Quality Settings for Plex on IOS

Using Plex over cellular isn’t as straight forward as it is on streaming devices and computers that are connected to WIFI or hardwired. Cellular is rarely as fast as the WIFI connections we use at home, and this can cause problems when trying to steam high quality or high bitrate files.

The following settings will need to be adjusted on your iPhone or iPad if your video is buffering or not playing at all.

This guide was made using version 6.1 of the Plex app for IOS.

Open the Plex app on your IOS device and tap the the icon that has 3 lines in it, also known as the “hamburger” button.

Then click the “gear” icon in the top right corner.

In the settings menu, click on Quality.

The Quality screen is where adjustments might have to be made to eliminate buffering or playback issues. The screen on the right are the quality options you’ll be presented with when changing the Home or Remote streaming values.

Automatically Adjust Quality – This is a relatively new setting for Plex. Enabling this setting should be the first thing you do when troubleshooting playback problems. When auto quality is turned on, videos will start at the quality that you have selected in your app’s quality settings, then increase or decrease quality based on your connection speed.

Limit Cellular Data – Set the maximum video quality when playing video over a cellular network. An estimate amount of playback time per gigabyte of data used is provided for each setting to help you determine the ideal quality to help you reduce your data usage.

Remote Streaming – This setting adjusts the quality of your stream while NOT at home on WIFI. This is probably the setting that will most affect your streams when not at home. Slowly lowering the stream quality can fix buffering issues. 720P HD (2 mbps) is a good place to start and works for most people. As a last resort 480P (1.5 mbps) or lower can be used.

Home Streaming – This setting adjusts the quality of your stream while connected to your home WIFI network where speed shouldn’t be an issue. Maximum is the recommended setting here.

Adjusting the settings above should fix all your streaming problems. If any issues persist, contact your Plex server Administrator for help.