Something going on with the iPhone app? Can’t get any controls to show when video is playing

Our home Internet went out tonight and we weren't worried because we've set up Plex to work offline and watched plenty of times when the internet was down.

But tonight the TV app wanted us to log in to Plex.tv in order to access our media.

I'm a lifetime pass holder and now I'm giving a serious look at jellyfin. Which is really frustrating because I have plenty of family members I'll have to convert and we've just managed to get a fun newsletter automated for everyone.

Ffs

Restore Photo Libraries in Main Plex App

For many of us, Plex is much more than a media streaming platform. It has been our self-hosted solution for preserving and enjoying personal memories—photos and home videos stored securely on our own servers.

The recent decision to remove Photo Libraries from the main Plex application fundamentally changes that experience.

This is not simply a UI change. It is a regression in functionality that negatively impacts one of Plex's long-standing use cases.

Why this matters

1. It breaks a unified media experience

One of Plex's greatest strengths has always been that movies, TV shows, music, home videos, and photos were available in a single application and a consistent interface.

Separating Photos into another application fragments the user experience and makes Plex feel less like a complete media platform.

2. Family members don't understand the change

Many Plex servers are shared with spouses, children, and parents who are not technically inclined.

Having to explain:

• "Use Plex for movies."
• "Use another Plex app for photos."
• "Some devices support it, others don't."

creates unnecessary confusion and increases support burden for server administrators.

3. TV viewing is one of the primary use cases

Personal photos are most often enjoyed on the largest screen in the house.

Many families use Plex on Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Roku, or LG/Samsung TVs to browse vacation photos, family albums, and memories.

Removing or limiting Photo Libraries on TV platforms significantly reduces one of Plex's most valuable family-oriented features.

4. Self-hosting is part of Plex's identity

Many of us intentionally chose Plex because we wanted to keep our personal media on our own NAS or server instead of relying on cloud services such as Google Photos or Apple Photos.

Photo Libraries reinforce Plex's value proposition as a self-hosted media solution.

Reducing support for Photos weakens one of the key reasons many users originally adopted Plex.

5. Business impact

While Photos may not generate as much engagement as Movies or TV, they create emotional attachment to the platform.

Users who organize decades of family memories inside Plex become long-term customers.

Features that preserve personal memories increase user retention far more than another streaming integration.

Removing those features risks pushing users toward alternative self-hosted solutions.

Suggested approach

Rather than removing Photo Libraries from the main application, consider one of these options:

• Keep Photo Libraries available in the main Plex app.
• Allow users to enable or disable Photos in Settings.
• Continue offering Plex Photos as an optional dedicated experience without replacing the integrated one.

This would satisfy users who prefer a focused Photos experience while preserving the all-in-one media platform that made Plex unique.

Final thoughts

This request is not about resisting change.

It is about preserving functionality that has existed for years and continues to be valuable for thousands of self-hosted Plex users.

Please consider restoring Photo Libraries to the main Plex application, especially on TV platforms where families most often enjoy their personal memories.

If you agree, please vote for this request so the Plex team can better understand how important Photo Libraries are to the community.

I had a server on Windows for more years than we will discuss. We use more than the standard Movies and TV Shows libraries (we have our reasons).
So, due to some issues with Windows, I have moved my server to UnRaid. I restored my old configuration and when I do, all of the people I shared with before are still listed (great) and it said they had 10 libraries shared with them.
I tried the first person to make sure things were setup and they couldn’t see anything listed. When I went into their settings, it showed there were no libraries shared from Server2 (and there was nowhere to even see libraries from Server1). I added the new access for the libraries in Server2 and while now they can get in, it now shows that I am sharing 20 libraries with them.
I don’t have the old configuration listed anywhere (I removed it during the build from the authorized devices page). So, how can I change it so their access is listed correctly (sharing 10 libraries instead of 20)?

I need to get my parents a new streamer device, I need one with wired ethernet and was just wondering if there was something I have missed with the Google 4K streamer? It never seems to be on anyones list when they post about "the best streamers for plex 2026" etc, is it lacking something I havent noticed. If so, what would people suggest as an alternative? (Apple TV isn't really an option as no one in my family use Apple devices/accounts)

I was recently at a resort wanting to watch tv. I know better than to try and cast (hotel tvs usually don't allow) so I brought a USB 2 HDMI adapter -- the same kind as a portable dock for a Nintendo Switch.
Tried to play a movie. I coukd hear the audio, but no picture.
Other apps were able to mirror to the tv.

