Plex, the well-known media server and streaming platform, made several announcements today. The service is introducing new discovery and community features for all users, alongside enhanced video streaming quality specifically for Plex Pass subscribers.
What’s particularly significant for Apple users is that Plex is broadening its preview of the innovative Plex experience to Apple TV.
Plex shared its updates today in a blog post, emphasizing that enhancing user discovery and community connections will be a priority in 2025. Users can now write reviews that will be visible to others on Plex, and they will have the capability to comment on reviews made by fellow users.
“To us, discovery isn’t just about watching content; it’s also about connecting with friends and fans who share your interests. You can now access your Plex profile on watch.plex.tv and choose to make it visible to EVERYONE! By default, all Plex users can be found by others in the app through search (unless you have modified this setting). Making your profile public on watch.plex.tv allows you to share a link with others, giving them insight into what you’re watching, what’s on your Watchlist, and more!”
There are privacy considerations to bear in mind. Plex clarifies that “all Plex users can be found by other Plex users in the app via search” by default. Nevertheless, the company reassures that your privacy settings remain intact; if you’ve previously opted out of this feature, you will not be automatically re-enrolled.
Within the Plex app’s settings menu, you’ll find a new option titled “Share My Ratings and Reviews.” This feature allows you to choose from five different settings:
- Anyone
- Anyone signed in to Plex
- Friends of Friends
- Friends only
- Private
New Apple TV app preview
In November, Plex revealed a substantial redesign for its iPhone app, completely reconstructed from the ground up. Following that, Plex is now extending the preview experience to Apple TV users.
The update to Plex focuses on an improved navigation structure, along with significant visual enhancements, including larger and more engaging artwork.
Apart from these aesthetic changes and new features, Plex states that this is a major foundational overhaul. The app has been entirely rewritten and standardized across a single codebase, which should facilitate quicker updates and the addition of new features in the future.
If you want to test the new app, you can join the beta by visiting the Plex forums. The Plex website also details features that are still being developed for the new app, such as casting, selective downloads, and offline functionalities. Plex underscores that the new app is “nowhere close to perfect, but we want to gather feedback from the community as early as possible.”
You can read more about the new Plex experience in our original coverage from November.
Lastly, Plex Pass subscribers now have access to HEVC hardware encoding, which Plex claims will provide higher-quality video streaming over the same bandwidth:
“HEVC encoding delivers a superior visual quality at the same bit rate, allowing for high-quality video streaming with the same (or even lower!) bandwidth from your Plex Media Server. Additionally, this encoding can retain HDR metadata, eliminating the need for tone mapping!”
Visit Plex’s blog for more in-depth information about today’s announcements.
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