Plex, the popular media server and streaming app, has a handful of announcements today. The service is adding new discovery and community features for all users and upgraded video streaming quality for Plex Pass users. Perhaps most notable for Apple users, however, is that Plex is expanding its preview of the all-new Plex experience to Apple TV. Plex outlined its announcements in a blog post today. The company says that one of its focuses in 2025 is improving discovery and the community among its users. As part of this, you can now write reviews that are visible to other users on Plex. You can also comment on reviews posted by other Plex users. To us, discovery isnt just about finding what to watch, but also about finding more friends and fans like you in the process. For that reason you can now access your Plex profile onwatch.plex.tv, and make it visible to ANYONE! By default all Plex users arefindable by other Plex users in the app via search (unless youve already changed this setting). By making your profile publicly accessible onwatch.plex.tvyou can easily share a link to your profile with others so that they can see what youve been watching,whats on your Watchlist, and more!There are, of course, privacy aspects to this. Plex says that by default, all Plex users are findable by other Plex users in the app via search. However, the company emphasizes that your privacy settings have not changed. If youve opted out of this behavior in the past, you will not be automatically opted back in. In the settings menu of the Plex app, youll find a new option to Share My Ratings and Reviews. You can choose between five different options: AnyoneAnyone signed in to PlexFriends of FriendsFriends only PrivateNew Apple TV app previewLast November, Plex unveiled a dramatic redesign for its iPhone app that is completely rewritten from the ground up. At the time, Plex released a preview version of the app via TestFlight for iPhone users. Now, the company is expanding that preview experience to Apple TV users. The focus of the new Plex design is a revamped navigation system. There are also some big visual changes, including larger and more immersive artwork. In addition to the cosmetic changes and new features, Plex says this is also a major under-the-hood overhaul. The app has been rewritten from the ground up and unifies its platforms across a single codebase. This should enable faster development of updates and new features going forward.You can sign up to try the new app by heading to the Plex forumsand joining the beta. A page on the Plex website also details features still missing from the new app, including casting, select download and offline features, and more. Plex emphasizes that the new app is nowhere close to perfect, but we want to get feedback from the community as early as we can. You can learn more about the new Plex experience in our original coverage from November. Finally, Plex Pass subscribers now have access to HEVC hardware encoding. Plex says that this will offer higher-quality video over the same bandwidth: HEVC encoding offers a better visual quality at the same bit rate, allowing for a higher-quality video over the same (or lower!) bandwidth usage for streaming from your Plex Media Server. Additionally, this encoding has the ability to preserve HDR metadata,which means no tone mapping is required!Check out Plexs blog post for more details on todays announcements. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel