Name: Plex: Watch Live TV and Movies
Rating: 4.67764 (114266 reviews)

User Reviews for Plex: Watch Live TV and Movies

4.68 out of 5

114.3K Ratings

4 years ago, doverby

Almost perfect...

For a long time, I couldn't find fault with this media app. It looks amazing and is extremely flexible and scalable. I use it at home on a Mac as the server and am able to run an Apple TV with its beautiful interface. My most irritating pair of bugs is with the iOS (iPadOS) app. When I'm watching content on my iPad, subtitles are shown when they shouldn't be. They show up as "OFF" in the settings, but they're most definitely on. The only way to get them to go away is to turn them on, then turn them off again. HOWEVER, after turning them on, the timing for tapping the required menu to turn them off again is very important, because there can be no subtitles present on the screen when the video is paused to turn subtitles off or that subtitle will be present at the bottom of the screen for the rest of the video, or until this whole maneuver is attempted again. Very distracting and an irritating bug to say the least. Most shows have a minute or two of recaps, so it's pretty much all nonstop dialogue (subtitles). This all being said, the Plex team has created an AMAZING media environment for the user. This level of quality is what every media company should aim for. I'm sure once the folks at Plex discover this bug, they'll be able to squash it in short order.

6 years ago, AngryAlexG

Plex is the beat

I love Plex for it’s beautiful organization and easy to use interface. Having almost all my media in one place has always been the dream and Plex has done that for me (for about 80% - still missing native audiobook support and support for eBooks). Having full control of my own personal media cloud and server has been incredible. The movie and show ratings from Rotten Tomato are awesome and being able to watch a trailer of something is convenient if someone wants a quick synopsis. I love being able to put all our childhood videos converted from VHS on my own cloud and give access to my family to see any of the embarrassing and amazing home videos anytime. ***DEVS: Would love to see a audio only version for Apple Watch for streaming or offline usage to listen to podcasts, music, audiobooks - Audible does this now which has been amazing. Being able to listen to Plex media with only a watch and bluetooth headphones would be a game changer. Also native audiobook support and support for eBooks would basically round out any media needs I could possible want to have in one app! Love what the Plex teams does and always looking to see what they’ve recently added. More than happy to be a part of the Plex Pass Lifetime member. Keep up the amazing work!

5 years ago, elgrego1939

Local server connections

I have always had trouble with the iOS versions of this app, even though I’m only connecting to a local server. The app on my Roku has no difficulty connecting to the same server. It is extremely frustrating. I am now completely unable to connect to the server from my iPad, despite having tried logging out and back into the app, logging out and using a wait list of local network connection, deleting the app and re-downloading it, deleting all three instances of the iPad app from my list of allowed devices in my account, etc. For some inexplicable reason, my Plex account has now decided that my iPad app is also a server, so some of the other client apps now list two entries for my iPad as servers. Also, when my home Internet isn’t working and I can’t go online, even though my Plex server is on the same local network/router as Plex app on my phone, iPad, and TV, none of them are able to access the server. They all say that the server is unavailable. My SMB file sharing on the same Mac at the Plex server works fine, so it’s not a problem with my local network. I would think that playing files in Plex over the local network would not be affected by an Internet outage… I’ve had so many problems with the iOS apps that I don’t see how the people at Plex hope to entice me to purchase a subscription when I can’t even really use the features that a subscription affords. The app is nice when it works, but far too often it doesn’t really work.

2 years ago, MattcoAZ

Please fix the Apple TV app

I decided to jump-in and get the tv tuners to take more advantage of my Plex server along with the Plex premium subscription. Now let’s start with the 5 stars and take away one star for each issue below. As they get fixed I’ll add a star. I’m struggling with the Apple TV app. The guide doesn’t jump to the current date and time. Ie. if I open the guide at 2pm. Then later I open the guide up at 7pm it will still show the 2pm guide but it’s all grey out. I wait a few moments for it to refresh to the current time but no good. I have to right scroll to the current time multiple times until I find the current time. Then I can select programs/Channel to watch. Also, when I select a recorded show. It spins and spins and spins then errors out. If I open the same show on my phone and stream it so it works, then I can go to the Apple TV and stream the show. I don’t know why it’s doing this. Why does it take forever to scan through all the photos? I would think it would generate thumbnails for all the photos so I can surf through them quickly, not have it take 20 seconds to refresh the 5 photos on the screen, then I scroll to the next group of photos and have to wait another 20 seconds for those photos to refresh. I get spoiled by the apple photos app. Make it work like that.

5 years ago, Jay8307

Great App! But What is With The Issues?

I have been a PlexPass member for years now and I couldn’t be happier. However, lately playback has been terrible. For example, if I shuffle anything a CD, a playlist, my library whatever I get this weird issue where two songs will just start playing at once. To fix it I usually have to stop the track(s) and either skip back a track or skip forward. Then one of the two songs will play properly. In addition, sometimes when I go to play a song in a playlist or CD (anything with multiple tracks) sometimes the track will not play. It will instead skip right to the next song and no matter what I do it will not play. The track is fine though because I can play it by accessing the file directly (not through Plex). Lastly, ever since this offline browsing thing was introduced it has been glitchy. If I want to access my files on my server I usually have to toggle it on and off a few times before my library will show up. It works the same for if I want to access tracks synced on my phone too. Love the thought of being able to toggle, but has to be a better way. What ever happened to just clicking in the upper left corner?

4 years ago, MajorHavoc

Works and works well

Best solution to cataloging and playing media across many platforms there is. With a premium subscription and PlexCloud, one can watch videos from just about anywhere you can get a decent connection. While the interface does take some time to get used to, and the Plex folks insist on changing it all the time, it functions well and actually manages watching or listening for you in a very helpful way, including remembering what you have seen or heard, and continuing in the right places when you come back to something in progress. And the Plex people are quick to address bugs and issues, and listen to suggestions for improvements. Just finished a trip to Italy and Germany, and had access to my media the whole time. In addition, Plex’s database of images, sounds, titles, and cover art make the interface beautiful and helpful. The lifetime PLEX subscription was the best decision for me. And no, I do not work for the company, and they did not pay me to say this. Just very pleased with how well this software works.

