# Forward - AI Media Hub — Cloud NAS Video Player > AI-driven video player and media library manager with advanced features. (iPhone/iPad app by 宋帅 郑.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forward-ai-media-hub/id6503940939 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [宋帅 郑](https://appshunter.io/developer/434141778) - Category: Entertainment, Productivity - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.50/5 from 670 App Store ratings · 338 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 17+ - Requires: iOS 17.0 · 197 MB - Languages: American English, Arabic, French (France), Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified, China), European Spanish, Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong SAR China) - Released: 2024-10-04 - Data updated: 2026-08-05 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forward-ai-media-hub/id6503940939/reviews.md ## What is Forward? Forward is an AI-powered media aggregation hub and video player for people whose movies and shows live across cloud drives, NAS, Emby, Jellyfin, Stremio, modules, and local files. It does more than play videos: it organizes scattered sources, metadata, posters, subtitles, watch progress, and airing calendars into one personal cinema library. Key features: - AI media organization: recognize movies, series, seasons, and episodes, then match TMDB metadata, posters, stills, and trailers to reduce manual file naming and library cleanup. - Multi-source aggregation: bring cloud drives, NAS, WebDAV, SMB, media servers, modules, and local videos into one searchable playback hub. - Personal media library: customize your home screen, Continue Watching, watched states, watchlists, episode reminders, and cross-device sync. - High-quality playback: play common formats such as MKV, MP4, AVI, and MOV with support for HDR, Dolby Vision, spatial audio, and smooth controls. - Smart subtitles: auto-match subtitles, load SRT/SSA/ASS files, use secondary subtitles, custom subtitle-source headers, and flexible styling. - tvOS-first controls: optimized remote focus, progress bar interaction, still-image browsing, and intro/credit skip behavior. Metadata and artwork shown by Forward are provided by TMDB, a community-maintained movie and TV database. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: http://forward.inch.red/doc/terms/ http://forward.inch.red/doc/privacy/ https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Continuous Subscription Instructions: - You can enjoy all paid features of Forward during the subscription period. - Forward offers monthly or yearly subscription options. - Fees will be charged via your Apple ID account upon purchase confirmation. - According to App Store auto-renewal rules, memberships renew within 24 hours before the end of the subscription period, including free trials. You can cancel at least 24 hours before expiration. - To cancel subscriptions, go to Account Settings - Manage Subscriptions. ## Key features - AI Smart Media Library Management - Multi-Source Aggregation - Customizable Homepage - Top-notch Picture Quality (Dolby Vision, HDR10) - Comprehensive Format Support - Smart Subtitle Support - Cloud and Local Resource Access ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Yearly | $29.99 | per year | | Monthly | $3.99 | per month | | Yearly Installment | $29.99 | per year | **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Lifetime(50% OFF) | $21.99 | one-time | | 永久购买（早期用户专享） | $17.99 | one-time | | Lifetime - Early Offer | $14.99 | one-time | | Lifetime(30% OFF) | $28.00 | one-time | | Pro Trial | Free | one-time | | Lifetime(10% OFF) | $39.99 | one-time | | Lifetime(Free) | Free | one-time | | Lifetime(20% OFF) | $34.99 | one-time | | Lifetime(40% OFF) | $24.99 | one-time | | Lifetime | $39.99 | one-time | | Lifetime(Early offer) | $14.99 | one-time | ## What do users think of Forward? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Excellent UI design - 🚀 Smooth and fluid user experience - 💡 Powerful AI-powered features - 🎨 Visually appealing and modern interface - 🔥 Impressive decoding capabilities **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs - 🕰️ Slow performance and lag issues - 💰 Relatively high subscription price - 🌐 Lack of multi-platform support **Commonly reported bugs** - Persistent crashing problem - Playback issues with certain file formats - Sync problems between devices - Unreliable network connectivity **Most requested features** - Add support for more cloud storage providers - Implement full-screen and picture-in-picture modes - Improve sorting and media management options - Provide better Emby/Jellyfin integration ## Recent user reviews (10 of 338) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forward-ai-media-hub/id6503940939/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Good concept *2026-07-31* Try out this app for Emby ### 5/5 — Great player *2026-07-28* Works very nice ### 5/5 — Amazing - would love bookmarking / timestamps *2026-07-21* Amazing app. Thanks for the English UI. I've been a fan ever since you released this. Keep up the great work. ### 1/5 — 看这写着免费 *2026-07-20, version 1.3.18* 看着免费，下载后发现被骗 ### 5/5 — 好用 *2026-07-18, version 1.3.18* 好用 ### 5/5 — Looks great *2026-07-17, version 1.3.18* Love the addl a ### 5/5 — Good *2026-07-15, version 1.3.18* Good ### 5/5 — 好评 *2026-07-15, version 1.3.18* 这软件太牛逼了。 ### 5/5 — 优秀的媒体播放器 *2026-07-15, version 1.3.18* 看得出这是作者很用心做的一款媒体播放器，界面好看，使用极度友好，集成了部分影片内容，安装完打开首页即可选片播放，真真是不可得多的 ### 5/5 — 试试看 *2026-07-14, version 1.3.18* 试试看 ## Frequently asked questions about Forward ### What does Forward* do? Forward* is an AI-driven video player and media library management tool. It automatically organizes your media, fetches metadata and trailers, and provides a high-quality viewing experience with support for advanced formats and audio. ### What are the key features of Forward*? Key features include AI-driven media library management, multi-source aggregation from cloud storage and servers, customizable homepage, top-notch picture quality with UHD format support, comprehensive format compatibility, smart subtitle support, and seamless access to cloud and local resources. ### Is Forward* free to use? The application is free to download and use, but it offers in-app purchases for additional features or content. The description indicates it has in-app purchases and no ads. ### What devices is Forward* compatible with? While the description doesn't explicitly list device compatibility, it mentions support for remote control interaction, suggesting it's likely available on platforms that support such input, such as smart TVs, streaming devices, or mobile devices with controller support. ### How does Forward* help organize my media? Forward* uses AI to automatically categorize your media files. It intelligently recognizes content like movies and series, fetches relevant metadata, covers, and trailers from sources like TMDB, keeping your library neat and visually appealing without manual effort. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.3.18 — 2026-07-14 This major update expands playback, media server, AI subtitle, offline download, and cloud-drive media management capabilities. - Added ISO/BDMV Blu-ray playback with remote ISO, chapters, playlists, and intro/outro detection. - Added Plex media server support for libraries, search, details, playback, watch state, and multiple servers. - Added AI audio-track recognition and AI subtitle translation with target languages, custom prompts, and model management. - Added a Scraping Center for finding, searching, and retrying unmatched or failed media files. - Added manual cloud-drive folder, file, and external subtitle binding from Detail pages. - Added iOS offline download management with improved source selection, queues, recovery, and cross-device package import. - Added ZIP subtitle packages, image subtitle scaling, and custom subtitle request headers. - Added in-player season switching, cross-season continuous playback, and next-episode preloading. - Expanded Emby STRM, chapter image, reverse proxy, download permission, and source recovery support. - Improved Stremio media tags, Watch Calendar, Continue Watching, watched status, and next-episode selection. - Improved Detail pages, libraries, Danmaku, Picture in Picture, and tvOS playback controls. - Fixed additional playback, download, sync, notification, caching, and interface issues. ### 1.3.17 — 2026-06-08 - Added support for zipped subtitles, custom subtitle-source headers, and improved preferred-language fallback for more reliable subtitle selection. - Enhanced detail pages with richer trailers, still-image browsing, movie collections, parental guidance, and more complete poster/resource fallbacks. - Improved Continue Watching, watched-state handling, and next-episode positioning, including fixes for progress clearing, completion sync, and server/module resource switching. - Improved watch calendar, reminders, push subscriptions, and Trakt metadata recovery so updated episodes and reminder rescheduling are more accurate. - Refined playback, segment skipping, on-screen comments, and tvOS focus/progress-bar interactions to reduce accidental gestures, stalls, and control-state issues. - Fixed cloud sync, watchlist, module details, quick import, external subtitles, and localization issues for better overall stability. ### 1.3.16 — 2026-05-26 New Features Rebuilt the bottom navigation and iPad sidebar, with more flexible bottom entries, search access, home switching, and last-page restore. Completely redesigned the Follow tab, reorganizing Continue Watching, Calendar, Watchlist, Recap, and AI recommendations. Added airing reminders, new-episode availability notifications, progress marking, and multi-episode calendar display for followed shows. Added Dolby Vision metadata support in the player. Added ZIP subtitle support, secondary subtitles, audio codec details, danmaku keyword filtering, and more intro / credit skip data sources. Added trailer overlay, previously watched info, Start Over, follow progress, media categories, and Emby date-added display on detail pages. Added Widget bulk management and a Watch Calendar data source. Improvements & Fixes Improved Continue Watching, watched state, and detail-page next-episode positioning for more accurate display and navigation. Improved playback stability when switching episodes, changing sources, resuming playback, preloading danmaku, and using intro / credit skip. Improved detail-page resource refresh, episode positioning, and playback progress display, reducing false missing-resource states, flicker, and stale data overrides. Improved home, Widget, and image loading to reduce cover jumps, loading flicker, and weak-network stutter. Fixed iCloud, Trakt, and Emby data isolation across multiple accounts and independent homes, making favorites, watchlist, calendar, and Continue Watching more reliable. Improved iPad, tvOS, and Mac experiences, including sidebars, remote focus, progress bars, and detail-page layout. ### 1.3.15 — 2026-03-25 What's New - OneDrive — Browse and play videos directly from your OneDrive account - 123 Cloud Drive — Stream videos from 123 Cloud Drive - Local Folders — Add local folders as media libraries on iOS - Enhanced