Straight answers
Requirements, channel behavior, Plex connections, pricing, privacy, and the places where an honest “it depends” matters.
Bunny Ears TV is a native Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad app that schedules media from your Plex libraries into cable-style channels. It includes a live program guide, full-screen channel surfing, Radio, Weather on 20, Music Video Mixtapes, and optional custom channels and DVR controls.
No. You provide the Plex server and the media. Bunny Ears TV organizes and plays the movie, television, music, playlist, and collection content available through the Plex server you select. Weather on 20 is the exception because it uses Apple Weather data.
Bunny Ears TV supports Apple TV 4K, first generation or newer, running tvOS 26. It also supports compatible iPhone and iPad models running iOS 26 or iPadOS 26. Apple TV HD is not supported by the current release.
You need a Plex account, access to a Plex Media Server, and at least one supported movie, television, or music library. In the app, link Plex with the four-character code or QR code, choose one server, select libraries, and let the first sync and guide build finish.
Normal Bunny Ears TV playback does not require Plex Pass. Plex-owned services and account features can have separate requirements. Remote playback, hardware transcoding, and some Plex Home capabilities may depend on the Plex plan and server configuration involved.
Yes. If a server has been shared with your Plex account and appears in the available server list, you can select it and use the libraries that account is allowed to see. Each Bunny Ears TV setup still uses one selected server at a time, and sharing a Plex server does not share a Bunny Ears TV+ purchase.
Community notes: Shared-server community discussion
Not today. Bunny Ears TV connects to Plex and builds one guide from one selected server. You can switch servers, but the app does not merge them into one lineup, connect to Jellyfin or Emby, or consume IPTV and M3U feeds.
Community notes: Multiple-server discussion · Jellyfin discussion · IPTV discussion
No separate Bunny Ears TV server, Docker container, Plex plug-in, M3U file, or IPTV player is required. Your existing Plex Media Server continues to host the media. Bunny Ears TV is the client that builds and plays the channel experience.
Bunny Ears TV includes more than 400 built-in channels across 17 packages. That total includes 68 Radio stations, Music Video Mixtapes on channel 19, and Weather on channel 20. The exact eligible lineup on screen depends on the content in your selected Plex libraries and your settings.
The Basic package contains 26 channels that stay free without Plus, without starting a trial, and without an expiration date. It covers broad programming across the lineup and includes Music Video Mixtapes on channel 19 and Weather on channel 20 when their source and permission requirements are met.
Community notes: Free Basic package and pricing discussion
Built-in video channels combine a locally used custom classifier with Plex metadata rules such as media type, genre, year, rating, runtime, studio, franchise, performers, collections, and watched state. Radio uses music metadata and its own scheduling rules. Bunny Ears TV does not upload your media catalog for classification.
The guide keeps 4 hours of history and 28 hours of future programming, while allowing complete program slots to extend beyond the visible edge. It adds later schedule windows before the future guide runs out.
Yes. Bunny Ears TV+ can create up to 300 custom channels from a Plex playlist, collection, or selected video library. You can choose a name, icon, color, ordered or shuffled playback, and television episode-block behavior. Custom channels use numbers 700 through 999.
Bring your own station breaks. In Plex, gather the short clips you want into a playlist, collection, or video library. Then open Settings > Ad Bumpers, create a Bumper Group, choose the Plex source, select one to five clips per break, and assign the group to eligible channel packages. Ad Bumpers are part of Bunny Ears TV+. Radio and Weather stay uninterrupted, while channel 19 can use its own Bumper Group and break schedule.
Community notes: Ad Bumper setup discussion
On Apple TV, press and hold Select anywhere in the guide. On iPhone or iPad, long-press a channel. The Quick Menu can jump to the top navigation and Settings, switch profiles, add or remove a favorite, and filter the guide to All Channels, Favorites, My Channels, or a channel package.
Community notes: Quick Menu navigation discussion
Built-in channels cannot currently be dragged into an arbitrary order or reached through direct number entry. You can sort by number, name, or category, use favorites and package filters, show My Channels, and place custom channels first. Custom channels can be reordered and are automatically renumbered within 700 through 999.
Community notes: Channel arrangement discussion · Guide jumping discussion
Yes. Guide previews are audible by default. Turn on Settings > Guide > Mute Guide Preview when you want quiet browsing. If that setting is off but audio works only in full screen, include the device, operating system, Bunny Ears TV build, and affected title in a support report.
Community notes: Guide-preview audio discussion
Channel 19 turns Plex music-video playlists, collections, and video libraries into a continuous channel. You can balance sources, space artists apart, feature recent additions, create artist mini-sets, and add optional on-screen Song IDs.
Weather on 20 is a local weather channel powered by Apple Weather. It can show current conditions, hourly and extended forecasts, almanac views, weather narratives, and a ticker. The location choice is stored per device, and an optional soundtrack comes from your Plex music library. Weather does not support DVR seeking, Restart, or Ad Bumpers.