3 years ago, No Longer Supporting You

Download doesn’t work

Plex used to be a great product. The downward slide in quality and programming is becoming increasingly frustrating and has started me looking for a new product. First the app immediately crashes when you launch the app. So you have to launch it twice just open. (I have removed and reinstalled the app several time to make sure it wasn’t just a glitch with an update.) Second, you take away the Sync function and replace it with Download. You state “Download works how you always wanted Sync to work.” So if that is the case why didn’t you just remove the functionality? The download function in the app never actually downloads a single thing! I have tried to download an entire season. To the extreme that I left the app running in the foreground with the screen lock off for 3 days, it still didn’t download the first byte of data. (With the little circle running around the bars.) This was after repeated attempts to download with it running in the background like you used to be able to do. So, figured okay I’ll try just downloading an individual episode and nurse it through the weekend, still have not successfully got a single byte of data. You have managed to take a product with excellent potential and run into the ground.

5 years ago, hiCameron

Needs some TLC

I love Plex but the iOS app can use some more attention. I don’t allow my server to be exposed externally so I use the offline sync feature for when I’m away. Now, whenever I open the app it will start in offline mode like I left it before (I can see the big red banner) but it will attempt to connect to my server still. I’ll pick from the list of sources in the top left corner but it only shows my server as an option and it’s offline. To get around this, you have to open preferences and click the offline toggle 2 or 3 times usually before you can access your offline content. Another issue is that it frequently crashes when I pause the music with my headphones, I’ll unlock it and have to relaunch the app. It’s a good app, but not a great experience. I’ll be happy to rate it higher if the first issue will get fixed. EDIT: new update, unfortunately worse in performance. Same issues stated above but now includes that for whatever reason if I pause my offline music or get a phone call, then go back to resume, the music just stops playing. Sometimes the scrubbing bar moves as if it is, sometimes not. But hitting the play/pause buttons don’t do anything so I must kill the song and play a different one. I really love Plex but this app is going downhill.

6 years ago, musiclover500

Update is lacking...again

I usually don't leave feedback regarding updates, but I must in this case... I'm a big fan of Plex, and mainly use it on Roku and IPad. I am extremely disappointed that the watch later feature was discontinued recently AGAIN which I used everyday! It was helpful to browse tv plugins on the iPad and add episodes to watch later......to then watch later on the roku....since the roku has NEVER had this feature since Plex was born. Please bring back the watch later feature asap, and please add this feature to Roku too! Also, I am happy with the new podcasts feature but would love a listen later feature for that too! I do not like the webisodes feature and don’t care to see it but there is no way to remove it? Still need tweaking with customization options. Plex is fantastic overall, but I'm giving 3 stars this time, because an update should not keep subtracting from the user enjoyment. Common sense says make things more user customizable, so people can choose what they want to keep and get rid of what they don’t want to see....and with as few clicks as possible too! Please fix what is lacking now, but once was there to enjoy.....for the 2nd time!!!

4 years ago, Bobhffhvderhg

Great app but dont expect it to keep working well.

Im writing this review on sept 23, 2020. The app has change quite a bit from when it was first released. The organizational changes have been bad here and there but it still did everything quickly. That is no longer the case. I have multiple 4k apple tv boxes and they all are experiancing performance issues after the last couple of updates. Laggy, slow, unresponsive interface which require a reboot to fix. I have never had to reboot my apple tvs with such regularity. In the past i have been able to wait weeks or months before intentionally rebooting one. (I have automatic updates off... so no other reboots barring poweroutages etc.). I recommended apple tvs for their solid performance with plex but it seems that is one more thing they have abandoned in the pursuit of having animated startup logos and other foo foo nonsense. They just seem to want to add new features no one wants while detracting from the features everyone needs.

4 years ago, tetsukozi

Good ideas with bad development

This app can be great when it works and when they aren’t removing features that have been there for years. Several versions have seen end of life support with many bugs still remaining. You used to be able to swipe left or right between songs when listening and now you have to hit an actual button to skip a song, why remove a feature that wasn’t broken? I have a lifetime subscription and the developers are an absolute joke. Literally each new update breaks something else and their support structure is nonexistent. Smart playlists are broken when locally synced to devices and have been for awhile. Alternate artwork that has been changed and locked can revert back automatically even when locked just by playing that content. Forum mods say this won’t happen and yet it does bringing me back to their terrible support structure. It’s time consuming to deal with the many bugs that exist and continue to show up with each release. There are problems that were reported by multiple people in 2015 for example and the issue remains, five years later. I bought a lifetime subscription and wish it had the support it deserves because it definitely doesn’t.

4 months ago, jeffreywiggins

Best personal media server and app!!!

Update March 2024 - Still the best media streaming server platform there is!! My family uses this daily as we cut the cord over 10 years ago and in the last 5 years limited ourselves to 1 paid online service which we cut over a year ago, so officially we pay for no online media services now thanks to Plex and the rest of my Self-Hosted Linux Containers. I have closed to 200,000 FLAC music files I listen to all day in my home office with Plex and PlexAmp. Kids have movies and shows I have personally curated, and know that is safe and what we want them watching. I also have the same broke out and excluded for my teenager. And then my wife and I have our own library of movies and TV shows that we watch and enjoy. thanks to Plex. We watch things in ultra 4K the fantastic sound and picture in the privacy of our own home and enjoy the entertainment we want to watch without commercials we don’t want our family being subjected to.

