Comparison

Aurora Reader vs MKV PiP Player

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

Head to head
About

Aurora Reader

Save, read, and organize articles from the web with a clutter-free reading experience. Look up word definitions, add notes, and listen to articles hands-free. Syncs across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Save articles from web
  • Clutter-free reading view
  • Offline article access
  • Word definition lookup
  • Highlighting and note-taking
  • Article-to-speech functionality
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Save articles, read articles, learn new words, record new thoughts… Aurora Reader is a premium Read-It-Later app that builds with latest technologies and packs a ton of exciting features. SAVE ARTICLES • Find Aurora Reader’s extensions from Share sheet in Safari, Twitter, Medium and many other apps, and use them to view or save articles • On iPad, use Drag & Drop to import multiple articles from another app at once • With automatically iCloud Sync, you can save articles on your iPhone and read them later on your iPad, iPod touch or Mac* READ ARTICLES • Article view automatically removes clutter from webpage and shows only the main article content for you • Immersive reading experience let you keep focus • No network, no problem: saved articles can be read at anytime, even without network • Customize your reading experience with multiple fonts and themes • Reading progress is automatically sync with iCloud, so you can easily switch device and continue reading from where you left off LEARN NEW WORDS • On article view, you can check word definitions simply by one tap. To close definitions view, it’s also as simple as a tap or swipe • Check word definitions in multi-language dictionaries • Aurora Reader can get you a great amount of definitions in least amount of time, thanks to the customized search engine with special optimization • Words you look up can be automatically saved to Aurora Reader’s companion app: Aurora Dictionary • Install or delete dictionaries from Dictionary Manager view RECORD NEW THOUGHTS • Select, swipe, highlight, and add notes • Save unlimited highlights and notes • Choose the highlight color that match your style REWIND • Rewind your reading journey with Search • Search saved articles, notes, folders and more from iOS home screen or in-app search bar • Accurately locate sentences and paragraphs with Full-Text Search ORGANIZE • Organize your articles and notes with Folders • Enjoy the freedom to create unlimited folders and subfolders • Quickly find your folders with Search • Use Drag & Drop to move and reorder your folders, articles and notes RELAX • Listen to articles with high fidelity voice, hands-free and eyes-free • Check currently reading paragraph on in-app Now Playing view. Find some unfamiliar words? just tap to look up • Listen with just your Apple Watch (requires watchOS 6.0 or later, and a pair of Bluetooth headphones) • Switch between multiple speech languages and voices * Aurora Reader for Mac is available on Mac App Store

About

MKV PiP Player

Play any video file format with picture-in-picture functionality. Supports a vast array of video and subtitle formats, M3U playlists, and casting web videos to DLNA TVs. Offers playback speed control and multi-track audio/subtitle options.

Highlights
  • Picture-in-picture playback
  • Supports over 30 video formats
  • Supports 20+ subtitle formats
  • M3U playlist support
  • DLNA TV casting
  • Playback speed control
  • Multi-track audio and subtitles
Features
Read full description

MKV PiP Player is a video player that Lets you play any videos picture-in-picture. - Supports video files : MKV, MP4, AVI, M4V, MOV, 3GP, TS, MTS, M2TS, WMV, FLV, F4V, ASF, WEBM, RM, RMVB, QT, DV, MPG, MPEG, MXF, VOB, GIF, OGV, OGM etc. - Supports subtitle files : ASS, SRT, SMI, SSA, IDX, SUB, SUP, VTT, SCC, MKS, JSS, JS, AQT, RT, UFT, UTF8, UTF-8 etc. - Supports playlist files : M3U - Supports Cast Web Videos to DLNA TV - Supports Browser, SMB, WebDAV, AList - Playback speed control : 0.25x ~ 4.0x - Supports multi-track audio - Supports embedded subtitles - Supports multi-track subtitles - Supports user’s selection of subtitle files - Supports recently played list - Supports Safari extension Disclaimer:MKV PiP Player does not provide any M3U playlists, users must use their own playlists containing legal content.

