Plex iPhone App Puts All My Media in My Pocket

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I use Plex on my HTPC.  Now, I want to share a bit about the Plex iPhone App, which I also use.

Plex pulls together all of your media on your computer into one application.  The Plex iPhone App pushes all of that media to your mobile device.  It's great to have 100% of my media collection with me at all times.  I really enjoy using the Plex App to watch one of my movies or TV shows while I'm waiting for a flight at the airport, or on a treadmill at the gym.  Depending on the strength of your internet or cell connection, your video quality may fall below your personally acceptable standards, but in my experience the quality is more than fine 9 times out of 10.

In order to access your media remotely, you will need to do a bit of setup within the Plex Media Manager on your computer, and perhaps also within your router.  This may take some knowledge of how to open ports on your router, but for the most part Plex does the heavy lifting in the setup.

Once setup and functioning, the Plex App gives you access to all of your media from wherever you are (assuming you have Wi-Fi or cell service).  Because the app is pulling the media from your home computer or server, you don't have to worry about the amount of space the media takes up on your phone.  I have full access to my more than 250 movies, hundreds of TV show episodes, all of my home videos, photos and music.

The Plex App remote.

Another feature of the Plex App is a fully functioning remote for Plex.  The remote allows you to control Plex running on your HTPC using your iPhone.  I use this remote the majority of the time I am running Plex through my TV, as my iPhone is usually closer to reach for than my wireless keyboard.  The remote sometimes has a bit of a lag, but it works wonderfully more times than not.

The Plex App is available in the iTunes store.  The $4.99 price tag may scare some people off, but having purchased the app several months ago, I can say that if you have taken the time to organize your media and use Plex on your computer, it is well worth the five dollars to have all that media in your pocket wherever you go.  There is also a Plex App for iPad, which I also use.  It is extremely similar to the iPhone version.

Do you use the Plex iPhone App?  Have you had a good experience with it?