1 year ago, Spacecode92

I’ll give it 5 stars when …

You make it easier for users - mobile or monitor- to select movies from a specific year. Right now I have to go to library, sort by year, down arrow, and keep scrolling. I have to keep scrolling until I get to the year (let’s say if the movie is released in 2002) and if I have a large collection to scroll through, this can be a hassle. Please make it easier to view through BUNDLE YEARS in library. Also, let’s say I did want to want a movie from the year 2002. If I have 50 movies in my collection in this year, and I select one to dive deeper to see details about the movie…if I don’t like it and hit back, it brings me ALL the way up the top again. Does that make sense? When selecting a movie to view details about, if you were to go back to view your entire catalog it should haven’t to bring you all the way up top of the catalog. It should remember where you are looking and stay there. Fix these issues on both mobile, computers, and TV please. This app is great and I commend you on your great work.

2 years ago, DrMemory99

Still Lacking Basic Functionality

Plex is great for movies and music! Has many features you either won’t use or will use and be pleased you found them; the experience however is poor if your looking to Plex to organize and browse your photo collection; unlike the web client ; the iOS and iPadOS and TvOS has no photo slide show feature! If you have hundreds of photos you’ll need to manually swipe (thumbnail scroll view at bottom) them one by one to show off or find them. Don’t waste your time adding your photo library to this server; it’s an exercise in frustration and disappointment. This has been an AppleTV/iOs feature request for years. They keep adding Plex hosted content and the mac z as a nd windows media servers are very reliable. the player client on ios continues to be reliable but their focus seems to be sliding away from personal media sharing to becoming an alternative streaming service (ad driven) in their own right.

5 years ago, Frogrates

The worst software in existence.

No other program for any computer of any kind has more than 1% of the bugs afflicting Plex. I was a premium user for one month and one month only; though it was only $5, I resent it deeply. I joined the premium in order to transfer files; I tried to transfer a file; three days later, it was not yet 50% transferred, so I canceled and transferred it via OneDrive; it took 27 seconds. This is ALL due to the Plex developers’ monumental stupidity, changing the files’ formats rather than just making their software read multiple formats. Those who praise Plex have failed a rudimentary intelligence test; you could upload your files and play them in VLC or similar software in less than 1% of the time, with less than 1% of the hassle. In addition, there’s the insane fact that the apps have no button to update a library. Add a video, wait six hours (if you’re lucky), and it will appear in your library. You cannot manually do this. MANY people have complained about this design flaw on Plex’s forums; official responses have LIED and claimed that no one has raised the issue previously, when in fact there are a dozen threads stretching back years. All in all, if you’re using Plex, stop and find a better program, which is ALL OF THEM.

1 year ago, Joedejong.mister horror?

Plex is the best

The first time I downloaded the Plex app I was able to create a free account no problems with it whatsoever, and the cool thing about Plex, is that I can watch live TV channels, such as ElectricNow, and dark matter TV, and many others, I also have Plex on my Roku, and I also lots of movies on Plex as well, but one problem I’m visually impaired and whenever I go to look for a channel but I am I watch Plex on my iPad and on my iPod touch, whenever I swipe for channels or to listen to the name of the channels, it only says the name of the TV show or movie that’s on, so if you could fix that feature that would be great, and another thing too, I would love to cast plugs to my Roku express, and my Roku premier, and whenever I go to choose a device to airplay or cast to for some reason it won’t let me cast so please fix that in and that would be great, love Plex I get Plex five stars, so to the developer of Plex love the app keep bringing new features and new updates, and keep expanding

5 years ago, KingFresh88

Missing my easy access across the bottom...

I love Plex. It’s always been great (with jinks here and there). But the last major update to the app took away my menu across the bottom and replaced it with a side menu that I can only access when I’m on the home screen. Here’s an example of why this is so annoying: I primary use the Plex App on iOS for music. So if I go to an artist > album > track. Then from there decide to go back to the artist > similar artist > new artist > album > track, and then decide to hit the search button > search another artist > choose album> track, then decide actually I want a different song, so hit search > track name and then decide, I wanna go back to the main Music menu, I can’t just hit Music. I have to navigate back > back > back x 100 until I finally see the hamburger menu on the left and can select Music. That’s incredibly annoying. Before it was easy to just hit Music at the bottom and go back to where I started without issue. If anything let me access the main menu without having to go back...

2 years ago, Clark of hope

You need to do better on your app

The update to the new logo in august of 2022 deleted ALL my offline content! 😡 How is this acceptable? How come you didn’t test it? Why is the app constantly crashing in the background with the new update? You’re support forums are a joke, I want to report an issue to you directly and can’t. And the the last time I used your forums I was told to repost it because it wasn’t in the correct folder. That’s your job not mine! 😳 If you don’t like where it’s at then you move it. I’m not your IT support or paid by you to redo anything. I reach out for support and need support not to be told I’m posting on the wrong page. So why isn’t there support in the app? I wrote this review for Plex to see and show users what a frustrating support system they have. I love versatility of Plex but not their support. No support for this app their forums are a joke and keep taking away features like “pause downloading” and won’t implement a directory based playlist creator. I’ve been on their site to complain about these things and always met with “you need to move this thread”, that’s not my job! It’s yours I go there for support not to be talked down to and patronized when I have an issue!

5 years ago, austinpatrick

My BEST APP EVER

I Was looking for a means to view my video library and found Plex to my liking. I can set up my library to watch movies as if I were back in the old days where Saturdays was an outing to go to the marquee at 12 noon to watch previews, three cartoons, the news reel, and two two movies . That took up five hours in the old days at the RKO THEATER. I can now reproduce that wonderful experience and go to the head without missing the story by hitting the pause button. The developers deserve a great praise for their hard work. Update December 2019 I now have over 3000 movies ; TV, AND home movies in my plex library, I also have over 4000 music files and 8000 personal photos that I scanned in from old album books and pictures lying around in trunks , paper bags and boxes. At any time I can access any photo, or video in seconds to show friends and family. What is nice about plex is you can consolidate your entire visual LP records old tapes and 45 rpm records and auditoria history in one app. I have my plex on a WESTERN DIGITAL 10 Terabyte pr2100 NAS DRIVE using RAID 2 so that I will always have a back up in case something goes wrong. I also backup my plex library to a separate 10 TB drive unplugged and stored in another place. My kids and grandkids can always review our family history at any time. And by the way! They can down load videos and pictures to their phones from plex to show their friends or watch them on the plane when they travel. Great App.