Screenshots

Aurora Reader4 screens
MKV PiP Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Aurora Reader at Free against MKV PiP Player's $0.99. Aurora Reader also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). MKV PiP Player's advantage is review sentiment (94% vs 62%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). On ads 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

Aurora Reader is free to download; MKV PiP Player costs $0.99 up front. MKV PiP Player sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Aurora Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MKV PiP Player holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MKV PiP Player has 67 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Aurora Reader's written reviews are positive against 94% of MKV PiP Player's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aurora Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, MKV PiP Player weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Aurora Reader versus MKV PiP Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAurora ReaderMKV PiP Player
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.3 (12 ratings)4.7 (67 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.5% of reviews94.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1267 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB42 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperJunyu Kuang北京伊码网络科技有限公司

Customer experience

Aurora Reader

All ratings12 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive61.5%
Neutral15.4%
Negative23.1%

MKV PiP Player

All ratings67 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive94.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative3.0%

Bugs and requests

Aurora Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

MKV PiP Player

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • HD clarity cannot load
  • DLNA cast to TV has no response
  • Glitchy at times
  • Frequent crashes, especially when initiating PiP
  • M3U parsing needs to be faster and search needs to be smoother
Show 9 more
  • Latest picture-in-picture fast forward/backward not working normally
  • Freezes every few minutes, requires pause/play to resume
  • External subtitles not working
  • Crashes when clicking recent playback history
  • Picture-in-picture playback crashes after about 10 seconds
  • Default to landscape, cannot adjust
  • File list automatically switches to date sorting upon reopening, causing disorder
  • Cannot select files from external USB drive
  • Cannot delete Alibaba Cloud Drive resources directly from the app

Requested features

41 requests
  • Add option to close transition animations
  • Add vertical screen viewing function
  • Support for Emby
  • Add function to import video sources
  • Support for ATV
Show 36 more
  • Add pause/play with Airpod controls
  • Allow listening to videos when phone is powered off (without PiP)
  • Faster M3U parsing and smoother search
  • Ability to display M3U contents in a list
  • Ability to disable subtitles
  • Add function to import letters
  • Add function to import video sources or provide jump interface
  • Support for ATV
  • Add VOD URL function
  • Add option to disable recent playback
  • Add network movie posters and library
  • Add background playback (not PiP)
  • Add auto-play next episode
  • Add grid layout
  • Add background playback function
  • Add option for automatic horizontal screen
  • Add drag-and-drop sorting for playback list
  • Support for ATV
  • Add side-screen and vertical screen viewing options
  • Add Apple TV support
  • Add DLNA screen casting
  • Allow screen-off playback for music
  • Develop TV version
  • Add cache function for large files
  • Add screen casting function
  • Add delete function for Alibaba Cloud Drive resources
  • Add timer playback function
  • Add screen lock function
  • Display only one history record for the same folder
  • Sync playback history data with Alibaba Cloud
  • Add dark mode
  • Add audiobook function
  • Add cloud synchronization function across devices
  • Allow lock screen playback and co-playback with other audio
  • Add more detailed long-press speed options (e.g., 2.5x)
  • Support downloading videos from the browser

In-app purchases

None

Aurora Reader

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

MKV PiP Player

One-time1
  • MKV PiP Player Pro$1.99

Questions

Is Aurora Reader free?
Aurora Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MKV PiP Player free?
MKV PiP Player costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Aurora Reader or MKV PiP Player?
MKV PiP Player is rated higher. Aurora Reader averages 4.3 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while MKV PiP Player averages 4.7 from 67 ratings.
Do Aurora Reader or MKV PiP Player have ads?
Neither Aurora Reader nor MKV PiP Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aurora Reader or MKV PiP Player?
Aurora Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, and MKV PiP Player weekly. Most recently, Aurora Reader was updated on September 28, 2026 and MKV PiP Player on September 30, 2026.

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