VLC Streamer Pro vs Swiftfin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VLC Streamer Pro
Stream movies and TV shows from your computer to your iPhone, iPod, or iPad without conversion. Enjoy your entire movie collection wirelessly within your home network. Supports various formats and resolutions for a seamless viewing experience.
- Stream movies from computer
- No conversion needed
- Supports multiple resolutions
- Customizable gesture controls
- Airplay and TV Out support
- Browse local drives and network shares
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Sit anywhere in your house and watch movies or TV shows on your iPhone, iPod or iPad. VLC Streamer streams movies from your computer to your iDevice. Winner *Best Entertainment App* Chip.de. You can watch anything from your movie collection. No need for complex conversion processes. No need to manually transfer programs to your device. “Can these guys do no wrong? Seriously, if only other app devs knew how to make apps as well as these guys, the world would be a better place. Or at least my device would be less buggy. I was just watching a Full HD copy of Avatar Extended Edition being streamed from my PC on my iPod Touch 2nd Generation and it looked and played amazingly.” - UK Reviewer “…it's as good as having the original VLC player on your iOS device…” - CallingAllGeeks.org “…Setup is a snap and literally takes 2 seconds. You can browse through all your movies from your device and click any one to start playing. It even works if you have the movies stored on a USB drive connected to the host computer.” -The Times of India “Took me seconds to setup to stream from a secondary drive in my home office. Going straight out to get a cable for my TV.” - USA Reviewer “….This sucker can stream off the pc and plays virtually anything you throw at it. Download it now!” - TaxiDriver at Blippy.com There are a huge number of movie formats, and VLC can convert most of them - but it can't convert everything. If you have any doubts, then please try the free version of this application first. • Features include • - Free helper app gets you streaming quickly and allows you to browse local drives, and Windows network shares - Stream over wifi directly from your computer - Support for multiple resolutions and streaming quality levels - Customisable gesture controls - Live streaming of video after a few seconds of processing (assumes a reasonably powered computer) - Airplay support - TV Out support for iPad and iPhone4 - Easy to copy movies directly to your device for watching on the plane or out of the house. - Supports Windows, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 - Supports Mac OS 10.5 and above • System Requirements • - VLC Streamer will not play DRM protected videos. Videos from the iTunes store do include DRM. - VLC Streamer is designed to work on your local network, and the free helper app has to run on your Mac or PC. - Supports Windows, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10. - Supports Mac OS 10.7 Intel and above. • Response to feedback • -If you do have any problems streaming movies, then please just check the help instructions in the app. Feel free to drop me an email (my personal mail is in the app) if you need help. Enjoy!
Swiftfin
This native video player connects to your Jellyfin media server, allowing you to stream your personal video collection and watch Live TV. Enjoy a fast and responsive interface for managing and viewing your content on iOS devices.
- Connects to Jellyfin media server
- Stream personal video collection
- Watch Live TV and recorded shows
- Fast and efficient playback
- Secure user profiles
- Seamless multi-user switching
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Swiftfin is a fast, native video player that works with Jellyfin, the open source free software media server. To use the app, you must have a Jellyfin server set up and running. Find out more at https://jellyfin.org With a Jellyfin server, you can: - Watch Live TV and recorded shows from your Jellyfin server (additional hardware/services required) - Stream your video to your iOS/iPadOS device - View your collection in an easy to use interface This is an official Jellyfin companion app. Thank you for using Jellyfin!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Swiftfin at Free against VLC Streamer Pro's $7.99. VLC Streamer Pro's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and review sentiment (75% vs 53%). On ratings volume, 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
Swiftfin is free to download; VLC Streamer Pro costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
VLC Streamer Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 743 and 278 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of VLC Streamer Pro's written reviews are positive against 53% of Swiftfin's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | VLC Streamer Pro | Swiftfin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (743 ratings) — better | 3.8 (278 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.4% of reviews — better | 53.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 743 — better | 278 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 133 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hobbyist Software Limited | Anthony Lavado |
Customer experience
VLC Streamer Pro
Swiftfin
User reviews
VLC Streamer Pro
From 743 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Seamless streaming
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Fast conversion
- 👍 Supports many file formats
- 👍 Convenient remote access
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and connection issues
- 🐛 Audio sync problems
- 🐛 Conversion quality issues
- 🔋 High CPU/battery usage during conversion
- 🐛 Buggy after updates
Swiftfin
From 278 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Smooth and responsive UI
- 🚀 Fast and efficient media playback
- 🔒 Secure user profiles and pin protection
- 💡 Seamless switching between multiple user accounts
- 👍 Clean and modern app design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔋 Inconsistent battery performance
- 🔒 Difficulty changing server IP/domain
- 🐛 Issues with subtitle and audio track selection
- 🐛 Unreliable live TV and DVR functionality
Bugs and requests
VLC Streamer Pro
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when selecting PC to connect
- Keyboard doesn't disappear during search
- Playback stops unexpectedly
- Conversion process takes too long
Requested features
5 requests- Add playlist support
- Improve subtitle handling
- Allow direct streaming without conversion
- Provide better organization/browsing of media library
- Implement Chromecast support
Swiftfin
Reported bugs
5 issues- Unable to connect to Jellyfin server after recent updates
- Sorting and filtering not working as expected
- Playback issues with certain video codecs and formats
- Home bar not disappearing during video playback
- Sync issues between iOS and tvOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Add offline media download capability
- Implement Picture-in-Picture mode
- Introduce a shuffle option for episodes
- Integrate e-book and audiobook support
- Allow customization of media library views
In-app purchases
VLC Streamer Pro
No in-app purchases
Swiftfin
No in-app purchases









