# Crucible: Plex Client > A free, open-source Plex client for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV that skips anime filler, recaps and intros, with a Resume-first Home and offline downloads. - Page: https://midgarcorp.cc/crucible/ - Developer: Midgar Oy (https://midgarcorp.cc/) - Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple TV - Category: Entertainment - Price: Free download; in-app purchases: Lifetime $17.99, Annual $7.99 (US prices) - Current version: 2.4.0 (released 2026-10-31) - Requires: iOS 17.0+ · iPadOS 17.0+ · tvOS 17.0+ - Age rating: 4+ - Languages: EN - First released: 2026-10-15 - App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/crucible-for-plex/id6822066419 - Source code: https://github.com/guitaripod/Crucible - Support: https://midgarcorp.cc/crucible/support/ - Privacy policy: https://midgarcorp.cc/crucible/privacy/ ## Plex, done right on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV A fast, native Plex client for iPhone and iPad and a Liquid Glass living-room app for Apple TV, on one engine: a Resume-first Home, Essentials to skip the anime-only episodes of long shows, Skip Intro, Skip Recap and Skip Preview, playback that keeps your place through sleep and breaks, a Year in Review of your viewing and menus that look like the system's own. Free on the App Store, open source, and there is a built-in demo if you have no server to hand. ## Highlights - Free on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, with an optional Crucible Pro that covers all three - Essentials skips the anime-only episodes of long shows (Dragon Ball Super: 110 of 131, or 83 with the films you've seen), and Skip Recap and Skip Preview read your files' own chapters - A Resume-first Home on every device: Continue Watching and Up Next lead, the artwork does the rest - iPad: a library sidebar, several windows, a menu bar and keyboard shortcuts, with layouts that use a large window - Apple TV: a cinematic Home, the system player, native menus and Top Shelf - iPhone: offline downloads with a Live Activity, Skip Intro, Picture-in-Picture and background audio - Works with Trakt and your own Seerr: scrobbling, ratings and check-ins to Trakt are free, requests for what is missing go to your Seerr, and Crucible Pro brings everything you watched anywhere into Statistics - Keeps your place: back at the exact moment you left after sleep, a short rewind after a break, and Still watching? before a season plays on - Open source under GPL-3.0, with no sign-up, ads or analytics: it talks to plex.tv, your server and, for Crucible Pro, Midgar's purchase ledger ## Features ### Skip what doesn't matter Essentials hides the anime-only episodes of long shows, the ones that adapt no chapter of the manga: Dragon Ball Super goes from 131 episodes to 110, or 83 if you've seen the two films it opens by retelling, and Up Next follows your choice. The show page offers it once and says how much time it saves; any episode comes back with a long press. The guides come from Crucible Guides, an open dataset built from fan wikis (CC BY-SA) and checked every week. When a file's chapters are named, the player also offers Skip Recap, Skip Preview and Skip Ending, and Spoiler Shield hides the titles and stills of episodes you haven't seen. ### Previously On, from your own computer Crucible Server is a free, optional companion for the computer that runs Plex. Pair it once by scanning a QR code, and Crucible offers a Previously On for any show you've been watching: a short recap of the last episodes you finished, written by a model on your own hardware from the episodes' own subtitles and Plex's synopsis, checked so it never names someone the episode didn't and never reaches past what you've seen. Nothing leaves your network. It's open source under GPL-3.0, for Linux and macOS, with a Homebrew formula and an AUR package. ### Made for the couch On Apple TV a full-screen backdrop follows focus, the hero shows the title, details and synopsis, and rails of Continue Watching, Up Next and Recently Added sit under it. Select opens, Play/Pause plays, a long press opens a native context menu. Liquid Glass controls on tvOS 26, the classic look with the same layout on older systems. ### Made for iPad Crucible is one universal app, so the iPad runs the same app with room to spread out. A sidebar lists your libraries, and several windows can be open at once: choose Open in New Window on a title, or drag its card to the edge of the screen. A menu bar and keyboard shortcuts cover the rest (Space plays, S skips the intro or credits, N plays the next episode, Command-F searches), artwork lifts under the pointer, and rails, grids and detail pages use the room a large window gives them. One Crucible Pro purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. ### A player that respects your time Skip Intro and Skip Credits from Plex markers — on iPhone as a button with a live progress sweep, automatic with Undo, or off; on Apple TV as native actions on the system player, with an Up Next card that counts down to the next episode. Picture-in-Picture, background audio and lock-screen controls come along on iPhone. On Apple TV you choose how far a click left or right on the remote skips, and whether holding either side rewinds and fast-forwards as usual, jumps 1 to 10 minutes, starts over or plays the next episode; on iPhone the same distances drive the Lock Screen, Control Center and headphone skip buttons. ### Keeps your place If the Apple TV sleeps, the app goes to the background or the server drops the stream while you are away, Crucible puts you back at the exact moment you left: it never restarts the episode or skips ahead. Come back after a break and playback backs up a few seconds, more the longer you were gone, so you are back in the scene; Settings can turn that off. After a few episodes in a row without touching the remote, Crucible asks Still watching? before the next one, so a season does not play on while you sleep: off, or after 2, 3 or 5 episodes, 3 by default. ### Take it offline Download movies, whole seasons or single episodes at the quality you pick, from Original to Data Saver, or let a season sheet grab the unwatched or the next three. Downloads run in the background, resume on their own and stay Wi-Fi-only unless you say otherwise, with a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. One download at a time is free; Crucible Pro lifts the limit. ### Plays anything, your way Direct play when your device handles the file, automatic HLS transcoding through Plex's universal transcoder when it doesn't. Subtitle and audio track selection, adjustable speed, cast and crew, and More Like This on every title. ### Browse the way you think Home opens on a Resume hero, then Continue Watching, Up Next and Recently Added. Every library has filter chips for Unwatched and In Progress, genre and sort, an A–Z scrubber, a Recently Watched rail and raw folder browsing, and search groups results by type with a Top Result. On Apple TV each movie or show library gets its own tab. ### Try it without a server No Plex server yet? Choose Try the demo on the welcome screen and explore a fictional library with everything unlocked: Home, search, playback with Skip Intro, Statistics and, on iPhone, downloads and the Year in Review poster. A short guided tour shows each part, and leaving the demo takes you to the real Plex sign-in. ### Know your viewing Watch History grouped by day and a Year-in-Review dashboard of watch time, streaks, an activity heatmap, top shows, binges and taste, built from your own Plex history on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. The last week is free; Crucible Pro adds the month, year and all-time views, the library filter, the shareable poster and, with Trakt connected, Everything: the plays Trakt recorded in other apps, on streaming services and at the cinema, counted once beside your Plex history. ### Works with Trakt Connect Trakt in Settings › Integrations with a code, on iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Crucible then records what you watch as you watch it, downloads included once you are back online, sends the titles you mark watched, your ratings and check-ins, and shows Trakt's score beside Plex's rating on each title's page. It asks before it doubles up with Trakt's own Plex sync. All of that is free; Crucible Pro adds your whole Trakt history to Statistics. ### Ask for what's missing Connect the Seerr, Overseerr or Jellyseerr that runs beside your Plex server, and a title that is not on the server gets Request. Crucible finds Seerr on its own at home and over Tailscale, keeps up as you move between the two, and shows each title as requested, approved, downloading and finally ready to play. A step-by-step guide sets Seerr up from nothing, in the app and at midgarcorp.cc/crucible/seerr. Requesting is free; approving and declining everyone's requests is Crucible Pro. ### Continues across devices Watch progress syncs to your server, so Resume picks up where you left off on your phone, your iPad, your TV or anywhere else you sign in. Handoff and Spotlight carry titles between your Apple devices, and the Apple TV signs in from your phone with a short code and a QR code. ### Built different Swift 6 and programmatic UIKit, with