1 year ago, cgban

Just do it

Do yourself a favor, unsubscribe from the million streaming services you use and just buy the Plex lifetime pass. One and done, no more rip off monthly charges for the content you want to may or may not be there when you want to watch it. No more hopping from service to service to watch all the things you follow. Use Plex, you don’t even need to pay a dime. If you want hardware transcoding (faster conversion time) among some other features and support the awesome devs, then do so! However if you do not, you still great the great product that is Plex. Start your home server and collection. Share with all of your friends with no effort into configuration. Plex does it all for you, pulls in metadata from multiple internet media databases for artwork, trailers, ratings, actors, etc. It helps you track what you watched, what is on the list to watch, what ratings you felt it deserved per episode/season/show whatever you want! Stop giving corpos your hard earned money and let Plex work for you. The only effort required is for you to provide the media. If you don’t want to, Plex has lots of content you can watch for free, you can connect any streaming services you foolishly still pay for and access there as well all in one place. You can also watch a lot of free tv channels, as well as store your pictures and music as well if you want. Do yourself a favor and try out Plex

2 years ago, Haapy dude

Just one issue.

I have been using Plex for years and all of a sudden the video was playing in low resolution even though I have a very fast WiFi connection with over 600 mb/s. The problem was the “Automatically Adjust Quality” setting was constantly making adjustments that weren’t needed and forcing a low resolution. Picture would look grainy then Hi-Def then grainy again. Was driving me crazy. As soon as I turned off that setting in the app, all was good. It took a while to figure that out after trouble shooting the WiFi and other settings in the app. Movie night was ruined for that one Saturday night with the wife as by the time I figured out the problem it was too late to watch anything. I still gave 5 stars as I still love the Plex interface. Just an FYI for anyone else having the same problem and maybe for the Plex developers to address it.

3 years ago, DDindy

Just awful, complete garbage. Just don't bother. No support available

Show titles don't load most of the time, rarely plays from guide for streaming, have to delete cache AND data just to get it to barely function, support forum full of extremely poor assistance, WON'T EVER LET ME LOGIN, 3 Months now, won't let me view anything without asking me to login, so WHY WOULD YOU BOTHER WITH THIS APP. So many other issues. Playback poor, freezing, screen locks up, etc. AND THEY WANT USERS TODO ALL THE DEBUGGING AND LOG IT ON THE FORUM. ( Instead of just enjoying a show like you want!!! You don't pay us!!! )Sounds like you need to chuck it and start over, but you can get almost if not every channel they offer on another app that works flawlessly EVERY TIME? YOU WOULDN'T! Don't bother. Doesn't work on smart TVs, doesn't let you log in, NO REAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT, no new shows or movies. Basically just another attempt to capitalize on the free tv market. Had you just had customer support this junk app might have been working properly after several months. Again, just don't bother with this app, plenty more working apps that have the same shows. Update;. Broken even more now. Just a CRAPAPP

2 years ago, Yadada hit me

Nice UI, freezing issues/missing feature already included in web app…

The UI is nice and clean. I even unlocked iOS playback. Only reason of unlocking iOS feature was due to iPadOS having issues on web app when touching the screen. Anytime I touched the screen, it would constantly pause the video I was playing. The app is constantly freezing whenever you switch back and forth in iOS multitasking. It would also be nice if the app would play picture-in-picture automatically when switching between apps. It already does it using the web app, why not the iOS app…??? Also, the “Home” screen that shows videos to continue playing does not update within iOS app. So in order to continue playback where I left off if I switch from tv to iPad is to go through all menu options to the video and continue from there. It also does not show if you watched a video from the video menu like it does on the web app.

7 months ago, Mike from va

Plex always rm -rf * all my downloaded content while on travel for no reason

Plex Pass supporter and the app was up to date and just power cycled my iPad and Plex decided to arbitrary just delete all my download files while on travel away from my Plex server. The most basics of features they can’t seem to get right this has affected Plex for years. Failure to listen to the community that has supported them and properly test their builds. Don’t really blame the developers obviously not on the radar of their management. This must be the tenth time this has happened iOS and seems to be ignored. As others have noted don’t seem to meet the give a crap factor at plex more of trying to integrate ada laced content I get it as I own a business money maker. I’d seriously consider asking for a refund for my lifetime plex pass based on how awful the download experience has been the developers are pretty crappy and can’t figure out the most basic of things sync sync sync. Just make sure you don’t give the app permissions to photos based on experience it will delete all your photos randomly when not in your home network.

5 years ago, Invest a little

Loving Plex

I love Plex and it has given the chance to explore all the media I had but was previously buried in stacks of CDs and DVDs. Bought a lifetime pass years ago,so glad I did. Having said that, the current iOS app and Plex server have some seriously annoying “features”. Selecting repeat a track in the iOS app will sometimes repeat it, but more often than not, it doesn’t and stops playing anything else afterwards, meaning you have to restart the play queue. It mixes together playing several tracks at once. This does not happen on the web app. Playlists on the Plex server sometimes get wiped out. The playlist name is still there, just nothing in it. When you have hundreds of items in the playlist, it’s impossible to recreate. These items have been posted to the Plex forum and others have the same issue, Plex haven’t addressed them.

