# Crunchyroll vs Unicines

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Unicines at none against Crunchyroll's 15. Unicines also leads on ads (none vs shown). Crunchyroll's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 38 months) and chart position (#5 vs unranked). On price and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Crunchyroll sells 15 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Unicines asks for nothing beyond the download.

Crunchyroll ships an update weekly, Unicines every 38 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Crunchyroll | Unicines |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (1.5M ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crunchyroll/id329913454/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **1.5M** | — |
| Positive reviews | 47.2% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Every 38 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | **#5** | — |
| Size | 244 MB | 6 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Crunchyroll, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/329913457) | [READY THEATRE SYSTEMS, L.L.C.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1461665525) |

## What reviewers say

### Crunchyroll

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crunchyroll/id329913454)

**Currently charting:** #5 Top Grossing · Entertainment, #12 Top Grossing, #33 Top Free · Entertainment, #181 Top Free (US App Store)

Stream a vast library of anime shows, movies, and exclusive music content. Enjoy ad-free viewing, simulcasts from Japan, and personalized recommendations. Download episodes for offline playback and access exclusive games.

**Highlights:** Stream new and classic anime episodes, Ad-free and high-quality viewing, Exclusive music videos and concerts, Subbed and dubbed anime options, Simulcast episodes from Japan, Offline viewing, Crunchyroll Originals

**Features:** SharePlay

**In-app purchases (15)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Anime Membership | $7.99 | per month |
| Anime Membership | $7.99 | per month |
| Fan | $9.99 | per month |
| All-Access Membership | $11.99 | per month |
| All-Access Membership | $11.99 | per month |
| Monthly Premium+ Membership | $11.99 | per month |
| Mega Fan  Monthly | $13.99 | per month |
| Fan Manga Bundle | $13.99 | per month |
| Mega Fan Manga Bundle | $17.49 | per month |
| Ultimate Fan | $17.99 | per month |
| Fan | $79.99 | per year |
| Crunchyroll Premium Membership | $99.99 | per year |
| Mega Fan  Annual | $139.99 | per year |
| Ultimate Fan | $149.99 | per year |
| Ultimate Fan Annual | $179.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app for watching anime
- 👍 Huge variety of anime content
- 👍 Affordable premium subscription
- 🚀 Smooth app performance

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💥 Too many ads for free users
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Logging out issues and account problems
- 🔍 Limited content selection compared to other services

**Reported bugs**

- Subtitles not working or out of sync
- Video playback issues and freezing
- Login/logout problems and account management bugs

**Requested features**

- Add skip intro/outro feature
- Improve ad placement and reduce frequency
- Implement user profiles and watch history management
- Expand content library with more anime titles


### Unicines

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/unicines/id1535672691)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Crunchyroll free?

Crunchyroll is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Unicines free?

Unicines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Crunchyroll or Unicines have ads?

Crunchyroll shows ads; Unicines does not.

### Which is updated more often, Crunchyroll or Unicines?

Crunchyroll ships an update weekly, and Unicines every 38 months. Most recently, Crunchyroll was updated on October 19, 2026 and Unicines on October 3, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*