one shared engine under both apps: networking, playback, statistics and every screen's rules are shared, and the screens only render them. Liquid Glass, Light and Dark, Dynamic Type and VoiceOver throughout. It is open source, and the iPhone app is cross-compiled on Arch Linux and deployed over USB with no Xcode and no macOS; the Apple TV app is an Xcode project. ## How it works 1. **Get it on the App Store**: Crucible for Plex is one free listing for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. No server yet? Open it and choose Try the demo. 2. **Sign in to Plex**: Authenticate with Plex over OAuth on iPhone and iPad, or with a short code and QR code from your phone on Apple TV. Crucible discovers your servers and picks the best reachable connection automatically. 3. **Press play**: Pick up with the Resume hero, filter your poster grids or search everything you own, then direct play or transcode, skip the intro, send it to Picture-in-Picture and let Up Next roll the next episode. ## Or build it from source, Crucible is open source, so you can build it yourself instead of using the App Store: the iPhone app once with xtool, signed with your own Apple ID, over USB (a free Apple ID is enough); the Apple TV app with Xcode on a Mac. A build from source is fully unlocked, with no Pro purchase. You need an iPhone on iOS 17 or later, a cable, and a Mac, a Linux PC, or Windows with WSL. 1. **Install xtool**: xtool builds and installs iOS apps without Xcode's interface. On a Mac, install Xcode 26 or newer from the App Store, open it once, then install xtool. ```sh brew install xtool-org/tap/xtool ``` On Linux or Windows (WSL) you install Swift 6.4, usbmuxd, and Xcode's `.xip` from Apple instead; the step-by-step guide below lists each command. 2. **Sign in to Apple**: Pick `1: Password` to use any Apple ID, a free one included, then enter the two-factor code. Your credentials go only to Apple. On Linux and Windows it also asks for the path to the `.xip`. ```sh xtool setup ``` 3. **Build it and put it on your phone**: Plug the phone in, unlock it and tap Trust. The script checks your setup, builds Crucible in release mode and installs it. The first build takes several minutes. If it asks for Developer Mode, turn it on in Settings > Privacy & Security, restart the phone and run the script again. ```sh git clone https://github.com/guitaripod/Crucible cd Crucible && ./scripts/install-ios.sh ``` 4. **Trust it and open it**: On the phone: Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > your Apple ID > Trust, then open Crucible and sign in with Plex. A free Apple ID's build stops opening after 7 days; run the script again to renew it. 5. **Apple TV, optional**: The Apple TV app is an Xcode project, because xtool doesn't support tvOS. It needs a Mac with Xcode 26 or newer and XcodeGen. Generate the project, open it, choose your signing team and run it on your paired Apple TV; the README and `tv/README.md` cover the details. ```sh cd Crucible/tv && xcodegen generate && open CrucibleTV.xcodeproj ``` The Top Shelf extension needs the App Group capability, so it only shows up when your signing setup provides it. tvOS 17 or later; Liquid Glass needs tvOS 26 on an Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) or later. ## Pricing **Free** ($0): - Browsing, search and playback on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV - Skip Intro, Skip Credits and Picture-in-Picture - The whole Apple TV app, and Statistics for the last week - Trakt scrobbling, ratings and check-ins, and requests through your Seerr - One offline download at a time on iPhone - The built-in demo, with everything unlocked **Crucible Pro** ($17.99 once · $7.99/yr until Dec 7): - Unlimited offline downloads on iPhone - The full Statistics screen: month, year and all-time, with the library filter - Everything you watched in Statistics, with Trakt connected - The shareable Year in Review poster on iPhone - Approve, decline and retry everyone's Seerr requests - Top Shelf on Apple TV: Continue Watching and Up Next on the Home screen - One purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, with Family Sharing - Lifetime: $17.99 (once, never renews; launch price until December 7, 2026, then $39.99) - Annual: $7.99 (per year, auto-renewing; $14.99 for new subscribers from December 7, 2026, while existing subscribers keep their price) Prices are US dollars and vary by region. The annual subscription renews automatically until cancelled in your Apple Account settings, at least 24 hours before the end of the period; the lifetime unlock never renews. Both are family-shareable, and either one unlocks Crucible