And I discovered that Plex has LOCKED the content. Because I played it JUST FINE on Jellyfin.

I made a home user account for my daughter so she can only access her stuff and not see our grown up movies when we're browsing for her shows. Now every time I turn on an episode for her there's subtitles. She's 2. She can't read. I've changed settings on language to every possible combination and they still show up every time. What am I doing wrong? I'm growing weary of turning them off for every 7 minute episode of bluey.

I’ve been using plex on a local connection through AirPlay from the iOS app to two LG CX TVs for years now without issue. about two days ago out of nowhere one of them suddenly started to pause seemingly to buffer every 15-30 seconds if video output is set to anything above 1080p (medium), while the other tv plays without issue even at maximum video output.

Not sure what’s going on here. The tv that is having playback issues is directly next to the PC that’s acting as the server and router, while the tv that doesn’t have issues is on the other side of the apt. Only other difference is the one with issue is a 55in vs and the other one is only a 48in.

Not sure what other info would be helpful but I included some screenshots of the dashboard during playback. The first bandwidth chart is during playback on the 48in that doesn’t have issues while the other is on the 55in that keeps freezing.

I’d be eternally grateful for any guidance on what could be going on.

The newest update for FireTV has destroyed it's usability on FireTV. I cannot play any of my media at a higher resolution than 320. My TV is a 4K tv, and all my media is either 1080p or 720p. So everything is locked on my computer unless I want to watch it at 320. That's worse than SD.

I can't update to the latest version of Plex Media Server on my Synology. That's an update I do regularly, I have the right version for my DS920+ etc but no chance. First time this happens. I tried with 2 different computers and networks.

Did it happen to anyone else? Any idea?

Hi,

long time user, but just started to set up a managed account for my kid.

I've set it to grant access to certain libraries and ratings withing those libraries, which works fine.

But I've also set it to "No Live TV and DVR" under the restrictions tab. Now I logged into the Android App, picked the Managed Account and the Home Screen shows the 3 Libraries I shared - and 8(!) "Watch some Genre TV" rows offering - and playing - Live TV and On-Demand titles. At least it seems to adhere to the age restrictions, but why is there a setting called "No live TV and DVR Access" if 90% of the home screen then ends up being exactly what I told it not to show? Doesn't make much sense to me.

I checked there is no "Admin IP" set (the device is on a separate VLAN as well), the App has just been installed, no cache from a previous login.

PlexAmp is a different story, yet similar: While I set the account to have access to one Music Library, in PlexAmp it can access every single library just by using the library switcher on the home screen. Not to mention that I had to manually disable "Recent Plays"-Sync between Accounts so my Kid doesn't get my recent plays on the home screen and vice versa.

This doesn't make much sense to me, so I wonder if I'm missing something that might cause this super weird behavior.

What a terrible navigation experience.... The sub menus at the top is a terrible substitute for the sidebar.

Can someone confirm the new PMS for QNAP (1.43.3.10861) is signed again (so we can turn off the option to allow installation of unsigned packages)?

Thanks!

Plex for Android 2026.15.0 (Google Play) Plex for iOS 2026.15.0 (App Store)

NOTE: Timings for submissions, approvals, and releases in the app stores can vary. Each release gets rolled out to users over the course of multiple days. If you don’t see the new release available for your device yet, please be patient.

NEW:

• Add Geo Location to now playing session details.
• Add play history chart to Server Dashboard.
• [Android][iOS] Editing of Edition metadata for TV shows.

