Server Version#: 1.21.0.3711
Player Version#: 3.4.0
Device: Pixel 3 XL running Android 11
I’m not sure if this counts as a bug report or feature request.
I just moved my whole Google Play Music library to Plex. I’m running it on a Raspberry Pi 4 that’s running Ubuntu. PlexAmp on Android has been great so far but, there are some areas that can be improved upon:
Have downloaded playlists retain their playlist icon. Playlists have an icon when looking at them in Library → Playlists but not when looking at downloaded playlists. They all kinda blur together if you’re looking for something quickly. See example 1 (Library → Playlists) & example 2 (Downloads).
When playing a downloaded playlist, and you press the name of it (not tap, hold and press Play), it defaults to shuffle playback. Perhaps add an option to turn this off in Settings → Playback?
Those are my main suggestions as of now. Other than that, I’m loving not being locked in with Google Thanks for making an amazing product!
Oh, perfect! Thanks for responding so quick! I’m really glad I got the Lifetime PlexPass a few years ago. Well worth it. I did have one other small issue (I guess it will be resolved when the browsing downloaded items function is changed): playlists in Downloads are not by alphabetical order, they’re in the order playlists were downloaded.
That’s the last suggestion I can think of right now. Does PlexAmp for Android offer beta/testing builds?
edit: whoops, I had the option set to Added At instead of Group.
In this case, the app has probably been killed by the OS, and when it starts up, you’ll probably find on the phone itself it’s in a paused state with whatever you were listening to before?
In the case of a short stop, the app is still alive in the background.
i’ll bet against that prediction. the app works hard to keep last play queue around, so even if it’s been killed, when it’s restarted it’ll still be there.
then it is a worsening compared to the previous version where at least the paused track appeared despite i set AA for automatic music start…
Tomorrow i will test it
it’s a bit frustrating because i haven’t gotten a straight answer on whether the app itself is opened, whether it shows the expected track, paused; so at the very least you’d need to open the app and hit play to resume playback.
we’ll look into improving the resume behavior inside android auto specifically.
Whatever the integration is with android auto is what’s broken. As @ussalin mentioned, in the previous version of the app, we’d at least have open Android auto with the previously playing track paused. Still a bug because it should autoplay when Android auto opens.
Now what happens is a blank spot, just the plexamp icon, meaning we have to dig in to find whatever we were listening to.
Since I’ve got your ear, I’ll explain why this is a fatal error for this app and why I’ll likely walk away if it’s not fixed relatively quickly and I would discourage other Android auto users from adopting Plex:
When you get in your car to drive to work or whatever, it’s normal to expect music to start as soon as possible with little distraction. With this bug, I have to spend a minute or so looking for my music, distracted from the road. What do I end up doing? Turning on the radio, or finding any one of the other dozen music apps that do autoplay when opening Android auto. That’s what I plan to do with the next 1-2 months waiting for an update - trying to settle on a better app that actually works and doesn’t require that I spend even a little time trying to get music to play when I go for a drive.
dude, chill out a bit with the threats, and read what i said above. we’ll look into improving the issue. we might have started sooner if we’d gotten more clear feedback about the state of the app on the phone (which i still haven’t gotten, but no matter).
It’s not a “threat.” I’m simply trying to explain why this is an important bug that warrants fixing and why you’ll lose customers if you don’t. I am happy to provide any information or testing you might need to fix this and any other bugs. If you consider constructive, detailed criticism a threat, I’m not sure there’s any way to help.
A couple months ago, I lauded Plex on a couple Reddit forums when users were abandoning YouTube Music. I’d love to see Plex succeed in picking up all those people leaving YouTube Music, but they need Plex to be a better option.
I’m not really looking for help. I’m not desperate for this to be fixed because there are other apps and services that work well - and that’s the bigger problem.
I pointed the bug out, and I provided details on why it’s problematic. I’ve suggested what would likely happen as a result - not just on my part, but by others looking at Plex to replace e.g. YouTube Music, and I’m the one who’s offered to help troubleshoot so that Plex doesn’t wind up being one of those music services people abandon for greener pastures.
Thanks for making an amazing product!
