bump in cost to lose so much. Thus is garbage right now. Glorified file search app.
I have a Lifetime Plex Pass; I used to use the Plex downloaded content to watch TV Shows, etc when flying - I’m on a plane at least 4x/week and the “NEW” downloaded content functionality is horrible. I recently downloaded Infuse on my iPhone, downloaded TV Shows and movies to that app from my Plex Server. The downloaded content is sorted and arranged the way it SHOULD be by TV Shows / Season / Episode and Movies in their own folder. Playback off network is perfect and it loops right to the next episode - that function was lost on the new Plex app - the episode would end you would need to scroll through the entire list of downloaded items to find and start the next episode. Until someone can either fix or revert the download function on the IOS devices back I’ll be using Infuse!
52 shows on my iPad currently that I’ve watched. Now have to delete the app and re-install as the only viable way to remove them from my iPad. This is really not 2025 UX.
As a temporary work around whilst better show/episode ordering is considered, could we have a button that just deletes all shows/movies that have been watched from downloads?
Ideally watched content (Episodes or Movies) would auto delete after X period of time.
Also episodic shows would be viewed like normal PMS Show/Season
On a positive, for me the actual download function works better than it ever has (I’ve been using since sync) and I rarely can’t play my downloaded content. Just hoping the job can be completed with downloads to get some key features restored from pre new experience (looks like the team have their hands full with Roku right now).
As a result of the above, I’m also still paying for Infuse for my offline media consumption. But continue to see if the Plex client can make a comeback on my device (it’s getting close).
