For what it’s worth, this is a comment that I can really appreciate. I’ve been trying to understand why this release was done and now understanding that Plex was looking to standardize it’s codebase is something that “can” be positive. As a fellow developer and product owner myself, it’s something that I believe the Plex community could have stood behind and appreciated.
However… the way this release was done leaves a lot to be desired. Something this big should have been rolled out much more slowly. I would never have released a version of software like this where all my customers are forced to upgrade to something that clearly wasn’t ready for prime time. All it’s done is put doubt into a community that all and all, has appreciated their product.
Had Plex approached this where the Plex community were informed of it’s coming and the reasons behind it, they would have download the beta version early, knowing that the end goal was to produce a common codebase for all users which ultimately helps everyone. I think the community would have backed that up and it would have gone so much smoother.
The community would have been more accepting of the idea. They would have reported missing functionality, worked with the developers and would have helped make this release go oh so much better.
But instead, it was forced on everyone, and as a result it’s done nothing but bring about a huge amount of negativity and scorn.
I personally still like using Plex. Like a lot of you, I also been a faithful user for a decade or more. I’ve always recommended the product to my friends and family and I’m hoping that all the missing features are incorporated in a future release. I just hope that Plex hasn’t lost their way and forgot that the only reason any company is a success is because of the customer base.
Am I disappointed with Plex? You bet I am. All of this could have been handled so much better. sigh
The simplest thing I’ve been missing in Plex for years is a public bug tracker. All bugs could be aggregated here. Everyone could see how far along the bug is in being fixed, and there would be no need to haphazardly post a bug in a forum without knowing if it will ever be read and addressed.
They did approach the Plex Community and many people beta tested the software for months while it was preview/testflight. Unfortunately Plex did not listen to the feedback that it wasn’t ready and released it anyway.
Ahh… I wasn’t aware they had done that. It would be nice to see the results of the testing (e.g. a list of missing features with a roadmap of if/when they will be added back into the product).
Just tried to use the new app on my iPad Pro (M1) and it just did nothing, totally froze up! Thankfully they haven’t mucked up the tvOS app, yet. I’m hoping they fix this as this really is a platform killer of a situation.
How do you roll back the app? I uninstalled it assuming that it wouldn’t install and allow me to upload the old app- I don’t know why I thought it would but it is the stupidest update I think I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of stupid updates from a lot of stupid app developers. Stop trying to make ■■■■ look new and inventive when it’s really nothing more than just a way of getting people to find ways to hate you. The only thing I hated before about the iPhone app before was that it would freeze and shut down my app if I paused it and went to look at something else. Then I’d have to shut down my app and restart the app and then restart the movie again. It was a giant pain in the ass, however, the new one constantly jumps goes back 10 seconds, goes forward 10 seconds, pauses, buffers, pretty much everything to ruin an entire show or movie for me. The apps on my Apple TVs are not much better. The reason I bought Plex in the first place was for me to watch my own movies and have to have to purchase them all back on iTunes or one of the other platforms. Stop making things so difficult!!!
Isn’t it this sort of scenario Apple’s ”Test flight” was created for? (not an android user so unaware of something similar exist on that platform)
Allowing developers to create beta versions of apps to invite users to, instead of making the whole thing a giant beta that (most certainly) will be ill-received?
Unfortunately they did use Test Flight and still chose to release this alpha version of the new app. It’s wild, unprofessional, and completely inappropriate behavior for a business that is now forcing users to pay for the majority of their features, 90% of which you can’t even use with the new app.
I would argue they’ve broken every one of those points by now.
I’m continuing to use my server with all the streaming and recommendations features disabled, however I do fear the entire server functionality will be gone or severely broken soon.
Personally I mostly use the Apple TV app and at least they’ve had the sense not to “update” it yet, but my friends and family use many other apps across various hardware and those on iOS/iPadOS/Android are completely broken right now.
I feel the pain. Teaching my pops recently how to use Jellyfin though it isn’t too difficult but it’s necessary. I have kept Plex around for my mother as she uses the DVR the most.
“Why update an app to make a worst version of it? Looks Pretty but thats all… No more keyboard navigation, no more PIP (bouton), no more watch together (it was cool to watch a movie with my girlfriend when she was out from home), navigation in the app is horrible (slow, buggy even on iPad M4) and my Music library disappeared… Always crashing and full of bugs… I want my old app back… Sincerely disappointed and a bit angry… I’ve paid a Plex Pass Lifetime and now I have only one thing in mind… Switch to Jellyfin…
Ho, I forgot… DVR doesn’t work anymore and I can’t use my iPhone as remote control even.
Thank you very much for this beautiful work and update that lock everything that I loved… And all this for cost of a lifetime subscription.”
Leave a review like me and let Plex know what we think of their new app… Maybe a review bombing will get things moving…
Plex, get off your high horse and revert the app until the new one is at least 75% feature complete comparatively.
Many of your most loyal customers have paid for this downgrade of an update to be forced upon them. As far as I’m concerned this is now becoming criminal behavior.
To be fair and honest, keyboard navigation is back with the last update and the PIP bouton were back too in a other update.
The app is still very buggy and make my iPad crash sometimes… DVR is still unusable…
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