Not sure about swiftfin but try the option downmix to stereo somewhere in the client playback settings

I remember especially hating all the extra categories and freemium content plex added that I wasn't interested in viewing but couldn't remove (or at least did not find a way to remove).

Not doubting your experience at all. For all I know it’s a new option; I just discovered it, but for the other folks like me still stuck with Plex, most (all?) of this can be disabled in the Online Media Sources setting on the server (yeah - I know 🙄)…

For remote streaming to, say, your mum's house? (Or a friend, etc)?

Come on, I love libre software as much as the next Lemming, but the Plex TV and mobile app is leagues ahead in terms of usability over jellyfin.

I still prefer jellyfin for many other reasons, but in terms of UX and UI for the average person it's an easy win for Plex

I believe you. I feel that way about iTunes (trauma intensifies).

But Jellyfin doesn't have that reputation.

That's been my experience too.

Plex came with my nas, and we never used it because it it was really fiddly and wanted to show everything except my content.

By contrast, my jellyfin is linked up with the jellyfin for android tv app on the big screen tv, and if nobody told you it wasn't a regular streaming service you'd probably never know because it's so straightforward. My wife is not techy at all -- she still daily drives her Android phone from 7 years ago because she doesn't want to change to her new one from 2 years ago -- but she can pick up the remote and play a movie at any time.

I use it every night on my phone to play videos that help me get to sleep, and the app works well.

Idiomatic usage of ‘intuitive’ regarding interfaces breaks down into

1. ‘familiar’, so, confusing intuition with knowledge, or

2. ‘discoverable’, which is more accurate and describes things like icons and tooltips and menus, where the rules of usage become more or less apparent with exploration and logic.