6 years ago, pilchak1

AirPod connection needs attention

After months of going back and forth, I finally took the plunge and paid full price for the Lifetime Plex Pass. I must say, i was immediately disappointed by the poor interfacing with my AirPods. In particular, if I pause the music by a double tap to my AirPod, and the phone goes to sleep before I want to restart the music, the app will not play music to the AirPods again without closing and rebooting the app. To be explicit, connectivity is not restored by a double tap of the AirPod when the phone is off, on but on the lock screen, on and logged into the phone but not on the app, or even when logged back into the phone with the app open. Furthermore, opening the app and pushing play will cause the progress bar to advance but there is still no music playing. Please address this in a future update. As another suggestion, there also needs to be a less clunky way to switch between online and offline browsing mode — maybe assume if no server is available default to offline mode?

1 year ago, Hiroshi728

Great, but glitchy and doesn’t offer what they advertise

Mostly great and probably the best option for home media server out there unless you have time and knowledge to build one from scratch. However, it doesn’t provide simple “download” function for Photo Libraries. Yes, it can do the “Sync” which often fails and really slow no matter what connection you have, but you can’t “download” or “save” without any post-processing on the original files. Another issue is that some glitches. The player has a playback controller at the bottom of the screen, of course, which unnecessarily widened horizontally in the landscape mode. This can easily fixed by switching to portrait orientation and switch it back again to landscape, but VERY annoying. this didn’t used to exist before. Furthermore, when you go back to the library from the video player, the size and the layout of the tiles of contents are messed up probably due to the orientation changes. PiP (picture-in-picture) has its own issue as well. Playing videos in Photo Libraries does trigger the PiP upon getting out PLEX, but does not play the video in the window! The window only shows gray background with a spinning wheel. Developers at PLEX should focus on fixing the existing glitches users are reporting instead of implementing new features.

7 years ago, Bossfuji

Best Media Server

I've been using Plex as a Media Server and iOS app for over 5 years now. Both the server and app complements each other and very easy to use. The app has features such as sync which allows you to watch movies or TV shows on your local device without needing internet access. You can configure sync to auto download any number of unwatched episodes for a TV Series. So let's say for you have Season 5 of TV show '24' for 4 unwatched episodes synced and your iPad has Eps 8-11 downloaded. You can be on an airplane and watch Eps 8 & 9. You get to your hotel and sync up again. The app will delete Eps 8-9 since they were watched and download Eps 12 & 13 since they are the next unwatched Eps. So this configuration will keep a rotating 4 unwatched episodes of '24' on your local device. The app also displays metadata (Title, Year, recap, actors, directors, posters, etc.) of the movies or TV Shows.

1 year ago, Nrd3GRL

A Fan's Lament

This used to be a decent product, but recently it's become practically unusable. From frequent crashes to downgraded features, the app is no longer one I think I can use and after so many years satisfied with the server-side client that I may now need to replace. About the only new "feature" introduced that kept me around even this long was the ability to skip credits, but without being able to download and play the files on my local device (to avoid using cellular data when between wireless networks on my daily commute) without it crashing when downloading, crash when playing, playing multiple files at once, then crashing, needing frequent restarts from freezes, and have less control over how to download things in the first place compared to past versions I enjoyed without issue. I don't know what happened for quality control, but someone should be fired for gross incompetence for pushing out a now broken product that can't do the thing it's most used for; accessing your library both on & offline without headache.

5 years ago, anon0913

Doesn't work as well as it used to

I love Plex, but it seems to be getting less stable. The iOS app especially has been way more glitchy than it used to be, but the desktop stuff, both server and player, isn't running as smoothly anymore either. My hardware is all a bit dated, but it should still be plenty adequate. On my 4th gen iPad, the Plex app crashes frequently and the video often stutters and its been getting progressively worse. I think some of the more recent updates helped some with the crashing, but the stutters have gotten worse. I would prefer to not transcode files for playback as my Plex server is running on my primary computer and I don't want to tie up the resources and it doesn't solve all the issues anyway. VLC for iOS handles the files better, so I use that when Plex fails me, but Plex has the far superior browsing interface. VLC plays more smoothly, only rarely stuttering under very heavy network or drive activity, has better audio boost functionality, etc.

6 years ago, NCJaZz

App free when you get Plex pass - WORTH IT! Best media server and app to pull plug

I purchased the lifetime Plex Pass. The best a/v decision I’ve made. I wish the sync process was easier for offline listening and watching FOR MY KIDS but for me it allows for granular control of kbps rate per song. Interface for me as a technologist is very much self driving and in-play. I think i paid around a bill for the lifetime Plex pass a few years ago and it’s more than paid for itself. The app is free for Plex pass subscribers (monthly yearly or lifetime pass) but even for those who don’t do pass the cost of you have access to a Plex media server with a decent sized media dB is worth the cost to get all the extras. We added a couple of homerun boxes and killed cable which is saving us almost a bill / 100 Per month alone so Plex has been incredible for us at home and at the office and when on the road.

5 years ago, FearlessMonkey

Updates Bring Confusion with Interface and Bugs

Update: This has been long time coming. Out of nowhere Plex decided to update the UI and it is absolutely awful! It is difficult to navigate and looks bad. My kids can't find things as easily as they used to. My wife prefers every other streaming app over this, but only since the update. The update isn't 'new' anymore, but each time I open the app I long for the old interface. Additionally, they have introduced a new issue with offline content that happen a regularly. I take long flights for business and rely on Plex for my media to gete through. For whatever reason, when I'm in either airplane mode or connected to WiFi but have no internet connection, the app cannot see my sync'd data. It is infuriating to be stuck on a long haul flight and not be able to access data that is stored on the phone! I learned, after hours of boredom, quickly loading different libraries and the app eventually figures out it can read the data that is already there. It happens on my phone and iPad. Very frustrating. Fix the bugs. Rework the horrible interface. This app used to be great. Old review: Has a few glitches but the developers regularly update the application with feature enhancements and bug fixes. Easily worth $5.

