Comparison

8player vs JRemote

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

Head to head
About

8player

This versatile media player allows you to stream, download, and enjoy videos, music, and photos from various sources. It offers a clean interface, offline playback, and supports a wide range of file formats across iOS and Apple TV devices.

Highlights
  • Stream from cloud and network services
  • Download for offline playback
  • Supports DLNA/UPnP, SMB, FTP
  • Wide range of video, audio, and image format support
  • Create and manage music playlists
  • Cast to DLNA and Chromecast devices
Features
Read full description

Enjoy your media, your way. 8player is an all-in-one video, music and photo player for iPhone and iPad. Stream, download and enjoy your favorite media anytime, anywhere. Available on the App Store since 2010, 8player combines powerful playback, flexible connectivity and a clean, intuitive design. WHY 8PLAYER? • Beautiful and intuitive interface • Smooth streaming from cloud storage, NAS devices and network servers • Available on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV • Your media stays private. 8player does not collect your data PLAY FROM ALL YOUR SOURCES • DLNA/UPnP media servers • SMB network shares • FTP and SFTP servers • Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive • Local files on your device PACKED WITH FEATURES • Download files for offline playback • Play on TVs and other devices using DLNA, Chromecast and AirPlay • Create and manage music playlists • Use subtitles and switch between multiple audio tracks • Adjust playback speed • Continue watching with Picture in Picture • Use intuitive gesture controls • Access compatible DLNA/UPnP servers remotely over mobile networks or through a VPN Remote access setup guide: https://08software.com/8player-remote-access SUPPORTED FORMATS • Video: mp4, mkv, avi, mov, ts, webm and more • Audio: mp3, flac, aac, alac, wav and more • Images: heic, jpeg, png, gif, tiff and more Your media. Your device. Your control. Standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

JRemote

Control your JRiver Media Center library remotely from your iOS devices. Manage playback, edit metadata, and stream audio, even outside your home network. Supports DLNA devices and CarPlay.

Highlights
  • Full remote control of JRiver Media Center
  • DLNA device control and zone management
  • Automatic and manual server setup
  • Edit and view file metadata
  • Playback controls with HUD
  • Audio streaming to iOS device
  • CarPlay enabled
Features
Read full description

JRemote is a full featured native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center. JRemote was developed to offer you full remote control of your JRiver Media Center from any of your iDevices. Please note that you need JRiver Media Center version 15 or later. We recommend you always run the latest version. Features and specs: Universal app JRemote is a universal iOS application. The application will run on both iPhone/iPod touch as well as iPad’s. Each version is optimized for it`s screen size. Navigation JRemote uses the navigation setup from JRMC itself. This allows you to customize the navigation menu and sub-menus from within the JRiver application. - Multiple view modes (list, imagelist, thumbnails) - Search using JRMC`s fuzzy search engine - Virtual remote for controlling theater view DLNA and zones Use JRemote to control all your DLNA supported devices. Any device supported in JRMC can be controlled from JRemote by switching to that specific zone. You can link and unlink zone for multi-room playback. Easy setup Connecting to your computer is fully automatic, no need to enter your IP-address and Port number. You only need to enter the access key found in JRMC`s option panel (We do provide an option for you to add IP-address and Port manually if needed). - JRemote will let you connect to your server from outside your wifi, using standard mobile networks. For this to work you need to configure port forwarding on your internet router. - Wake-On-LAN is supported if you provide your machines MAC address. (Automatic when adding a server by access key) - JRemote is CarPlay enabled. Edit and view metadata Any metadata attached to a specific file can be viewed and edited. You can update multiple files in one operation. Rating may be set from multiple locations depending on iPhone/iPad version. Player controls JRemote includes all common playback controls including repeat mode, and shuffle mode. Control volume and progress from sliders while getting feedback from the HUD display Audio streaming JRemote lets you stream all your audio files to the device itself. Just select “This device” as the current zone. - Gapless playback - Stream any file up to 96kHz, 24 bit - Downloaded progress indicator - Supported audio formats include AAC, AIFF, ALAC, APE, DSF/DFF, FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, and WAV. - All files may be transcoded to MP3 from 128Kbs up to 320Kbs

Screenshots

8player4 screens
JRemote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: 8player at Free against JRemote's $12.99. 8player also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (167 vs 28). JRemote's advantage is rating (3.8 vs 2.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). 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

8player is free to download; JRemote costs $12.99 up front. 8player sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year. JRemote asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

JRemote holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: 8player has 167 ratings behind it against 28, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of 8player's written reviews are positive against 63% of JRemote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

8player ships an update fortnightly, JRemote every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
8player versus JRemote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter8playerJRemote
PriceFree — better$12.99
Rating2.8 (167 ratings)3.8 (28 ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.7% of reviews62.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings167 — better28
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer8soft LtdJRiver

Customer experience

8player

All ratings167 ratings
Positive43.1%
Neutral5.4%
Negative51.5%
Written reviews933 reviews
Positive43.7%
Neutral10.1%
Negative46.2%

JRemote

All ratings28 ratings
Positive67.9%
Neutral14.3%
Negative17.9%
Written reviews302 reviews
Positive62.6%
Neutral13.6%
Negative23.8%

User reviews

8player

From 167 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🚀 Fast and responsive
  • 💡 Supports wide range of file formats
  • 🎨 Elegant and visually appealing interface
  • 🔌 Seamless DLNA/UPnP connectivity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
  • 🚫 Lack of support for certain video codecs
  • 🔍 Limited search and browsing functionality
  • 🔇 Unreliable Bluetooth speaker connectivity
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly during use

JRemote

From 28 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent remote control
  • 🔒 Stable and reliable
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Fast and responsive
  • 👍 Great companion to JRiver Media Center

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and connection issues
  • 🐛 Compatibility problems with latest iOS versions
  • 🐛 Bugs with video playback
  • 🐛 Settings revert unexpectedly
  • 🔋 High battery consumption

Bugs and requests

8player

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • SMB connectivity issues after recent updates
  • Subtitles not displaying correctly for some video files
  • Playback freezes or stops when minimizing the app
  • Inconsistent behavior when playing next/previous tracks

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add gapless playback for music
  • Implement a more robust file sorting/browsing system
  • Integrate Chromecast support
  • Introduce an equalizer for audio customization
  • Add password/security protection options

JRemote

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to play videos
  • Inability to connect to media server
  • Inconsistent behavior when changing media server IP
  • Playback issues with certain audio formats
  • Album art not updating when song changes

Requested features

8 requests
  • Offline music playback
  • Ability to control DSP settings
  • Customizable views and layouts
  • Gapless playback
  • Playlist creation and management
Show 3 more
  • CarPlay support
  • Synced cover art display
  • Metadata editing capabilities

In-app purchases

1 purchases

8player

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$9.991 Year
None

JRemote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 8player free?
8player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is JRemote free?
JRemote costs $12.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, 8player or JRemote?
JRemote is rated higher. 8player averages 2.8 out of 5 from 167 ratings, while JRemote averages 3.8 from 28 ratings.
Do 8player or JRemote have ads?
Neither 8player nor JRemote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 8player or JRemote?
8player ships an update fortnightly, and JRemote every 3 months. Most recently, 8player was updated on September 26, 2026 and JRemote on September 27, 2026.

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