# Kale Player — Your media server, beautifully

> Your media server, beautifully (iPhone/iPad app by John Holbrook.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kale-player/id6796913788 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [John Holbrook](https://appshunter.io/developer/1884598760)
- Category: Entertainment
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 24 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-10-21
- Data updated: 2026-10-31

## What is Kale Player?

Kale is a beautiful home for your own media server.

Point it at your Jellyfin server and your whole collection gets a player that feels like it came with your iPhone — Apple's own playback, Apple's own controls, everything native and familiar. No reinvented player, no chrome that almost works. It just belongs.

PLAYS YOUR FILES PROPERLY
• Files that make other players fall back to server conversion play directly in Kale — your server barely lifts a finger
• 4K and HDR, delivered properly to screens that support them
• Subtitles done right: embedded, external and image-based tracks all handled

MADE FOR HOUSEHOLDS
• Quick Connect sign-in — nobody types a password on a couch
• Per-person profiles, with watch state that follows each viewer
• Viewing limits parents control from their own phone
• Connect Seerr and the household gets a wishlist — with requests for parents to approve from their pocket

DOWNLOADS THAT BEHAVE
• Original or capped quality, planes included
• A storage limit that is a ceiling, never an auto-deleter

Kale requires a media server you or your household already run — Jellyfin today. It has no content of its own, no account of its own, and collects nothing by default.

## Is Kale Player safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Kale Player.

## Is Kale Player legit?

Kale Player has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Kale Player is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.2.4 — 2026-10-21

Bug fixes and optimisations.

### 1.2.3 — 2026-10-17

• Search now covers every server you've added, with each film or show listed once and a note when it lives on another server.
• Switching servers is cleaner: Home's long-press menu and featured title now follow the switch, and downloads keep their progress and always come from the right server.
• A download that fails no longer leaves a broken file behind.
• Steadier playback when kale prepares a file on the device.
• A Kids profile only ever uses its own account on your other servers.

### 1.2.2 — 2026-10-15

• kale now fills the iPhone Duo's inner screen, with a settings layout made for the larger display.
• Detail pages fit better in landscape.
• Playback stats show the bitrate you're actually getting.
• Smoother playback when your server converts a file.
• AV1 files play directly on iPhones that support them.

### 1.2.1 — 2026-10-13

• See preview thumbnails as you fast-forward and rewind, when enabled on your Jellyfin server.
• When your server needs to convert a film, Resume now has focus, so you won't land on Start Over by mistake.
• A new Settings screen on Apple TV, laid out like Apple's own.
• After skipping back in a film, its page now shows the right time remaining.
• A change to a child's limits now reaches their search within 30 seconds.
• Stopping a film no longer leaves your server converting it in the background.

### 1.2 — 2026-10-12

• Parental limits now tell PG, M and MA15+ apart, so a PG limit keeps M and MA15+ out. If you set a PG limit before, choose it again in Settings → Family.
• Hide something from Continue Watching.
• Choose which rows appear on Home, for each person.
• Films now show their extras (behind the scenes, featurettes, deleted scenes) and the collection they belong to.
• Seasons have their own artwork and description, and you can mark a whole season watched.
• Subtitles follow your Closed Captions + SDH setting, plus a better-framed Home banner on iPhone and smaller fixes.

## More apps by John Holbrook

- [Claro: AI Clinical Notes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/claro-ai-clinical-notes/id6760515643)

All apps by John Holbrook: https://appshunter.io/developer/1884598760

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*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 2026-10-31.*