Plex, one of the most popular software solutions for those looking to host their own video and audio media, is about to undergo some big updates. The company is billing it as a rewrite of its entire code base, which will enable it to bring new features and better support for a variety of platforms. Unfortunately, this retooling also means the loss of a fan favorite feature.
Watch Together, a feature that was implemented during the dark days of the pandemic lockdown era, won’t be available in the new version of Plex. Users who still want to enjoy content with faraway friends and family will need to make use of the web app. It’s a very limited way to access Watch Together, and nowhere near as user friendly as being able to use it within the app, but it’s better than nothing we’d suppose.
The Plex user community has been less than pleased with the announcement. User posts popped up on both the company’s official forums as well as the Plex subreddit decrying the loss of the feature. With one redditor saying, “TLDR: Plex saw our love and tremendous response to a feature so they removed it.” With another adding that “This is a huge bummer. The web app isn’t going to cut it for this.”
It’s an odd decision for the company to make. If this big rewrite of its apps is supposed to enable an easier development pipeline, why did such a popular feature get cut? This would’ve made more sense if it was announced as a temporary removal with an eye towards bringing it back at a later date. Instead, this decision will at least partially drown out whatever positives the new Plex experience will be ushering in.
At the very least, the company seemed open to bringing it back, if fans made enough noise. Judging by the thread on reddit that now contains 1,200+ comments, the developers should plan on adding this back to the Plex roadmap.