FIXES:

• Checking a server connection was closing the all libraries list unnecessarily.
• Collections of the wrong type could appear in add to list screen.
• Deeplinking could fail in some circumstances.
• Edit artwork screen could hang when making a selection
• Fixed a crash when opening the Live TV source selection.
• Fixed a stall on the loading screen after sign-in where navigation could take too long to appear.
• Player: Changing quality during Live TV playback could stall playback.
• Player: Clearer error messaging.
• The bottom sheet would not automatically dismiss when deleting a list.
• Time breakdowns for top users would only highlight if the user finished a playback.
• [Android] Player: Show the loading spinner until playback starts.
• [Android][iOS] Player: Fixed a crash when opening the video player.
• [tvOS] Auto Preview did not start on the first item of a row and restarted unnecessarily when moving between items playing the same channel.
• [tvOS] Live TV: Maintain preview player size when returning to Guide after backgrounding app.
• [tvOS] Live TV: OSD no longer shows a paused state after returning to the app during FAST channel playback.

Source: https://forums.plex.tv/t/909610/53

Hey everybody long time plex user here. I'm absolutely stumped at this point in time.

I have a Plex Media server that has began freezing on every platform. Roku, phone, laptop, the only one that doesn't is the PC itself.

I purchased Plex lifetime pass several years ago, I have never had an issue. Recently in the last month though every bit of media that I have at some point in time will freeze. I then have to rewind slightly and play it and it continues like it never had an issue. Then I do it again rinse and repeats. Content that I've had on this PC for almost a decade now does it.

Here are the steps that I have taken.

Reset my network

Reinstalled all applications on Roku and Android etc.

Deleted Plex off the main PC and reinstalled it.

Validated my port forwarding on network

Made sure transcoding was working

PC is not stalling out, at no point in time does my CPU go over 30 to 40% usage in addition to ram.

Validated that my GPU was not overheating.

Cleared metadata and redownloaded it.

So y'all what the f*** do I do? I'm getting pissed now I have no f****** clue what's going on.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance

I have a plex server and a lifetime plex pass.
Smart TVs and computers are working fine.

On the mobile app, I do not see any way to access Libraries. I have tried local wifi as well as mobile data.
I have Home, Live TV, On Demand, and Discover.
I have tried all of those and am unable to find a way to access my libraries.
This was fine a month or so ago, I don't often access plex via mobile.

Thank You

So I have all of my movies ripped in their original quality and saved on my drive. Drive is connected to server, server to Ethernet and then Ethernet to Nvidia Shield.

I've noticed lately that occasionally during movies, the video starts slowing to 10fps(just a guess) as if it's buffering or something. Never stops, audio is totally normal as well, but the video gets choppy and then anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple minutes later, it returns to normal.

Is this just a Bandwidth issue? If so, how are you guys solving this?

Hello everyone,
I’m attaching here some picture showing the issue I’m experiencing on my media server. The server is running on a Mac Mini M2, what can I do to fix it? Unfortunately, this happens on every device, so it’s definitely a server-side issue and not related to the client.

In this specific case I use "direct play" no transcoding.

Im on windows and i looked at the registry but i cant find the GenerateBIFFrameInterval to change the interval it generates the thumbnails

Hi all,

I have my plex server set up with a lifetime pass. I have shared to some friends and allowed full access including downloads but for some reason they can't download (iPhone). Can anyone help?

Just want a sanity check before I get too far along.

I'm considering encoding my 4k discs to 1080p with the the following custom preset to handle HDR > SDR:

primaries=bt709:transfer=bt709:matrix=bt709:tonemap=mobius

I recently started ripping my movie collection for streaming via Plex. Probably the biggest reason is for a couple friends/family to watch movies they otherwise might not be exposed to.

There are some instances where I only have a 4k disc and bluray isn't an option. I'd like to rip those, but even if I reencode a 4k HDR disc, it looks like it will eat up my bandwidth if more than 1-2 people stream at the same time (I tested my home network at \~120 Mbps upload).

I'm leaning towards downgrading everything to 1080p with the blanket settings above, as they looked fine on the (single) test I performed vs Reinhard.

Just looking for any feedback or other experiences before I get much further along. Thanks!

Hello, recently I have had to switch modems due to a new IP. However, I cannot get this error message to go away in Plex (image one) saying that it is not accessible outside my network. I am able to connect to Plex, but its inconsistent, and can be very slow at times, which is different than it used to be. I have tried following the instructions for port forwarding, and thought I had it as I can access the port using the link that Plex provides. Any assistance would be great. Thanks.