Comparison

SubStreamer vs Fairbuds

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

Fairbuds

Customize your audio experience with advanced equalizer settings and ensure your device is always up-to-date. Tailor bass, vocals, and more to your preferences for music and podcasts.

Highlights
  • Customizable equalizer presets
  • Multi-band EQ for granular control
  • Firmware update notifications
  • Sound profile creation
  • Adjust bass and vocals
Features
Read full description

Unlock the full potential of your Fairbuds or Fairbuds XL with the newly revamped Fairbuds app. Take full control of your sound, and tailor it exactly to your liking. Choose from an array of new presets to adjust the equalizer. Go heavy on the bass when listening to electronic music, or switch to clearer vocals for your favorite podcasts. You can go even more granular with the custom EQ feature and tweak the sound from scratch. Use the Fairbuds apps to play around with a multi-band equalizer, and create the perfect sound profile for yourself. You can also use the Fairbuds app to make sure your device's firmware is always up-to-date. Get notifications when a new update is available, and make sure your Fairphone audio product is always performing at its peak.

Screenshots

SubStreamer4 screens
Fairbuds4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: SubStreamer at 72% against Fairbuds's 13%. SubStreamer also leads on rating (4.0 vs 2.7) and ratings volume (141 vs 3). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SubStreamer holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SubStreamer has 141 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of SubStreamer's written reviews are positive against 13% of Fairbuds's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SubStreamer versus Fairbuds: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSubStreamerFairbuds
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (141 ratings) — better2.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews72.2% of reviews — better13.3% of reviews
Number of ratings141 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB99 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperGaven HenryFairphone B.V.

Customer experience

SubStreamer

All ratings141 ratings
Positive73.8%
Neutral10.6%
Negative15.6%
Written reviews205 reviews
Positive72.2%
Neutral10.2%
Negative17.6%

Fairbuds

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive13.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative80.0%

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

Fairbuds

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SubStreamer

No in-app purchases

None

Fairbuds

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SubStreamer free?
SubStreamer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fairbuds free?
Fairbuds is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SubStreamer or Fairbuds?
SubStreamer is rated higher. SubStreamer averages 4.0 out of 5 from 141 ratings, while Fairbuds averages 2.7 from 3 ratings.
Do SubStreamer or Fairbuds have ads?
Neither SubStreamer nor Fairbuds shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SubStreamer or Fairbuds?
SubStreamer ships an update every 2 weeks, and Fairbuds every 2 weeks. Most recently, SubStreamer was updated on October 18, 2026 and Fairbuds on October 13, 2026.

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