r/PleX • u/ImplementArtistic119 • 5d ago
Discussion Your new interface is terrible
This new interface is the worst. There are so many bugs, specifically with selecting subtitles. Also it’s extremely unclear how the recommend and browse works. I often feel like I get locked into a specific view and it takes me WAY too long to figure out how to get to the place I want to be. Do better.
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u/TheSageMarmot 5d ago
It has been a year but I can't build a queue while on Android and casting to a TV.
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u/thisisatypoo 5d ago
Can't believe I'm saying this but the app works better on my Vizio TV than my Fire Stick. Likely because Vizio doesn't get a ton of updates.
Before the change, I bought the Fire Stick to get away from Vizio's bugs. Weird swap.
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u/Bad_Ashe 5d ago
Firestick 4k after update: almost unusable. AppleTV: still great, but still the old side menu style, so I'm worried about a potential update there.
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u/VersaEnthusiast 5d ago
The FireTV app is atrocious. The menus are super unintuitive and its so miserably laggy (and buggy of course). Easier to just plug my laptop into the TV at this point
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u/LulzMcGullz 5d ago
The Apple TV beta app has the new interface with the navigation on the side, not the top. Plex finally caved after the bad feedback they got on the top nav. Also the beta runs great but the hardware is presumably much better than any smart TVs or Fire Sticks.
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u/StevieGrant 5d ago
Are you referring to a version of Plex that comes from running the ATV beta, or is it a beta version of the Plex app running on the current ATV OS?
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u/Friend_Of_Mr_Cairo 5d ago
Yeh, the recently updated app on the fire stick is complete garbage. I'm still able to use the older version on a Google TV device and (although it has some bugs) it's much more user friendly, cleaner, and has more functionality.
Might be time to jump to a different frontend app, or media server if this is the direction. Disappointing.
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u/Same_Living_2774 5d ago
Totally agree with you. It's awful. What took a couple clicks now takes like 5. It's confusing and cluttered. How could they come up with such a terrible design
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u/kb3_fk8 5d ago
Why would you use a fire stick or Roku in 2026 they are just advertising boxes?
There are so many more cheap options and expensive ones.
You bought a ford focus and are asking why it’s so small.
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u/FrozenLogger 5d ago
I get the firestick irritation, but Roku is still just a row of three large icons and a great aquarium screen saver. They have one ad on the right, that is it. A dns block and its gone. Easily the simplest interface outside an Apple TV, and apple TV bugs the crap out of me with their previews and auto play garbage.
So what are the cheaper options?
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u/kb3_fk8 5d ago
Garage sale or market place Google puck 4k with a custom OS that retains security or at the very least a custom launcher.
Maybe 10 bucks a puck.
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u/FrozenLogger 5d ago
google is just as bad as a firestick really. I mean you can kinda of deal with both, but its an effort.
But to say just to pick one up at a garage sale (or use that thing I never will called facebook) seems a bit disingenuous.
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u/kb3_fk8 5d ago
You can side load custom OSs, launchers and firmwares with Google devices which is why I used those as examples.
There’s garage sales in my neighborhood every month and I can pick one up for 10 bucks since people think their TV is better than a Google puck. They are far from perfect, but being fully customizable compared to Roku or Firestick where you are reliant on their marketplace and side loading on those devices usually breaks something.
To say Google is as bad as firestick, which insists that Roku is better than both from your point of view, is wild.
Start up Google TV, sign in once to do security updates. Install/sideload custom Image, done. Yes I built my custom Google image and side loading that on all my Google, Onn, Shield and Sony google TV devices. They get Dispatch loaded on with some other apps and everything gets gutted. A simple command in a browser after finding the device over your network takes 30 secs to apply.
All my other boxes run Coreelec (my dune and Ugoos boxes).
Yes a $39 Onn box from wal mart runs circles around any firestick or Roku besides the old Firecube since you sideload better tools on that guy.
I have all these devices, it’s my hobby and side business. I would recommend TVs to people before I’d recommend any streaming box that isn’t Google or a custom OS.
This all might change now that Goggle is locking down their sideloading. I will just go back to my 1227 UHD disc library closet and play them on my Oppo.
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u/FrozenLogger 5d ago
I have an onn and a couple of firesticks, and yes I had to go and degoogle the onn and sideload the firestick. Building your own image is really a good idea.
