Streaming giant Plex officially introduced a new movie and TV show review feature this Wednesday, signaling a strategic shift toward social discovery. Following a $40 million funding round earlier this year, the platform is now positioning itself as a direct competitor to established social cataloging apps like Letterboxd and TV Time.
Building a Streaming Community
This update expands upon the “Discover Together” initiative launched last year, which allowed users to build profiles, follow friends, and track viewing habits. By integrating reviews, Plex is evolving from a simple streaming hub into a comprehensive social network for film and television enthusiasts.
Currently, reviews are visible only within a user’s network of friends and their “friends of friends.” However, the company is actively seeking beta testers through a public application to expand this functionality, eventually allowing users to share ratings with the entire service community.
How to Use the New Review Feature
To participate, users must have a verified email address. Reviews can be posted via the web interface or mobile applications. For those looking to review content within their Personal Media libraries, it is mandatory to enable the Sync Watch State & Ratings setting. All contributions must adhere to the official Community Guidelines.
Customizable Privacy and Control
Plex has implemented granular control settings to manage the social experience. Under the “Ratings and Reviews” section in Account settings, users can filter which opinions appear on detail pages—choosing between critics, other users, a mix of both, or disabling them entirely.
Regarding privacy, users can set their own reviews to “Private,” “Friends” (the default), or “Friends of Friends.” This focus on privacy is a calculated move following previous controversies surrounding the “Discover Together” launch, where an opt-out approach inadvertently exposed private viewing histories to social circles. Plex confirms that existing privacy configurations remain intact under this new rollout.