M3Player vs The Public Variable
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
M3Player
Listen to YouTube playlists and videos in audio-only mode, saving your device's screen and battery. Record streams for offline playback, ensuring uninterrupted listening without data or signal concerns.
- Background audio playback
- Audio-only mode
- Screen and battery saving
- Record video streams
- Offline playback
- No data/signal required for offline
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M3Player lets you import IPTV playlists from M3U and M3U8 URLs and enjoy live TV, video, and audio streams in a fast, easy-to-use player. Organize playlists with folders, manage your favorite channels, and switch between video playback and audio-only mode to save battery and continue listening in the background. Features: • Import M3U and M3U8 playlist URLs • IPTV playlist and channel management • Organize streams with folders • Smooth video and audio playback • Audio-only background listening • Buffer supported streams for later playback • Clean and modern interface M3Player does not provide any content, channels, or IPTV subscriptions. Users must supply their own playlists.
The Public Variable
Experience a unique augmented reality theatre piece exploring perspective and communication. This evolving digital space will eventually host the full production, offering an immersive artistic experience accessible from anywhere.
- Augmented reality theatre
- Perspective exploration
- Immersive digital space
- Evolving content
- Accessible anywhere
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I'm building a feature length AR experience, scene by scene. A piece of theatre about perspective, and how we stopped hearing each other. And how we might fix it. And, through this platform, a piece of theatre you can experience wherever you are. This space will be updating and expanding until it eventually contains the entire piece, and more. Your support couldn't mean more than it would right now. publicvariabletheatre.org
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: The Public Variable at Free against M3Player's $3.99. The Public Variable also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). M3Player's advantage is ratings volume (589 vs 2). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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
The Public Variable is free to download; M3Player costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
The Public Variable holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: M3Player has 589 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
M3Player ships an update every 11 days, The Public Variable every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | M3Player | The Public Variable |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (589 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 589 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 1.4 GB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Jianfeng Wu | John Sullivan |
Customer experience
M3Player
The Public Variable
Bugs and requests
M3Player
Reported bugs
2 issues- Playlist import not working
- Time display issues when using for audiobooks
Requested features
6 requests- Add support for Apple Watch
- Add option to change playback speed
- Add in-app download and save for offline listening
- Add sleep timer
- Add shuffle feature for playlists
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- Add option to organize downloaded content into subfolders
The Public Variable
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
M3Player
No in-app purchases
The Public Variable
No in-app purchases
