Plex’s app redesign will begin rolling out in the Roku Preview Channel “next week.” The new app experience, which previously launched in preview on Apple TV, has been routinely criticized by Plex customers due to its reduced functionality and other shortcomings.
Announced in late 2024, the Plex app redesign is actually a full app rewrite. It’s a huge project, though the end result will give customers a more modern UI and reduce development hurdles through the use of a unified codebase (new features will come at a faster pace, updates will arrive on all platforms at once, etc). The problem, at least right now, is that the app is unfinished. Early testers on Apple TV report bugs related to HDR playback and complain about clunky navigation due to the lack of a sidebar. Also, Plex intentionally removed photos, music, and Watch Together functionality from its video app, which has proved to be a fairly controversial decision.
The redesigned mobile app is in a similar situation—it’s unfinished. But, curiously, Plex tried to do a broad public rollout of its new mobile app in March. It pulled back and slowed the rollout after complaints and bug reports came flooding in.
“If you are a Plex user on our Roku Preview Channel applications, an update will be coming to you next week …The Roku Preview Channel will be changing to the new app experience that we’ve previously announced. It will be similar to what is already in preview for Apple TV. We’re making this new experience available early in the preview channel to help capture your feedback. Once the update is available, we’ll be gathering that feedback in the “Plex Experience Preview” category. We’ll have more details when the new beta becomes available.”
Of course, this Roku rollout is limited to the Preview Channel. If you choose to install it, you’ll have two Plex apps on your Roku device—the old one and the new one. A full public rollout will occur at a later date.
I don’t have any strong opinions about Plex’s new TV app—it’s still in beta, so of course it’s imperfect. However, Plex clearly jumped the gun with its mobile app rollout, and I’m worried that something similar could happen with the TV app. Early complaints about clunky navigation are also worrying, as a more intuitive UI is the only thing that I really want from the new Plex experience.
I hope that Plex is taking user feedback to heart, and I’m glad to see that navigation has gotten a little bit better in newer versions of the Apple TV beta. There’s also a new update that fixes a bunch of problems in the redesigned Plex mobile app, which is nice, although I’m still not sure why the mobile rollout was so rushed.
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Source: Plex
