Watch together latency issues on Google TV Streamer

Plex Players
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1

Server Version#:1.43.1.10611
Player Version#:10.30.8.4222

I’m having an issue where whenever the watch together feature is used on a google tv device, when joining, each person’s status sits in the invited status and the action button says please wait (screenshot attached) and cannot be selected. it will sit in this state for maybe 2-3 minutes and then will either start playing or the action button will say play. after that, if something happens like the intro is skipped, or any random point during playback, the playback starts buffering for everyone in the watch party and everyone has to leave the session, try again, wait until the lobby allows you to start playback and hope it doesn’t freeze again. I’m happy to provide any information that I can, in order to try and resolve the issue. For the app, I’ve tried clearing app data, removing and reinstalling, but it still behaves the same. If I play from a web browser in a watch party from a computer, it seems to work fine.

The devices that the issues are currently happening on are:
Google TV Streamer
Anker NEBULA Capsule 3 Laser, Outdoor Portable Mini Wi-Fi Smart TV Projector

screenshot_20260501_174345
screenshot_20260501_1743451920×1080 254 KB

2

watch together feature has been phased out as a feature.
As each new Plex client with the new PLEX EXPERIENCE rolls out, each client will have the Watch Together code deleted from the client app, rendering useless for your server users/friends to use the feature altogether.

Yes, you’re correct in noting that the web player works, but that’s the only version of Plex that currently has Watch Together still, as noted by the announcement.

Explanation here.

Note (2025-02-25) : As we debut our new Plex experience, we are ending support for some features we’ve grown to love, like Watch Together. While this feature won’t be available for most platforms as they get the new experience, you can continue using the feature in our web app for the foreseeable future. We don’t preclude the possibility of offering similar functionality again in the future, using new tooling.