Player — New Enhanced Player mode (BETA) with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos passthrough - Smart Intro/Credits Skip — Set auto-skip per show, with countdown prompt; intros at the start are skipped instantly - Device-to-Device Migration — Transfer all your data between devices on the same network - iCloud Sync Upgrade — Rebuilt sync engine for faster, more reliable syncing; alerts when storage is full - iCloud Reset Progress — Visual progress during sync reset with automatic recovery from interruptions - AI Natural Language Search — Describe what you want to watch in everyday language - Quick Server Switching — Switch between multiple server routes with one tap - tvOS Remote Unlock — Unlock Apple TV using Face ID on your iPhone Key Fixes - Fixed iCloud sync data loss or being overwritten by outdated records - Fixed crash when seeking in 4K high-bitrate videos - Fixed crash when auto-playing next episode after credits skip - Fixed server requests hanging on slow networks - Fixed favorites and watchlist items reappearing after deletion - Fixed excessive requests when danmaku matching fails - Fixed slow module loading and occasional startup failures - Fixed thumbnail generation causing lag on low-memory devices - Fixed inaccurate or delayed Continue Watching list updates - Numerous stability and performance improvements ### 1.3.14 — 2026-02-18 This update brings a wealth of new features, welcome to experience them. Main Additions - Player progress bar thumbnails - Detail page preloading (when enabled, it can effectively improve playback speed. Must be manually activated) - Home page sharing, now you can share your home page via a link, and users can subscribe to your home page updates Complete Update Content Player Optimization - Real-time thumbnail generation system, supports dragging the progress bar for preview - Detail page preloading feature, faster entry into playback Preloading and Caching - Optimized preloading switching and resource switching logic - Optimized preloading cache size limit - Seamless switching from detail preloading to playback mode - Fixed issue where videos without end markers would not preload the next episode Home Page Sharing - Home page sharing function restructured - Dual mode switching, preview function - Built-in avatar sharing optimization Resource Library and Data Sources - Metadata source priority configuration - Settings for favorites and watchlist data sources - Optimized Stremio resource library support - Emby local avatar upload - Fixed issue where Stremio could not import Trakt Sync - Trakt only marks the current episode instead of the entire season - Trakt data source integrated into Widget - Fixed viewing history processing logic Widget - Trakt data source support - Duplicate module cleanup function - Throttled refresh optimization Notification Function - Unwatched reminder configuration interface - Resource library notification manager - Trigger notification reset during iCloud sync UI/UX - Search history function - Media information title display - Home page edit lock function Optimization - Corrected carousel selection data errors - Fixed custom avatar loading - Corrected continue watching confusion - Fixed API request priority issues - Internationalization supplements - Added QPS limits for images and subtitles from Emby, automatically terminating subsequent requests for 403 servers - Temporarily disabled resource detection function, will reopen after testing is completed ## Apps similar to Forward | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Cinemore Player](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cinemore-player/id6738950107) | — | Free | Entertainment | | [Reflix - Smart Aggreg. Client](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reflix-smart-aggreg-client/id6621243955) | 3.6 (61) | Free | Entertainment | | [HamHub - 你的私人云影专家](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hamhub/id6458691598) | 4.6 (230) | Free | Entertainment | | [BeeJoy](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/beejoy/id6670792086) | 4.7 (13) | Free | Entertainment | | [网易爆米花-智能媒体库，全能云盘网盘播放器](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id6480252695) | 4.8 (431) | Free | Entertainment | | [Track Shows & Movies - Showly](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/track-shows-and-movies-showly/id6739016219) | 4.7 (235) | Free | Entertainment | ## More apps by 宋帅 郑 - [Side - Hide Photos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/side-hide-photos/id1532395263) - [Loader*](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/loader/id1614688464) All apps by 宋帅 郑: https://appshunter.io/developer/434141778 ## Related topics [forward](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/forward) · [fusion media center](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/fusion-media-center) · [senplayer forward](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/senplayer-forward) · [senplayer](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/senplayer) · [infuse player](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/infuse-player) · [vidhub](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/vidhub) · [emby](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/emby) · [jordan media library](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/jordan-media-library) · [kaltura media exchange](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/kaltura-media-exchange) · [media center by systemair](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/media-center-by-systemair) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-05.*