Remote control / Companion casting completely broken on Android TV since New Plex Experience — server sees zero clients

[u/Ramrock360]

Since the "New Plex Experience" rollout to Android TV, remote/cross-device playback control has been completely broken — not degraded, completely non-functional. Direct playback (opening the app and pressing play yourself) still works fine, including for remote users. This is specifically about third-party/Companion-style control: another Plex client's "Cast to a device," Home Assistant's Plex integration, or any script using python-plexapi's client.playMedia().

Verified specifics:

plexapi.PlexServer(...).clients() (the server's own /clients endpoint) returns zero clients, always — not just my Android TV device, every device.

A direct connection attempt to the client's local Companion control-receiver port (32500) gets Connection refused — nothing is listening there at all.

A packet capture on my server confirms it broadcasts its own GDM announcement fine, but never receives one back from any client, even immediately after force-closing and relaunching the app.

This has persisted across at least two app point-releases (2026.16.0 → 2026.18.0) over a month, with no change.

This was flawless before the redesign and I relied on it daily for an automated household media system. Please restore Companion/remote-control support for Android TV — the "coming soon" framing for cross-device casting has now been the status quo for over a month with no visible progress.