Given Plex has a metadata library it seems silly that a json or however it’s done on the backend can’t store my my watched state for titles not in my library and show a watched flag. I get constant recommendations to watch stuff I have already marked as watched on my streaming services. For example I have Gladiator and Alien in my Plex library but when ever I see them being recommended to me on my services I think “why are you recommending stuff I’ve watched?” and “why are the indicators limited to just my library when it is marked as watched, Plex knows it is, so why won’t it show me that it is? or at least not recommend it?”
You can mark any item that you can find on watch.plex.tv as watched.
If you want sync the “watched” status on your server to your user account on plex.tv, you need to allow/enable that.
See https://support.plex.tv/articles/sync-watch-state-and-ratings/
This is by design and is the expected behavior currently. In https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/account there is the Watched Indicators for Personal Media setting.
As it states you can control where the watched indicator is shown on your personal media. All other sources are excluded (Discover and ad supported content).
Edit: Adding the support article where this is specifically called out and additional context to this topic. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201018487-mark-as-watched-or-unwatched/
Free “Movies & Shows” / Discover
The watched checkmark will not be displayed on posters from Plex’s free, on-demand Movies & Shows catalog or for Discover items, except for seasons / episodes under a series detail page. The previously-noted account setting is only applicable to personal media and does not apply here.
It was implied that this was to change with the new experience.
I don’t believe that to be the case. Apologizes if there was some confusion which lead to this interpretation. Do you have a link or something to where this was suggested or implied?
Nope, I looked at the one released in march 25, that was not the one. I can not recall if it was the email or what it was.
Plex allows you to optionally sync your watched/played state and personal ratings of movies and episodes with your Plex account online. That means that if you watch a movie on a friend’s server, it can update your account so that the movie will also be marked as watched on Plex’s Discover feature, our free Movies & Shows streaming service, and any Plex Media Server you have access to.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/sync-watch-state-and-ratings/
This is EXACTLY what the OP and I are talking about.
The discovery clearly does not show it marked as watched unless you click/select said media to gain the details.
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**Last modified on: March 24, 2025
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It is marked as watched which is why you can see it on the discover details page, just not on the poster, which as @Atomatth mentioned is intentional.
Will pass along the feedback though.
Yeah this is pretty much my point, if the system knows it’s marked as watched, then why can’t it actually display it as watched / de-prioritise recommending it.
It’s a lack of visual continuity. Especially when TV shows are involved. I may have several seasons watched on something, in my personal library it will show that there are an amount of episodes left. If I engage with something on one of my services and mark some episodes as watched there is no indication of how much there is left.
