Hi everyone,
I’d like to share a small open-source Android app I’ve been working on called SideSubs.
I built it because of a very specific way I watch movies and TV shows: I usually watch in the original language with English subtitles on the TV. Most of the time that works well, but occasionally there is a line or expression I don’t fully understand.
What I wanted was to keep the English subtitles on the TV, while having Spanish subtitles synchronized on my phone as a second, independent subtitle track.
That became SideSubs.
SideSubs is not a video player. It is a second-screen subtitle companion. Plex continues playing normally on your TV or other Plex client, while SideSubs follows that playback session and displays another subtitle track on an Android phone or tablet.
It is not limited to English + Spanish; those are just my own use case. Any supported subtitle language can be selected.
Current Android features include:
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Direct connection to Plex
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Plex account sign-in and automatic Plex Media Server discovery
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Automatic detection of active playback sessions
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Independent subtitle selection from the subtitle being shown on the TV
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External and embedded text subtitles
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SRT/SubRip, ASS/SSA, WebVTT and mov_text
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Preferred subtitle language and regional variants
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Manual subtitle track selection
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Adjustable synchronization delay
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Five subtitle size levels
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Current + next subtitle display
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Fullscreen landscape “Cinema mode”
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Local diagnostic logs without exposing Plex credentials or subtitle text
The Android app is fully standalone; no Docker container or companion server is required.
The project is open source under the MIT license.
GitHub: github.com/soyxan/sidesubs
I’ve mainly tested it with my own Plex setup, so I’m especially interested in feedback from people with different Plex servers, clients and subtitle configurations.
If anyone finds a playback/subtitle combination that does not work correctly, I’d be very interested in hearing about it.
Thanks!
