It’s already aggregating together all your movies and TV shows, and for its next trick Plex is hoping to handle all your podcast listening too, via a new update.
The big advantage of Plex’s podcast support is cross-device playback, which will allow you to sync your progress across different devices. Done a whole bunch of listening at the weekend on your phone? Plex should remember your progress so you can pick up where you left off when you open up your computer.
There’s also plenty of metadata options to allow you to find out more information about your favourite shows, as well as information to help you find related podcasts you might like.
Elsewhere, the functionality offers a fairly standard suite of options for a podcasting app, but there are some unfortunate omissions that you’ll have to wait a little longer for, such as having the ability to download podcasts for local listening, or import your podcast subscriptions from another app.
Podcasting and more
The launch of the new functionality will be accompanied by a design refresh of the mobile app which will allow you to customise which sections are displayed most prominently.
The update will be great news for existing Plex users, but personally I’ve always found the idea of podcast support in non-podcasting apps a little strange. Sure, you can listen to podcasts in Spotify, but why would you want to if you’ve already got a dedicated app that works for you?
I’ll try out the new update with an open mind, but Plex will have a big fight on its hands if it wants to take on the existing podcasting giants such as PocketCasts — which has been dedicated to solely serving the needs of podcast listeners for years.
What’s your podcasting app of choice? Get in touch with your thoughts @TrustedReviews.