Plex's confusing new "Lists" feature actually solves a huge mobile problem

Last year, Plex introduced a major redesign to its mobile apps and some functionality was removed in the process. It basically made it impossible to use playlists from your phone. Now Plex adds an extremely similar feature called simply “Lists” that oddly solves the problem.

It was like that before today playlists are very difficult to use In the Plex mobile app. While playlists remain intact on the web and TV apps, they have become much harder to find on phones. The biggest problem, however, was that you couldn’t add or remove content to playlists on the mobile app. The option was completely removed for some reason.

today, Plex announced “Lists” and this is the third list-based feature on the platform. Lists don’t replace Playlists or Watchlists, but they are quite similar. Recognizing that this is a bit confusing, Plex has provided the table below to highlight the differences.

Source	List (New Feature)	Watch list	Playlist	Collection
Media Source	Any searchable title (movie, show, season or episode) in Plex.	Any searchable title on Plex	Items on private media servers only	Items on private media servers only
Content type	Movies, TV Shows, Seasons and Episodes (all in one list)	Any Title (Movies, Shows)	Movies, episodes	Movies, Shows, and Episodes (one type per collection)
Source	Account Level	Account Level	Personal Media Server	Personal Media Server
Visibility and Sharing	Each list can have its own visibility setting and can be shared (of your choice!)	Multiple visibility settings, cannot be shared	Visible only to the Creator (More here)	PMS Owner Controls Visibility. Cannot be shared (More here)
Playability (Within Feature)	Playable through existing services	Playable through existing services	It can be played and mixed	It can be played and mixed
creation	Everyone*	Everyone	PMS users	PMS owners
Curation: Can I edit or customize an order?	Edit – yes Custom order – yes	Edit – yes Special order – no	Edit – yes Custom order – yes	Edit – yes Custom order – yes

Key things to know Lists are not limited to private media server content or users, and they can be shared. If you’re a playlist lover, you’ll be happy to know that Lists are fully accessible in the Plex mobile app. You can create Lists and add or remove content from your phone – just like how Playlists work. They are found in your profile.

Frankly, it’s all a bit weird and confusing. It makes sense to separate the media server content and Plex’s own content in the lists. For example, sharing a list containing a movie from your private server would not be useful to anyone outside of your server. However, I think it would be easier to have some sort of list and just restrict lists with media server content to be private.

Regardless of the logistics, I’m happy to at least be able to control the content on the lists again from my phone. The new Lists feature is currently rolling out to Plex on all platforms.