Just adding my 2 cents to the pile. Sync stuck at 50%, nothing has actually been downloaded yet. Galaxy S7 on Nougat, server is Windows Server 2012.
I tried to initialise the sync from the plex server to the destination device. The conversion is done but the the movie is stuck in sync (waiting to be downloaded). I then used my device to initialise the sync, instead of download the converted version, it started another conversion. Not sure what is happening…
I fix this by clearing Plex cache data on the device.
I keep running into this and what usually fixes the problem for that particular session is to go into Status -> Conversion and then unpause. What I would like to know is how to make this default as unpaused so that I can sync different files from the road for my flights.
@mnyakko said:
I keep running into this and what usually fixes the problem for that particular session is to go into Status → Conversion and then unpause. What I would like to know is how to make this default as unpaused so that I can sync different files from the road for my flights.
Thanks man … this was the fix for me.
can confirm javerwey’s solution did it for me.
I am having the same problem here.
This sync feature is very unstable and doesn’t work that well.
I got a tablet for Christmas for my kids so they could watch some movies on a road trip and I am very disappointed that I can’t sync my media. I also renewed my plex pass last week for that feature which makes me even more angry!
Is there anyone from Plex who will take care of that problem and let us know about a solution or a fix?
Hello,
I have the same problem. No solution yet.
I have the same problem on Unbuntu. I even rebuilt my entire server and still have the issue.
Sync is vaporware … never ever worked reliable for me since years
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Another one reporting buggy/non-existant sync feature.
Nexus 7 has never worked.
Note 8 seems to be hit and miss.
Everything latest versions. The syncs seem to start, even consuming disk space but never finished and the media never shows up in the media library for the android devices.
Same issue on Galaxy S8+.
Same here. . Sync hangs in the waiting for download status on android tablet and smartphone. It is very annoying
Does syncing actually work for anyone?
Syncing Movies works for me every time. Syncing Playlists (Music) and TV Shows is hit or miss. Besides this issue (stuck on Waiting to Download), I often get time outs when trying to play an episode of a show I’ve tagged for sync. I can find the file if I hunt with VLC, but it seems like the Plex client just lost track of it (lots of 404s in the log).
I am convinced that most of sync’s issues are due to replication flaws after updates. Where the content pointers on the client database are updated/altered but the content stays put. Whether that causes issues when determining that there’s still stuff to download, or where to find the next episode in a series.
I’ve stopped losing sleep over it. Movies work consistently, so sync suits my purposes for that. If I hit a TV episode that Plex refuses to play I drop the series and sync again. The music playlists are the most frustrating as I have one playlist to sync all my music, and that loses its pointers on a regular basis (monthly).
I supposed one day I’ll come up with a test case to document and send the logs in for, but at this point, I have zero to give…
I don’t think this is an Android issue. I have it on my IOS devices as well. So I think that is a misdirection to getting this solved. I have this issue every time I go to travel. I start to sync my media a week in advance as it takes me at least that long to get it all to work. Now I am syncing to multiple devices and a pretty good amount of Movies/TV shows, but nothing that the server can’t handle, and well, quite frankly nothing that the IOS devices shouldn’t be able to handle. I have a lifetime plex pass, and as other have mentioned this is one of the features that attracted me to Plex.
Deleting the app and restarting the sync quite frankly is NOT even a partial work around. It is hit and miss as to if it will work or not. On previous trips I have tried that and ended up with less content making the sync before departure, as you are never sure where it will stop working. I reboot devices, servers push the SYNC button, pre-convert media, delete individual syncs and restart them. Bit by bit they seem to eventually make it over so I don’t think it is a DB corruption issue or those steps wouldn’t help the problem.
@sixones seems to be the only one responding to this, do you have any updates? this thread is long, and many new versions of plex have been released in the interim.
I fixed it on my Android tablet by going to Settings -> Apps -> Plex -> Storage -> Clear Cache.
I then went back one menu and hit Force Stop.
As soon as I opened Plex back up my files started syncing again.
I’ve found that on iPhones if you have any camera burst photos in your phone it seems to stop the photo sync from working. Delete all camera photo bursts from your device and it will start to work again…
did for me anyway
@“mike.nudi_plex” said:
I fixed it on my Android tablet by going to Settings → Apps → Plex → Storage → Clear Cache.
I then went back one menu and hit Force Stop.
As soon as I opened Plex back up my files started syncing again.
Can confirm that this worked on my Android devices too.
Here’s how it played out for me…
Took the Server upgrade on March 26th, which resulted in my 2 primary devices (Samsung S7, and NVIDIA Tablet) losing access to locally sync’d content. forums.plex.tv/discussion/314873/more-syncd-content-not-available#latest
Proceeded to purge all sync’d data from both devices :/, started re-syncing TV shows to both devices, and was immediately left with the “waiting to download” issue. What was interesting this time was that if I paused the sync refresh, all of the content would show “50% - Paused”. Unpausing the sync refresh would still lead to a status of “Sync Complete” and all of the content “Waiting to download”. In the 2 days that these devices remained in this wait state the % never went above 50%. It did show less than 50% when an item was in the process of being converted though.
Then I tried mike.nudi_plex’s workaround.
The only thing I did differently is I “Forced Stop” before and after clearing the application cache (not sure it matters, but just want to be complete).
On the phone, Plex took longer to load after clearing the cache but immediately began downloading the content. On the tablet, I had to pause and start the Sync refresh a couple times before I got the “Updating Information” message, but as soon as that process finished (took a bit longer than normal), the tablet started downloading the new content that was waiting as well. 
This workaround is definitely better than the alternative I’ve been using (re-install) and provides a good hint as to the culprit (wink wink nudge nudge Plex support). Not sure what they’re putting in the app cache (local copy of database?) but it’s not replicating properly and causing a huge headache for your core users.
I was away on a weekend trip and wanted to listen to music only to find I couldn’t access my synced music. Deleting the cache hasn’t helped. I hope there is a fix for this soon.