7 years ago, Karther

Great App

Love this app. It has what I need for using my data and getting it anywhere. I don't understand the need to have a Plex pass I don't use this feature as it is not needed. I do think however that the Plex makers or any app or program designers should ever withhold the ability to have parental control. This feature is a security feature to make sure no children ever get what they should have and should be a default item in any app. When this becomes a standard non plex pass feature Ill give 5 stars. Its just the right thing to do. Beyond that all features are great app works like a charm. I took another star for not having the ability to have plex find all my movies. Vob and a few other standard movie types when ripped Plex did not find and i have to now convert 400+ films to a mode plex will use. Silliness. It should at least do what XBMC already does. As Most that use plex also use xbmc for hone use since the XBMC interface is better for home use and streaming plex is best for. Ill return that star when it does other formats also.

1 year ago, Rufus Del Rufio

Personal media streaming server exelence

I can’t speak for Plex’s offered content. I have never used it and have it disabled. I only use Plex to stream personal content off my media server. And it does a superior job doing so. It is as automated or as custom as I prefer. Has a top notch professional user interface. And offers a wide range of access. Best of all, it plays nice with Sonarr, Radarr, and Lidarr. I don’t even need to be in the same country as my server and have full faith that I can view and manage my library from my phone, smart TV’s, laptop, or almost any device connected to the internet. My kids have even use it on their gaming console. I CONNECT MY PHONE TO MY TRUCK’S BLUETOOTH AND WATCH YELLOWSTONE IN 4K & SURROUND SOUND! I’ve been a paying subscriber for years and use it daily. I highly recommend Plex to anyone running a personal media server.

6 years ago, Regan83

WHY? PLEX, WHY??? This Update is COUNTER-INTUITIVE

For iOS Plex Media Player App, I haven't check my computer or TV Plex Apps yet::: I truly hate writing update reviews… So let me start by stating, the Plex Media Server and it's organization magniloquence is unmatched for personal media organization and management! HOWEVER, Plex, why did you remove the "Browse" feature??? I'm sure many geeks like me are super organized when it comes to our media library. I like to go to my playlist section or browse through what libraries I've added to see what I'd like to view or what playlist I have available to watch. I have at least 3TB of vids, cartoons, anime, movies and tv shows all organized within your brilliant Plex Server... Now!!!, I can't just go to a section I'd like to browse through, as it was before the update. Podcasts are not as important, everybody does podcasts. Plex is supposed to be for the personal/private media lover who simply wants to watch what is esoteric to them and watch anywhere at anytime without having to go through leaps and bounds to reach his/her favorite playlists... Please RE-ADD the browse feature. It was THE BEST. Now, Plex for iOS is a hassle. Please help, thank you so much!!! Otherwise PLEX is truly awesome! ~ A Loyal PAYING customer!

5 years ago, Arthur Dent ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Almost perfect!

For me, the Plex app is almost perfect. I am currently on a 30-day trial and I already know what crucial annoyances are going to stop me from going full (or even lifetime) subscriber. 1. Their WebOS app is way behind the rest. For TV, you cannot use the guide, which makes the normal TV viewing pretty much impossible. 2. Argh! The track list unavailability in FLAC. Brings back the memories when you had to fast forward a cassette tape to find your next track on the album, or go ahead and listen to the entire album. No easy way to go to a particular song (or even see it, as you will be just looking at the album), 3. Problems with remote access cutting out in 2-3 seconds after enabling. It is super buggy and no amount of their troubleshooting worked for me. These three issues are critical enough to dissuade me from upgrading and will be sticking with free version for now. I know there are lots of people who want to make Plex their primary DVR/TV viewing app but can’t for the above mentioned (1) reason. I know there are lot of audiophiles who wish to have Plex as their primary player/server but for the above mentioned reason (2) they just can’t. I really hope devs take a note and address these crucial issues. I don’t know what else in this platform needs more urgent attention from the feature point of view - it has all the bells and whistles.

6 years ago, Dalwan Daddy

Great app, clunky interface

This app is my go-to app for watching videos, so, I want to give it five stars, and I wish I could give it another half star because it's that good. There's only one small complaint, and I hope the developers are reading this, because I know I'm not the only one that has mentioned this flaw. Please let us access our playlists from the home screen! It's more of an inconvenience than anything, but, I have to find the part of the library that the playlist is in, then the section, then the playlist. I know, it's a very minor inconvenience, and it used to be on the home screen, but I feel it would make this a five star app. Other than that, I can access all of my videos from my server anywhere I am and the quality is fantastic.

6 years ago, bexn01

Would have been a 5 before

I spent a lot of time organizing my library and now it’s frustrating as all get out to get to my content. Please add an ALL option and not just an All for TV, Movies and Music. Plex just became unusable for me. I’ve been using Plex from almost the beginning back when it was Mac only. I was one of the first people to sign up for a lifetime pass. Please don’t make me regret this. I don’t want to use a different client to view my content but it looks like I’m going to need to until they fix this problem. I’m really not happy that they didn’t give us a toggle to the old format or at least a way to view ALL content and then switch to folders. [If you’re in the same boat, please consider checking out Infuse 5. It seems to work seamlessly with Plex Server and keeps it in folder layout. You’ll also be able to add Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive. I’ve been recommending Plex & Plex Server for years. I never thought I’d be suggesting folks use a different client, in a Plex app review no less!]

6 years ago, Datawrangler

iOS app is not well designed

I have owned Plex for about 4-5 years now, and the media server is great. It’s very easy to set up and manage. The iOS app, however, is not very good. As an example, it does not sync music very well. I had all my music synced to my phone; then one day it was all gone. No error message or notification of what had happened. 5000 songs were deleted off my phone. Syncing has been problematic since day one. The other problem is with the UI. The buttons are tiny, even on an iPhone XS. They tried to cram too much on the screen and made the play and pause buttons so small I have to have my glasses on to see them. Since it doesn’t integrate with Siri well, I have to pull over if I want to search for songs while I’m driving. Playlists also don’t sync between devices so I have to set up new lists on each one. In my opinion, the whole app needs a complete redesign. I’ve tried to make it work, but I’m going to be looking for another app to use to play my music on my phone.