The 68 Radio stations use music from your selected Plex libraries and occupy channels 1000 through 1067. Stations are organized with music-specific genre, style, mood, artist, and era data, and playback shows album art, track, artist, album, and progress.
The Channel Surfer shows the previous, current, and next channels over full-screen playback. By default, you can browse without interrupting the current program, then confirm the channel you want. You can instead enable Tune While Browsing or turn the Channel Surfer off.
Bunny Ears TV+ DVR Mode can pause eligible live video, skip backward or forward by 15 seconds, restart the current program, scrub the timeline, show Plex BIF thumbnails when the server provides them, and return to the live edge. Some content and actions are not eligible, and the app explains when an action is blocked.
No fixed delivery promise would be accurate. Bunny Ears TV supports Direct Play, Direct Stream, and Plex-provided adaptive transcodes. The route, file, selected quality, Plex server, and device capabilities determine which path is appropriate.
Yes. Video and Audio quality are separate and device-local. Apple TV provides Wi-Fi and Ethernet profiles. iPhone and iPad provide Wi-Fi, Cellular, and 5G Cellular profiles. Auto preserves healthy local Direct Play when possible and can apply limits or measured evidence on remote, Relay, cellular, metered, constrained, hotspot, or slow routes.
Yes, when Plex provides an eligible Local, Remote, or Relay route. If the guide loads but a title does not play, note the route and current quality setting, try the same title in Plex on the same device, and try a fixed lower quality instead of Auto. If it still fails, send support the exact error, device, operating system, Bunny Ears TV build, Plex version, connection type, and title.
Community notes: Remote-playback troubleshooting discussion
Yes. The full-screen player includes audio-track and subtitle pickers for embedded tracks and Plex-exposed external sidecar subtitles. You can set preferred languages, choose Off, Auto, or Always subtitle behavior, select a subtitle size, and choose Best Available or Stereo surround output. If an external subtitle appears in Plex but not Bunny Ears TV, include the title, subtitle type, Plex version, device, and app build in a support report.
Community notes: External-subtitle discussion
Yes on iPhone and iPad. Background Audio has separate policies for regular video channels, channel 19, and Radio. Eligible sessions can continue through the device's active audio route and publish artwork and controls to the Lock Screen, Control Center, AirPlay controls, and hardware media buttons. Bunny Ears TV does not provide a separate CarPlay screen, and Apple TV stops playback when the app leaves the foreground.
Yes. The app shows Plex Home names and avatars, recognizes adult and managed profiles, and accepts four-digit Plex Home PINs. An adult can choose Little Kids, Older Kids, or Teens restrictions and separately decide whether unrated content and music channels are visible. Bunny Ears TV uses content ratings for age filtering, so check your Plex ratings before relying on a guide for younger viewers. Managed profiles cannot change household-wide server, package, custom-channel, bumper, purchase, or sign-out settings.
Community notes: Kids-profile restrictions discussion
Compatible guide data, favorites, packages, custom-channel settings, Ad Bumpers, Music Video Mixtapes, selected guide preferences, and other supported household choices can sync through iCloud. Active profile, network quality, display output, audio calibration, background-audio policies, and Weather location remain local because each device may need a different value.
Your media files remain on the Plex server you select. Bunny Ears TV communicates with Plex for sign-in, discovery, metadata, and playback. Enabled features can also use iCloud, Apple Weather, StoreKit, and privacy-scrubbed diagnostics. The app does not use advertising tracking or upload your media catalog for classification.
Bunny Ears TV does not insert third-party ads. The optional Ad Bumpers feature uses only short clips from Plex sources you choose. You can assign a Bumper Group to eligible channel packages or leave channels uninterrupted.
Current US App Store pricing is $4.99 monthly, $29.99 annually, or $99.99 for lifetime access to new features and updates. Every option includes the premium packages, DVR Mode, Custom Channels, and Ad Bumpers. Monthly and annual subscriptions provide steadier resources for ongoing work on this independent app, while lifetime remains available for people who prefer one purchase. Prices vary by country and can change in the App Store.
Eligible customers can receive a 14-day introductory trial with the monthly or annual subscription. Eligibility is determined by Apple and is shown in the purchase screen before confirmation. The always-free Basic package does not require a trial.
Yes. Current monthly, annual, and lifetime Bunny Ears TV+ products support Apple Family Sharing. Restore Purchases checks the current Apple Account and eligible family entitlements. If a family device still shows a trial, confirm that it belongs to the same Apple Family group, run Restore Purchases, and contact support if the entitlement still does not appear. The Apple purchase sheet remains the final source for product and regional availability.
Community notes: Family Sharing support discussion
Monthly and annual plans are auto-renewable subscriptions managed through your Apple Account. You can cancel them in Apple subscription settings and retain access through the paid period. The lifetime purchase is non-expiring and has no recurring charge to cancel.
The 26-channel Basic package is the best way to see how your own library behaves before paying.
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