Pro on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. A build from source is always fully unlocked. Crucible has no sign-up, no ads and no analytics. It talks to plex.tv and the server you choose, and to Trakt or your own Seerr only if you connect them; Crucible Pro purchases are recorded with an anonymous Midgar ID in Midgar's purchase ledger, and the app contains no third-party SDK. ## FAQ ### Is Crucible on the App Store? Yes. Crucible for Plex is a free download on the App Store, one listing for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It is also open source under GPL-3.0, so you can build it yourself if you prefer; a build from source is fully unlocked. ### Which shows does Essentials cover? Every show in Crucible Guides, an open dataset at github.com/guitaripod/crucible-guides. It starts with Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, whose wiki records for every episode the manga chapters it adapts and whether the whole episode is anime-only; an episode is hidden only when both say so. More shows join as their wikis carry both signals, and anyone can add one with a pull request. Skip Recap and Skip Preview work on any show whose files name their chapters. ### What is free, and what is Crucible Pro? Browsing, search and playback are free on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, with Skip Intro, Skip Credits, Picture-in-Picture on iPhone, the Statistics view for the last week, one download at a time, Trakt scrobbling, ratings and check-ins, and requests through your Seerr. Crucible Pro unlocks unlimited offline downloads, the full Statistics screen with every range, the library filter and everything Trakt knows you watched, the Year in Review poster, approving and declining Seerr requests, and Top Shelf on Apple TV. Pay once for lifetime access or subscribe yearly; one purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, and Family Sharing is on. ### Can I try it without a Plex server? Yes. Choose Try the demo on the welcome screen. It runs a fictional library from inside the app, with no account and no network, and everything is unlocked so you can try playback, search, Statistics and, on iPhone, downloads. A short tour walks you through it, and leaving the demo takes you to the real Plex sign-in. ### Is there an iPad app? Yes. Crucible is a universal app, so the iPad uses the same App Store listing and the same Crucible Pro purchase as the iPhone. On a large window it uses the room: a sidebar lists your libraries, you can open several windows (Open in New Window on a title, or drag its card to the edge of the screen), a menu bar and keyboard shortcuts cover the common actions (Space plays, S skips the intro or credits, N plays the next episode, Command-F searches), and artwork lifts under the pointer. A narrow window, Split View or Slide Over looks like the phone. It runs on iPadOS 17 or later; the library sidebar needs iPadOS 18 and the menu bar iPadOS 26. ### Is there an Apple TV app? Yes, in the same App Store listing as the iPhone app. It is built for the Siri Remote on the same engine: a cinematic Home, a tab for every library, search, movie, show and episode pages, the system player with Skip Intro and Skip Credits as native actions and an Up Next card, Watch History, Statistics, a Year in Review card and a Top Shelf extension. It runs on tvOS 17 or later; tvOS 26 on an Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later) gets Liquid Glass controls, and older systems and boxes get the classic look with the same layout. ### What happens if playback is interrupted, or I fall asleep? Crucible keeps your place. If the Apple TV sleeps, the app goes to the background or the server drops the stream while you are away, it puts you back at the exact moment you left and never restarts the episode or skips ahead. After a break, playback backs up a few seconds (more the longer you were away) so you are back in the scene; you can turn that off in Settings. After a few episodes in a row without touching the remote, Crucible asks Still watching? before it plays the next one. Settings lets you turn that off or ask after 2, 3 or 5 episodes; the default is 3. ### Do I need Plex Pass? Not on your home network. To stream away from home, Plex asks for a Plex Pass on the server owner's account or a Remote Watch Pass on yours, and Skip Intro and Skip Credits rely on markers that a Plex Pass server detects. Those are Plex's rules, not Crucible's, and they can change. Crucible is an independent app and is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Plex, Inc. ### What does it need to run? An iPhone on iOS 17 or later, an iPad on