Understanding Plexamp for Mobile casting options

Plex Labs
1

Hi there! :slight_smile:

So I am using my android phone regularly to run plexamp, along with plexamp for windows, and plex for web.

I struggle to understand the flow of sending currently playing music to another device, or to say use my plexamp for android to pickup the casting ā€œheartbeatā€ sent from plexamp for windows so I can control my windows instance from my android.

The press and hold hotkeys and press player then ā€œconfirmā€ button seems so confusing and to my knowledge isnā€™t officially documented.

Everytime I go to use it, I just feel like Iā€™m guessing if it will send the currently playing music to a different device, or if it will allow me to use it as a remote on my device of choice.

Anyone able to clarify the current logic for me, or perhaps let me know if Plex devs/engineers are working on a better way to manage this aspect of plexamp?

2

If you donā€™t have Chromecast devices, turn off Settings > Playback > Remote Control > Move Playback With Selection.

This will make it such that:

  • Tapping on a player just selects it for control, nice and easy, no playback moved.
  • Long pressing a player moves currently selected playback to player youā€™re pressing on.

Itā€™s a bit hard to explain, but (to me, at least) it feels very natural and not error prone.

3

@elan,

Let me start off by saying how much I appreciate your enthusiasm and attention to the community for such a vast project. Really do appreciate your direct response. :plexheart:

Soap box here - while I worry about seeing ads and ā€œPlex TVā€ style things added into the app, I believe Iā€™ve learned over the years on how to hide them, and keep Plex something I still truly adore to this day. :plex_heart_eyes: :plexheart:

I think what you said makes sense and I do love the thought of it all as-is too. I think I had this setting off awhile back and it somehow came back on. I do have chromecast mini speakers but itā€™s not a big deal to have them not appear, when I could just re-enable the setting perhaps - case-by-case(hopefully not a drink or 2 in with a party :face_savoring_food: )

I was hoping taking my time to reply might allow me to think of some insight of how to simplify this process.

Is having an option inside the app like tooltips too archaic these days? Or re-running a tour of the app inside the settings somewhere? How about changing the drop down arrows besides the players so users must make a choice to fling the music, or use as a remote control, instead of instantly having a skip_prev/play(pause)/skip_next/2-down-arrows that are confusing ā€˜AFā€™ in my opinion)

Perhaps if someone holds down on the player for more than 5 seconds it could bring up a message saying ā€œyo, are you trying to fling? remote control? let me help you!ā€

Or on holding the player for 3 seconds(or a complete redesign of the 2 down arrows), you could have 2 icons appear below it, one being a remote control, another being a cloud with musical notes with an arrow pointing a direction

Hereā€™s something I mocked up out of boredom

plexamp_diag
plexamp_diag2463Ɨ3245 330 KB

My day job obviously isnā€™t an artist (or UI design for that matter) but I find confusion with the casting area, but love using it very often naturally for taking control of my music from place to place, as I enter home, leave, change sound cards/interfaces around/etc.

Again, love your work, and your reach with the community is super inspiring. Iā€™m a believer, and continue looking for ways to showcase plexamp to my not so tech savvy family and sometimes friends, and believe the UI is always a pleasure to look at. Still lots to keep up with other overlords like spotify/netflix(movie/tv side) but I am always so invested in seeing the news that comes.

Thank you for your response yesterday, and excited to watch this project upgrade into further networks of such a great personal media experience.