4 years ago, kayla😀🦄🌺❄️🍭🍬🎧🎤💎

needs some fixes

I have been using Plex for about 1 1/2 years now and it has been great! The video quality is good, especially considering all the other apps i have used in the past. Sound is great, but I still have one problem that i have seen other reviews mention as well. I go away a lot on trips and stuff so i usually download and sync the movies i want to watch. As soon as i click it, the movie would not show and would just keep loading and glitching and blacking out. I don’t understand why because usually when i download stuff in the past, it has worked fine but suddenly this is happening and it gets very frustrating to watch a screen load when i want to watch something. I think what this app need is some attention to fix some other issues, importantly this one. Please get this fixed, I really love Plex, i love to use it and if you can just check out the download and sync maybe make an update to help the issue, that would be great! Thank you! - Mikayla🤍

6 years ago, H3yd

Despite glitches, still the best there is UPDATE

I'm a lifetime PlexPass member; I use Plex's various incarnations across tons of devices. Yes, every now and again something goes awry, but to paraphrase Louis CK, "You try building it and making it perfect all the time!" It works 99.9% of the time for 99.9% of everything. Having worked in software development, I can understand how impossible it is to foresee every possible iteration and challenge, but Plex is incredibly stable and reliable. UPDATE: The app is basically broken on iOS 12/iPhone X. Anytime I’m in portrait mode, the close/minimize controls are not accessible, which makes it impossible to send content via Chromecast. Even when in landscape mode, the controls seem barely functional. This has been the case ever since I upgraded to iOS 12, and is extremely frustrating.

6 years ago, A.Nutron

UI update makes content harder to find and the app harder for kids

The new UI is much harder to navigate than previous versions. In addition to just taking more effort to go to specific collections and servers, it’s nearly impossible for kids to use. Where previously my 6 year old could easily find her things, now the UI is completely useless to her. As an adult, it’s cumbersome and clunky, and as a kid, it’s broken. Stay close to your roots here. Make it easy to quickly navigate to specific collections on a specific server. Put some movie icons on collections to make them visually distinctive to require less reading. Make pushed content a browsing experience that one chooses to experience rather than the default. Don’t make this more complicated.

4 months ago, Gregamagic

Just stay with a web browser

I like Plex quite a bit, but the app has one very annoying feature that is a showstopper for me, so I’ll be uninstalling the app. The problem is that there is no way to reliably watch in landscape mode, and on a smaller screen that is critical. Initially I discovered that if you open the app with the phone in landscape, then the movie would play in landscape, but if I tilted the screen, it would go back to portrait and I had to close the app and restart again with the phone in landscape. Ugh. I tried the tips I found, and I was very hopeful that the three dots>screen preference (or whatever it is) would work, but after countless attempts, only once have I been able to get the three dots even to respond with the movie open (which is the only place the option is available). And while I was overjoyed when it worked, the next time I opened the app, it was right back to portrait. And guess what? When I closed and reopened the app with the phone rotated to landscape, it opened in portrait. Double-ugh. There are lots of things I like about the app, but this is a killer. It’s like driving a car that will only go in reverse. Please, Plex, fix this. Put that setting in the main options from the main screen so it is globally available. When I see that as a bug fix in a future release, I’ll reinstall. But for now, goodbye and good luck.

5 years ago, MW Huntster

Really does seem like magic, but no composer tag

I installed Plex on my PC and iPhone for a while because I found other ways to stream music from my hard drive to be unreliable or complicated. You install Plex and it quickly finds all media files on your computer - no need to direct it to folders. All the music on my drive appears on my iPhone with tags intact. All album covers are shown, and each artist now has a helpful little bio. This is all with absolutely no effort on my part. Streaming on a wifi network from the computer to the phone, and from the phone to the stereo using Airplay, always works without a hitch. The user interface is attractive, powerful, well-organized, and easy to use. Everything happens smoothly and promptly - no pauses or glitches. The problem is with classical music: there is no composer tag available! I switched to MediaMonkey.

2 weeks ago, MrRedhook

Plex is hands down the best for me

I've been a paid subscription user of Plex for years, primarily to support this fantastic app and for the ability to download movies and shows for offline viewing. The app's user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate my vast collection of movies, TV shows, music, and photos. Plex’s automatic metadata fetching and organization are fantastic, ensuring my media is always neatly sorted with accurate details. I run Plex on a Raspberry Pi connected to two passport HDDs, which allows me to keep it on with minimal power usage. This setup is both efficient and reliable, providing seamless access to my media library. The multi-platform access is a game-changer. I can stream my library seamlessly on my smart TV at home, smartphone on the go, or laptop at a friend's place. The playback quality is excellent, with minimal buffering and wide format support. Additionally, the parental controls allow me to set up profiles with custom access levels, ensuring appropriate content for my family Overall, Plex with a paid subscription is worth every penny. It has streamlined my media consumption and provided a centralized, high-quality experience that I highly recommend.

3 years ago, jfigaro

Impossible to download items in library

All guides/info say you can download an item by visiting its details or ‘the context menu’ but there is no option to download in the details screen or any menu-context or otherwise. Apparently you have to subscribe to get access to ‘sync’ your items for offline play, so I went ahead and upgraded to see if an option would show up. Nothing has. I just want to move copies of my owned media to my devices for offline play during travel. Just finished trying to setup a managed profile for my kid and added the movies that were age appropriate. Logged into the new profile I created to see what would show up and the screen was littered with TV shows that included thumbnails with handguns. There were also horror movies-despite my setting the restrictions on the profile to G and PG. I guess age ratings don’t apply to Plex Picks for whatever reason. App has been sliding downhill for years.

