Plex 1.43.2 broke third-party tools — API now returns full names instead of usernames
Heads up for anyone using tools like JellyPlex-Watched, or any other app that syncs or identifies Plex users via the API.
After updating to Plex Media Server 1.43.2.10687, it appears Plex changed how shared user identifiers are returned through the API. Previously, the API would return the username (e.g. cooluser99), but now it returns the user's display name / full name (e.g. John-Smith).
This silently breaks any tool that matches users by username across platforms. For example, if you're syncing watch history between Plex and Jellyfin, your users may no longer be matched correctly and syncing will just stop working without any obvious error.
Workaround: If your tool supports user mapping (like JellyPlex-Watched does via USER_MAPPING), you'll need to manually map each user's full name to their username on the other platform. Example:
USER_MAPPING={"John-Smith":"cooluser99","Jane-Doe":"moviefan42"}
Not ideal, but it works until Plex or the tool developers address the change.
Question for the community: Has anyone noticed this also affecting Tautulli or Overseerr? Since those tools also rely on Plex user identification, I'm wondering if this API change could cause issues there down the road as well, like mismatched user stats in Tautulli or broken request tracking in Overseerr.
Anyone else hit this after 1.43.2?