Crucible

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.