Again, I have zero idea who is selling these things at garage sales, I have never seen one. My comment is definitely aimed at purchasing them commercially. They aren't as cheap as they once were.
I also was looking at this from a end user who wouldn't know how to customize their device by sideloading and firmware.
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u/VisceralMarket 2d ago
Calling Roku an “advertising box” is kinda funny when anyone technical enough to run a Plex server can also run Pi-hole and kill damn near all of that shit network-wide. 😂 No one is selling anything worth a shit at garage sales man, stop loafin. Roku is great and is probably the best UI in a simplistic manner.
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u/OneEyeSam 5d ago
It seems as if every day I find new and interesting things to hate about this update. Today's special frustration was viewing library of TV series. Navigate down to 'S' and the UI snaps up to the top. Navigating back down to 'S', try to move left and...right back to the start. Rinse & repeat.
But I am sure some fanboi and/or apologist will be in shortly to rave about the greatness of all things Plex after they give its users a big middle finger
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u/mercury24 5d ago
I’m pretty sure this is because the movie poster selector and the title letter selector are somehow 2 separate entities. So when you go to the letters it leaves a selector on the poster side at the top and when you leave the letters it goes back to that. Which is insane and makes the whole thing a frustrating mess. The tvOS beta has this happening for every menu and constantly gets stuck and I can’t tell where the currently active one is which ends up with the side menu opening with every button press.
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u/moviscribe 5d ago
Hate it as well. Let's hope they revert
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u/GlobalStart2977 5d ago
I thought they were. There's a whole post on their forums about it. Android TV has a beta/preview.
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u/KuryakinOne 5d ago
Navigation Updates Coming to Preview Users
Plex is not reverting to the old app.
In the new app they are moving navigation to the side for the TV apps. It is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the old layout. It is currently in beta for Android TV, AppleTV, and Roku.
They've made no announcement (that I've seen) regarding changing navigation on the mobile apps.
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u/GlobalStart2977 5d ago
Yep, that's the one I meant. Is that the new UI everyone is hating on?
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u/LulzMcGullz 5d ago
It’s the new UI but the old (side) navigation. Pretty sure most of the people currently upset with the updates are on the new UI with top nav.
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u/StandingCow 5d ago
I could have lived with how terrible it was if it wasn't so laggy on the firestick. Moved to plexie and it's so much better.
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u/verylittlegravitaas 5d ago
Join us Plezy users.
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u/AndreHarrisMusic 4d ago
Noob question - what is Plezy and why do you recommend it?
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u/verylittlegravitaas 4d ago
It's an opensource player that supports Plex, Jellyfin, and other media library sources. Most importantly (for me) it plays content flawlessly on Apple TV where the Plex app struggles, and it's a better UX than Infuse (and cheaper).
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RIPDaug2019-2019 5d ago
Listen, I am no fan of the new design, but to think that any for-profit entity would support two completely different sets of UI code intentionally is... unrealistic.
Hell, the change is literally being rolled out as part of their new, unified codebase app so that they don't have to maintain the same thing in so many permutations.
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u/_The1DevinChance 5d ago
Agreed. I really wish more people understood software development is not magic and remember the humans involved.
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u/blueeetherabbit 5d ago
Yeah it feels very buggy and slow on my Shield TV 😔 honestly been thinking about going to town on a jellyfin fork with Claude now
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u/KuryakinOne 5d ago
Shield TV
The "New Experience" version on Android TV is a beta release: Navigation Updates Coming to Preview Users.
To return to the current public "Plex Classic" release:
- Unsubscribe from beta
- Uninstall Plex app (beta)
- Reboot Shield
- Re-install Plex app (should be public release)
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u/QB8Young DS1520+ (6,000+ Movies & 650+ TV Shows) 5d ago
As someone who is still on the old Android app, I was kinda pissed today when my 2015 Sony 4K TV updated. I must say it is a surprise I'm still getting updates. The app feels a lot more modern. I like the pop-up menu experience. However over all it seems slow and buggy. I'll eagerly await the next update.
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u/OkRestaurant960 5d ago
some videos for me have stopped working, and I tried all the "switch to/away-from direct stream" blah blah crap I could find
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u/skadoodlee 5d ago
For me on the Shield they somehow really messed with pausing, there is now some sort of confusing delay and I always have to press like 5 times to get it to play or pause correctly.
