Request: Disable "Popular Searches on Plex" in 9.8.0+ on Android

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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1

A new “feature” has been implemented in the Android client release 9.8.0.35087 that pre-populates external search results referred to as “Popular Searches on Plex”. These changes were not present in the previous version 9.7.0.34811. The images for each are shown below.

Version 9.8.0

kepler-arm64v8a-googlePlay-9.8.0.35087-b6231cf3
kepler-arm64v8a-googlePlay-9.8.0.35087-b6231cf3943×530 84.6 KB

Version 9.7.0

kepler-arm64v8a-googlePlay-9.7.0.34811-e3f8b122
kepler-arm64v8a-googlePlay-9.7.0.34811-e3f8b1221920×1080 23.1 KB

There are a few issues with this;

  1. This feature was not included in the What’s New notes for 9.8.0. This could have been an accidental omission, but leaving this out makes it seem shady.
  2. There is no setting I could find client, or server side to disable this. If one exists, please reply.
  3. This feature does not respect other server side settings related to disabling external content. I have a young kids set up via a managed user, where I’d prefer these results to not be displayed.

What the dev’s can do to resolve;

  1. Create a setting that allows the user to toggle this feature on/off.
  2. I’d appreciate any feedback to this thread the dev’s have on the intention of this feature and plans to allow users to toggle it on/off.

What user’s can do as a workaround in the mean time;

Install a previous APK version, 9.7.0 or lower downloaded from the 9.7.0 release page

2

I reported this here Plex Web's new search - some feedback and issues - #153 by VBB, and it got fixed with this beta release Release Announcements - Android TV beta - #559 by geosidi_plex.

3

Thanks for making me aware of this. I can confirm the latest beta does resolve the issue.

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