Plex has today announced an update to its Android app which brings with it the ability to play just about any video. While Plex is already a media-focused app, this update sees the Plex app essentially becoming a dedicated media player app as well. So in the shortest of terms, following the new update, Plex users will now be able to use the Plex app, as an app to watch any video on their Android device.
This includes videos that are not stored or accessed via a Plex server. So if a user does not have a Plex server set up, and simply has a number of videos stored locally on their Android device, the Plex app will now be able to play those videos without the need of a third-party video player app. Due to the app now acting as a media player app, you can also expect all the trappings and features associated with a media player. Such as advanced controls, activation or deactivation of subtitles, audio track selection, and so on. As well as more cosmetic features, like movie and TV show artwork. Likewise, Plex has confirmed that its media playback function will support “almost any popular video file format.” So going forward, whether you have content available on you Android device through a Plex server, or just stored locally on the device, the Plex app will now act as a one-stop solution for playing that content.
As for the availability of the update, the new functionality is relevant to version 6.0 of the Plex app and Plex has confirmed that the update is now rolling out through the Google Play Store. Although the feature will only be initially available as a beta feature with Plex confirming that the feature will be expanded on over time. As well as becoming more widely available through other avenues, such as the Amazon App Store. If you already have the Plex app installed on your device then you should see the update arrive organically in due course. Alternatively, if you have yet to give the Plex Android app a try, you can download the latest version of the app (with new local playback support) through the link below.
