Importing via Plex

Homecrate can connect to a Plex Media Server running on your local network, letting you stream or download your Plex music library directly into the app. Plex support is a Pro feature.

What is Plex?

Plex is a media server you run on your computer or NAS. It organizes your music (and video) collection and serves it over your local network or the internet. If you already have a Plex server with music, Homecrate can read from it directly.

You need a Plex Media Server running somewhere on your home network before this feature is useful. If you don’t have one, use standard file import instead.

Signing In to Plex

There are two ways to connect, and both require Pro. The badge above the sign-in button mentions only “easy sign-in with automatic server discovery”, but without Pro the manual Address and Token fields below it are dimmed and won’t accept input either — so connecting a server is a Pro feature however you go about it.

Go to Settings → Plex Streaming Settings
Tap Sign in with Plex
A browser sheet opens — log in with your Plex account
Homecrate automatically discovers your server address and token

[SCREENSHOT: Plex sign-in button in Settings]

Manual Entry (Pro)

If automatic discovery doesn’t find your server (common on some network configurations):

Go to Settings → Plex Streaming Settings
Enter your server’s Address (e.g. https://192.168.1.100:32400)
Enter your Token (find it in Plex Web → Account → XML settings)

[SCREENSHOT: Manual Plex address and token fields]

Importing from Plex

Once connected, tap Add in the Library header to open the import sheet, then switch to its Plex tab.

[SCREENSHOT: Import sheet with the Local Files / Plex tabs, Plex selected]

Homecrate fetches your Plex music library and presents it in the Import Preview modal. Tap Import to add your Plex tracks to the local library.

Imported Plex tracks are stored in the database as source: 'plex'. Their path field contains the Plex streaming URL rather than a local file path. They stream over your network rather than playing from local storage. To make them available offline, you need to download them. See Downloading for Offline Use.

Streaming vs. Downloading

Plex tracks that have not been downloaded stream from your server over WiFi or cellular. The way to tell them apart in the Library is the Download button on the row: only tracks that are still remote show it. While a download is running the button reads Getting, and once the track is local the button disappears.

[SCREENSHOT: All Tracks row for a remote Plex track showing its Download button]

To download a track for offline use, tap that Download button on the row in the All Tracks view. You don’t need to long-press first — the button is always visible on remote tracks.

Downloaded tracks play from local storage and remain available when your Plex server is unreachable. See Downloading Tracks for Offline Use for the full process, including what happens to storage and how to tell a download finished.

Troubleshooting Plex Connection

Server not found after sign-in:

Make sure your iPhone and Plex server are on the same WiFi network
Check that Plex Media Server is running on the host machine
Try entering the server address manually in Settings

Tracks won’t stream:

Verify the server address is reachable from your device (paste it into Safari)
Check that your Plex token hasn’t expired — sign in again via Settings

Import shows no tracks:

Confirm your Plex library has a Music section (not just Movies/TV)
Try refreshing your Plex library from the Plex web interface