2 years ago, Capgun42

Excellent App with exception of downloads

As the title suggests this is an excellent app for managing all of your multimedia! I use it across multiple platforms daily. Everything works flawlessly unless you happen to be in an area without service then you must rely on the download feature. This is a newer service which replaced the old sync feature and unfortunately is flawed and does not work well or at all for larger media files. Often times I will have some files that download properly then at the worst time possible time they delete themselves and try to download again! Very frustrating to say the least. So as long as you don’t have a need to view/listen to your media offline ( like on a plane or while traveling) you won’t be disappointed with this app and the plex services.

4 years ago, VandwellerDave

In for a lifetime

Full disclosure, I’m a lifetime member. I wasn’t always, but I was monthly for over a year before going all in. I try to get as much information about a product before I deem it worthy of occupying room on one of my servers. After narrowing down my choices to three, I see by my notes that there was only one that made conscious, constant efforts to improve the experience for the person using it to manage all of a ridiculously huge catalog of movies and music. Now they offer live streaming of their own content. It’s really the only entertainment choice for me, and not just for a lockdown. I have access to my entire connection on any and every device that I own. I HIGHLY recommend Plex to all my geeky friends and coworkers.

6 years ago, Markdown Pro

Flakey and invasive

I want to like this app and the Plex server, I really do. After all I paid good money for both when first impressions/tests were good. Since then there have been many updates, and it has been more frustrating than usable. Having some experience debugging both software and network issues, I’ve spent way too much time trying to understand what this app is doing or rather failing to do, which causes it to frequently stall or not even connect to the server within our home network. Time I would have rather spent actually enjoying our media. My #1 complaint is that it stalls or buffers so much that it is unusable. Our LAN and all devices are plenty fast so congestion or speed of connectivity isn’t the problem. #2 WOW! This app calls home a lot. I think that might actually be the root of the problems. It even authenticates with an external service when all we want is for it to play local content. UI wise, it looks nice, but ultimately it needs to be able to play our content. For that we found MrMC, which is just superb and rock solid. Plus, MrMC seems to respect user privacy and rarely makes external requests... if ever. Regardless I keep revisiting this app to see if updates have made it more usable because the UI is nice, and because I paid so much for it. As of sept. 23, 2018, it still stalls on most content, while the same files play perfectly in MrMC.😑

3 years ago, callmeishmal

Regret purchase

We purchased the lifetime pass and for the last year and thought Plex was great. The recent tornados here in Kentucky took out our power and internet. So we are running on generators to power items and intended to power the tv, to allow all the children to be entertained that are in our shelters. The Plex app on the tv, failed us terribly. With no internet, the Plex is useless. We can find the sever, and even see the children shows, but everything fails to play, and or starts to load then crash. Our entire community feels let down by Plex, and I’ll have to figure out other solutions going forward. Our entire city has now seen the failure of Plex, and how useless it is. Keep this in mind should you ever find yourself in this situation. Our temporary solution was to hook up a laptop and connect to the synology server manually, then search through the folders to play in media center to the overhead projector. Plex has let us down severely.

Description

Watch Live TV free and TV series you know and love on Plex. Discover brand new shows and enjoy on-demand TV channels, all in one place. Watch TV anywhere, on any device, together with your friends! Stream movies easily with Plex. Watch your favorite movies from A24, Warner Brothers, MGM, Lionsgate and more! Enjoy hundreds of free, full-length movies from every genre: anime movies, children's movies, documentaries, and much more. Dive into over 600 channels of top TV programming such as FOX Sports, PBS Antiques Roadshow, and more! Explore favorites like True Crime Now, Game Show Central, and TED when you download Plex today. Watch news from over 190 global publishing partners, including CBS, Financial Times, Euronews, and top local news sources for over 80% of markets in the U.S. Plex also lets you organize your personal collection of movies and TV shows, find new recommendations, and stream new music. Stream TV, movies and more with Plex. PLEX FEATURES: Live TV Streaming: - Stream Live TV with access to 600+ channels of free live programming - Discover live channels for everyone in the family: Watch kid shows, news, sports, and more - Watch the news with CBS, Financial Times, Euronews, local news channels and more Watch Movies Anywhere: - Watch movies online or offline, anytime - Stream movies from your favorite studios, all for free - Full movies of all categories: Children’s movies, anime movies, new movies and more TV On-Demand: - Stream on demand TV shows instantly - Watch TV series favorites or find something new for the whole family - Watch TV shows anywhere, on any device Plex Media: - Organize your collection of video movies and shows, discover new ones, and stream music - Store your personal media such as photos, music, movies and shows, and stream them on any device Download today and start streaming, with Plex. Note: If you’ve already purchased the app on the App Store or you have a Plex Pass, you do NOT need to purchase it again! Your previous purchase will be automatically detected. Note: Playing media from your Plex library on mobile devices is limited (one minute for music and video, watermark on photos) until the app is unlocked. For full functionality, get a Plex Pass -OR- make a small, one-time, in-app purchase for app access. Streaming personal media requires Plex Media Server version 1.18.3 and higher installed and running to stream to other devices. DRM-protected content, ISO disc images, and video_ts folders are not supported. Some features of this app are supported by interest-based advertising, to learn more about this and your choices regarding it visit the Plex Privacy Policy. The app offers (but does not require) a Plex Pass In-App Purchase. Plex Pass is available for the equivalent of US$4.99 charged monthly to your iTunes Account, charged yearly for the equivalent of US$39.99, or as a one-off lifetime payment for the equivalent of US$149.99. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off in your iTunes Account at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, charged at the same rate for renewals. Subscriptions may be managed and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. See the terms of service at https://www.plex.tv/about/privacy-legal/plex-terms-of-service/