If you"re a fan of Plex and have always wished you could add podcasts to the media you already have in your library, the company has great news for you today. In a blog post, the company has announced a new major update to its mobile apps on both Android and iOS. The update brings support for podcasts and a new home screen that is completely customizable.
Starting with the highlight of the update, podcast support is finally arriving in Plex, though in a beta state for now. Podcasts already support a lot of the features offered by Plex, including On Deck, rich metadata, and view state synced across devices. Additionally, a Plex Media Server isn"t required to use podcasts, and the feature is free for all users.
The company touts easy discoverability for the podcasts, and it"s also easy to manage your personal podcasts. Once you find a podcast you"re interested in, you can add it to your personal collection and from there it behaves just like any other TV show you would add to your collection.
Additionally, the company has added new playback features to go along with podcast support. Playback speed and the ability to skip forward or backward are now part of the app, but more features related to podcasts will be coming over time, such as support for importing OPML files from other apps and offline playback support.
The new update also introduces a new customizable interface for the app"s home screen. With the latest version, users can rearrange the content on their home screen in the way they prefer and move the home screen categories around so the most relevant content is visible first.
The app also adds tabs at the bottom of the screen, making it easier to jump from one type of media to another. These tabs are also fully customizable, so users only see the types of media they"re interested in on the home screen.
The new customizable home screen is rolling out now to users on Android and iOS, and you can get the Android app from the Play Store, and the iOS version from the App Store. Podcast support is available for those two platforms in addition to Roku and Plex Web, but other platforms - hopefully including the Xbox One app refreshed late last year - will be coming soon.