It cannot be denied that the official plex app It’s been going in the wrong direction for a while. It’s full of streaming recommendations that I don’t want and loading content has become slow. Also, somewhere along the way, a bunch of features that I really enjoy were removed.
Now let me be clear: the basis media server It’s still great, but the surrounding ecosystem has evolved into something I’m not a big fan of. I run my own Plex server specifically for streaming my own media because it’s really great at that, and that’s how I want to move forward.
While researching alternatives, I realized that I don’t need to change my existing Plex server streaming stack yet. Instead, I can change the interface. That’s how I came across Plezy. It’s an open source cross-platform Plex client built on Flutter that connects directly to your existing Plex server and gives you access to the same library, play history, and accounts. The backend remains the same, but you get a much better front-end application for using your own server. I love it.
The Plex app that Plex should have built
Clean user interface and all the features you need
This may sound a little funny, but the first time I opened Plezy, it was immediately obvious that the person who had created this app was actually using Plex. The interface is clean and clearly focused on personal multimedia browsing. It’s fast and there aren’t any promotional shelves showing trending content from services I don’t subscribe to. You won’t find a discovery tab either. The entire experience is media-oriented, presented in a way that makes sense to discover your own personal media.
Likewise, the performance is excellent. Stripped of all additional features, Plezy breezes through deleting a video. Subtitles turn on and off quickly and episodes load without the delays that are quite common in the official client. In isolation, this may seem basic, but compared to the official Plex experience, it’s a pretty dramatic improvement in responsiveness.
And then there are the additional features. For example, Plex’s offline support on smartphones and tablets has been so unreliable that I stopped using it altogether. The sync would fail, the downloaded file would simply not play, or the app would only download half a season. At some point, I gave up and started moving files manually.
Plezy, on the other hand, manages offline downloads as expected, i.e. it works. Of course, since there are dedicated apps for Mac and Windows, you can also download files to your laptop. Downloads are no longer just a smartphone or tablet experience.
What the official Plex app gets wrong
All the things that Plezy solves
The interesting thing is that Plezy doesn’t just focus on the features that Plex has today. It also brings features that Plex removed.
Take, for example, look together. It used to be a fantastic Plex feature that allowed multiple users in different parts of the world to watch the same movie together. Unfortunately, Plex removed it a while ago. Plezy, however, takes it back and makes it even better. Watch Together on Plezy can even work with people using the standard Plex app. Similarly, the app supports a wide range of codecs, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+, meaning you won’t need to do much transcoding to keep your media playing.
Another standout feature is its ability to sync with a variety of movie and TV tracking services. If you use Trakt, you’ll know that you need to subscribe to a premium plan to be able to sync your current playback history from Plex. However, Plezy allows you to do this for free. You can sync clock progress and grades with TractMyAnimeList, AniList and even some other services. If you track what you watch across all platforms, that works here without workarounds or additional subscriptions.
The app also has configurable auto-skip for intros and credits, which Plex also offers, but Plezy lets you use it for free instead of requiring a premium plan. Speaking of free, Plezy has one more advantage over Plex and that is the price. At a time when Plex is becoming increasingly expensive, with a lifetime premium pass reaching $750 and even the Remote Viewing pass becoming more expensive, a better, cheaper, and preferably free alternative is more than welcome. Turns out that’s Plezy. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and even Android TV platforms. In addition, it is compatible with iPhone, iPad and even Amazon Fire Stick. Best of all, the experience is consistent across devices, with a design that fits well across phones, tablets, desktops, and TVs and doesn’t miss out on any features. All this is absolutely free. You can even check out the source code on GitHub if you want.
Why I’m switching from the Plex app and you should too
There are a few things why Plezy doesn’t completely replace the Plex app. For example, if you need to change server settings or manage your account, you’ll still want the official app for that. For the things that really matter, like watching content, which is pretty much all of what I do with Plex, the open source Plezy is better in almost every way that matters to me. It’s full-featured, possibly a better interface, and it’s free. What is it not to love?
If you’re still using Plex JellyfishI highly recommend checking out the Plezy app. In my opinion, it is a direct replacement for the official app, it does everything better and it is free.
