Comparison

SubStreamer vs mStream Player

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SubStreamer

Access and stream your personal music library from a Subsonic-compatible server on your mobile device. Enjoy offline playback, personalized mixes, and detailed listening analytics without ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Stream and download music library
  • Offline listening with background processing
  • Personalized smart mixes
  • Listening analytics and scrobbling
  • Playlist and library management
  • Background playback with lock screen controls
  • Open source
Features
Read full description

Your music. Your server. Everywhere you go. Substreamer turns your Subsonic-compatible server into a personal streaming service. Browse, play, and download your entire music library on iPhone and iPad — free, with no ads, no subscriptions, and no data collection. Verified with Navidrome, Subsonic, Gonic, Nextcloud Music, and Ampache. Also compatible with Airsonic-Advanced, Funkwhale, Supysonic, and other Subsonic API servers. STREAM & DOWNLOAD Stream in full quality or choose a bitrate that suits your connection. Download albums and playlists for offline listening with background queue processing and automatic recovery. Substreamer switches to offline mode automatically when your server is unreachable. TUNED IN — SMART MIXES Personalised playlists powered by your listening history. Time-of-day mixes, deep cuts from similar artists, decade time machines, genre blends, favorites radio, and a custom mix builder — all generated from your own library, not an algorithm trained on someone else's taste. LISTENING ANALYTICS See your play history, top artists, albums, and songs, most active listening hours, activity heatmaps, and listening streaks. Scrobbles queue locally when you're offline and sync automatically when you reconnect. Exclude specific albums or artists so one-off plays don't skew your stats. LIBRARY MANAGEMENT Browse by album, artist, or playlist. List and grid views with alphabetical quick-scroll for large libraries. 5-star ratings and favorites sync with your server. Create and manage playlists, reorder tracks, or save your current queue as a new playlist. PLAYBACK Background playback with full lock screen and notification controls. Adjustable playback speed, shuffle, and repeat. Share albums or playlists with configurable links. BEAUTIFUL & PRIVATE Light, dark, and system themes with custom accent colors. Album art color extraction for immersive detail views. No tracking, no analytics, no account required — your music stays between you and your server. OPEN SOURCE Substreamer is open source under the GPL-3.0 license. Browse the code, report issues, or contribute at github.com/ghenry22/substreamer.

About

mStream Player

Stream your personal music library from a self-hosted server directly to your mobile device. Browse folders, search by artist or album, and create dynamic playlists with Auto DJ. Enjoy fine volume control, shuffle, and loop features for a personalized listening experience.

Highlights
  • Browse music folders
  • Search by artist/album/song
  • Create dynamic playlists
  • Shuffle and loop playback
  • HTTP(S) support
  • Authenticated login
Read full description

This is a mobile app client for personal and self-hosted mStream music servers (https://github.com/IrosTheBeggar/mStream). Current features: - Browse your music folders - Search in folders - Play music in a folder - Search by artist/album/song - Play an album, song, or playlist - Create dynamic playlists with "Auto DJ" - Fine volume control - Shuffle your queue - Loop a queue or single track - HTTP(S) support - Authenticated & password-less login Note, the app does not support the following features yet: - Playing OGG files - Self-signed certificates The app is completely private. No data is collected.

Screenshots

SubStreamer4 screens
mStream Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: mStream Player at 4.6 against SubStreamer's 4.0. SubStreamer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks). On price, ads, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. mStream Player sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. SubStreamer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

mStream Player holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SubStreamer has 131 ratings behind it against 25, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 72% of SubStreamer's written reviews are positive against 64% of mStream Player's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SubStreamer ships an update every 2 weeks, mStream Player every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on September 27, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
SubStreamer versus mStream Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSubStreamermStream Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (131 ratings)4.6 (25 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.4% of reviews — better63.6% of reviews
Number of ratings131 — better25
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.415.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGaven HenryNiera Tech Inc.

Customer experience

SubStreamer

All ratings131 ratings
Positive74.8%
Neutral11.5%
Negative13.7%
Written reviews203 reviews
Positive72.4%
Neutral10.3%
Negative17.2%

mStream Player

All ratings25 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive63.6%
Neutral18.2%
Negative18.2%

Bugs and requests

SubStreamer

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Songs fail to play without double-pressing play button
  • Playback stops with 4 seconds remaining in track
  • Skipping back crashes the app
  • Large files (10MB+) require pause-then-play to start
  • Scrobbling fails despite server support
Show 13 more
  • AirPlay to Apple TV doesn't work
  • Time display incorrect for songs over 1 hour
  • Metadata loads too frequently, causing lag
  • App freezes when pulling down menu on player screen
  • Radio tab causes app freeze
  • Occasional non-responsive behavior
  • Crashes when switching between songs on cellular
  • Image optimization never completes on large libraries
  • Duplicate songs appear in multi-disc albums
  • Offline folder structure doesn't match server
  • Bluetooth playback sometimes plays two songs simultaneously
  • SSL support issues in older versions
  • Slow metadata loading from server

Requested features

18 requests
  • CarPlay support for in-car use
  • Traditional Chinese language support
  • Simplified Chinese language support
  • All-songs library view (not just albums/artists)
  • Lyrics API integration
Show 13 more
  • Replay gain support
  • Smart playlists for yearly recaps
  • Batch download for offline music
  • Display codec and bitrate information
  • Better shuffle/random playback options
  • Improved pull-down gesture for minimizing player
  • Unified offline music view with filters
  • Song sorting options in playlists
  • Album art display in more views
  • Radio station support visibility fix
  • Genre sorting capability
  • Lock screen playback controls
  • Queue clearing functionality

mStream Player

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SubStreamer

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

mStream Player

One-time3
  • Coffee-Sized Tip$6.99
  • Snack-Sized Tip$9.99
  • Meal-Sized Tip$14.99

Questions

Is SubStreamer free?
SubStreamer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is mStream Player free?
mStream Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SubStreamer or mStream Player?
mStream Player is rated higher. SubStreamer averages 4.0 out of 5 from 131 ratings, while mStream Player averages 4.6 from 25 ratings.
Do SubStreamer or mStream Player have ads?
Neither SubStreamer nor mStream Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SubStreamer or mStream Player?
SubStreamer ships an update every 2 weeks, and mStream Player every 5 weeks. Most recently, SubStreamer was updated on September 27, 2026 and mStream Player on September 27, 2026.

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