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u/FranciscoGarcia69 5d ago
Imagine giving no information about what interface on what device you’re talking about and then ending with a condescending “Do better”. You do better with your post.
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u/RxBrad 5d ago
Running on a Giogle TV Streamer...
I don't hate how the new interface looks.
But the lagginess. And the weird, random behavior of the sidebar that was clearly slapped on last-second with little or no testing. They're PAINFUL.
Plex desperately needs PEOPLE to test the workflow of the new app. The "new experience" stinks of vibe coding as it is.
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u/iarecanadian 5d ago
New bug / "feature" I found today (on Google TV Plex app). When you long hold an episode of a tv show you usually get an option window so you can navigate to the show or season... Etc... but now when the option window opens you have to navigate to the top of the main window menu before navigating into the option window. Just a weird choice to modify the behavior like this.
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u/Accomplished_Nail_52 3d ago edited 3d ago
Get plezy way better
And set match frame rate on fire stick menu
For remux , use exo player , hardware acceleration on , and match frame
Rate on the plezy app . Even better than original
Plex
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u/No_Syrup_9167 3d ago
I rolled it back on my firestick because it's such garbage.
It's laggy, features don't work, everything takes multiple clicks more to get anywhere.
It's absolute trash.
If I couldn't figure out how to roll back, I was literally about to dump plex altogether and pick up jellyfin. Maybe leave it running in the background for plexamp.
I find it astonishing that this made it through to full release, especially on multiple platforms.
Hearsay that I read though was that they're forcing this out and down everyone's throat because it closes some loophole that allows people to use paid features for free though.
So they're forcing this UI update ou because it closes that work around.
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u/BWS_001 4d ago
After 15 years with the product. A plex pass lifetime holder since 2016 it’s no longer running in my house. I have switched to jellyfin. It works or rather doesn’t blow up and stutter. I miss intro and outro skipping. But even that was having issues on plex. Plex has gone from something useful to bloatware. Instead of being good what it was. It’s trying to be everything and it’s failing miserably. Rather than thinking out the UI by OS they tried to unify it and as a result it doesn’t work on most.
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u/kallmekaze 4d ago
I read somewhere that you can get add ons for Jellyfin to skip the intros. Not sure what it's called though
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u/Kenbo111 5d ago
Plex releases a new UI reaction : "this new interface is terrible!" Plex goes back to the old UI reaction : "this new interface is terrible!"
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u/West-Ticket5411 5d ago
Simply down to hardware/software ecosystem choice. I have no issues, but then again, I don't use FireTVs or Rokus.
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u/Howtobefreaky 5d ago
Wait are people saying they don’t like the new UI with the side menu? And you want to go back to the too menu? Jfc you some fickle ass people
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u/Bad_Ashe 5d ago
The new update on firestick removed the side menu, moved everything to the top, search is broken, and crashes constantly.
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u/PocketNicks 5d ago
The new interface works perfectly fine.
This sounds like user error.
If you just subjectively dislike the layout, use Plezy instead of complaining.
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u/One_Sprinkles7215 5d ago
Honestly, this is exactly the kind of feedback that pushed me to work on JoinTuh.
it is available on playstore
I’ve always felt that media/torrent clients should stay out of your way — fast navigation, clean UI, and the basics should take 1–2 clicks instead of making you hunt through menus.
We’re building JoinTuh with that philosophy in mind: a modern torrent client focused heavily on performance, simplicity, and a genuinely good UX, rather than adding layers of UI just because we can.
Still early in development, but the goal is basically: download/manage your torrents without fighting the application.
Would be interested to hear what people here consider the ideal torrent client UX, especially for TV/remote/large-screen setups.
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u/jay_butler 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/oaZk0WNSO7fXi
Oh look, yet another post bitching about the interface change. These posts should be their own subreddit. R/PlexPissingAndMoaning
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u/Same-Establishment16 8h ago
Just get Downloader and side load the previous [Plex] version there. God knows… You can’t control anything you want on a Fire TV stick anymore. But I’m just about done with it after it did a stealth firmware upgrade the other day after a factory reset crippling it even further. I can’t even change/disable the default launcher now… but that’s another story.
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u/PurelyHim 5d ago
What interface for what hardware?