iPadOS 17 or later or an Apple TV on tvOS 17 or later, and a Plex Media Server you can reach. Crucible talks directly to your server, so a device away from home needs a route to it; it works well over Tailscale. ### Does it support Skip Intro, PiP, and lock-screen controls? Yes, and they are free. Skip Intro and Skip Credits come from Plex chapter markers, on iPhone and on Apple TV. On iPhone, Picture-in-Picture and background audio keep playback going and the lock screen and Control Center drive play, skip, scrub, and next episode. On Apple TV they are native actions on the system player. ### Can I download movies and shows to watch offline? Yes, on iPhone. Download movies, full seasons, or single episodes at the quality you choose, from Original to Data Saver. Downloads run in the background and resume after interruptions, stay Wi-Fi-only unless you allow cellular, and live in a Downloads tab with a storage summary, the live queue and one-tap cleanup of watched titles. A Live Activity shows progress on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. One download at a time is free; Crucible Pro removes the limit. Offline playback uses the same player, so Skip Intro and Credits, resume and Picture-in-Picture all work with no network. ### Does it work with Trakt? Yes, from version 2.9. Connect Trakt in Settings › Integrations with the code it shows, on iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Scrobbling while you watch, plays from downloads, watched marks, ratings, check-ins and Trakt's score on each title are free. With Crucible Pro, Statistics can show Everything: your Plex history together with what Trakt recorded elsewhere, each viewing counted once. Nothing goes to Trakt until you connect, and disconnecting revokes Crucible's access. Crucible uses Trakt but is not endorsed or certified by Trakt. ### Can I request movies and shows that aren't on the server? Yes, from version 2.9, through a Seerr, Overseerr or Jellyseerr running beside your Plex server. Settings › Integrations › Seerr finds it at home and over Tailscale and signs in with your Plex account; if you have no Seerr yet, Set Up Seerr walks you through installing it, also on the web at midgarcorp.cc/crucible/seerr. Requesting and following your requests is free; approving, declining and retrying everyone's requests is Crucible Pro. ### Can I leave a library out of Home and my statistics? Yes. Settings › Libraries has a switch for each library, and the Statistics screen has the same switches in a filter menu, which is part of Crucible Pro. Libraries you've hidden from Home in Plex start switched off, and at least one library always stays on. ### Is it really open source? Yes: GPL-3.0, with one third-party dependency for the statistics store (GRDB) and pure Apple frameworks for everything else; the App Store build adds MidgarKit for purchases. Read the code, file an issue, or fork it on GitHub. ### Can I build it myself? Yes. The iPhone app builds with xtool on Linux, Windows (WSL) or a Mac, with no Xcode interface needed, and is installed over USB with your own Apple ID; a free Apple ID's build stops opening after seven days, a paid account lasts a year. The Apple TV app needs a Mac with Xcode 26 or newer and XcodeGen, because xtool doesn't support tvOS. A build from source has no Pro purchase and nothing locked. The steps are below. ### What is Crucible Server, and do I need it? No: everything else in Crucible works without it. Crucible Server is an optional, free companion you install on the computer that runs Plex (Linux or macOS). It pairs with Crucible on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and writes a Previously On for the shows you're watching using a local AI model you already run, such as Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp. It answers only your home network and your tailnet, every request carries your own Plex sign-in so it sees only what Plex lets you see, and no recap ever leaves your network. Install it from https://github.com/guitaripod/Crucible/tree/master/server and run crucible-server setup. ## What's new in 2.4.0 Crucible Pro is simpler to buy. - Pick lifetime or yearly and Pro unlocks right away: the yearly plan no longer starts with a free trial - Purchases are recorded with an anonymous Midgar ID, with no sign-up; what you already own stays unlocked - Crucible now uses Midgar's own purchase engine instead of RevenueCat, so no third-party SDK is left in the app ## Contact Questions and support: marcus@midgarcorp.cc. More apps by Midgar Oy: https://midgarcorp.cc/apps/ and https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/midgar-oy/id1484270247.