RTÉ Player vs IFI Archive Player
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RTÉ Player
Access a vast library of Irish television content, both live and on-demand. Stream popular dramas, sports, entertainment, and children's programs from RTÉ channels. Features include personalized recommendations, watchlists, and accessibility options.
- Live and on-demand TV streaming
- Thousands of favorite RTÉ shows
- Full series of dramas and soaps
- Live sporting action
- RTÉ Player Kids section
- In-vision ISL and Audio Description
- Personalized recommendations and watchlists
Read full descriptionHide full description
RTÉ Player is the home of must-see TV in Ireland, live and on-demand. Watch 1000s of your favourite RTÉ shows. Full series of gripping drama from home and abroad, soaps, live sporting action and entertainment shows everyone’s talking about. Browse and switch between RTÉ channels - RTÉ One, RTÉ 2, RTÉ News and RTÉ Kids on the go. Entertain little ones with RTÉ Player Kids. A world of fun, learning and entertainment with the best RTÉJr programmes live and on demand. KEY FEATURES - Don’t miss a minute of the action, breaking news or live sport. -Discover the most-talked about shows like Room to Improve, Kin and Smother. -Access shows with in-vision Irish Sign Language (ISL) and Audio Description (AD) -Sign in to RTÉ Player to continue watching shows and pick up where you left off on any device. -Sign in and get recommendations tailored to you, making picking what to watch easier than ever. -Watch later. ‘Favourite’ a program to create a watchlist of programmes to go back to, so you don’t miss RTÉ’s most talked about shows. -Share your favourites with friends through social sharing. The RTÉ Player App uses streaming technology which means that you must be connected to the Internet in order to watch programmes. The app will automatically adjust video quality based on the speed of your WiFi connection.
IFI Archive Player
Explore a vast collection of Irish film heritage with this app. Stream documentaries, short films, and home movies from the Irish Film Institute's archives directly to your device. Discover unique content regularly updated to showcase Ireland's cinematic history.
- Virtual viewing room of Irish film archives
- Global access to rich film heritage
- Browse by category and collections
- Search by date, location, and interest
- Regularly updated content
- Supports Airplay for Apple TV streaming
Read full descriptionHide full description
The IFI Player app is a virtual viewing room of treasures from the Irish Film Institute’s (IFI) remarkable moving image collection in our Archives in Dublin, Ireland. This free app will give audiences across the globe instant and exclusive access to this rich heritage. The material on the IFI Player has been carefully selected to give audiences a taste of the breadth and depth of the collections preserved by the IFI Archive. You can browse by category and by specific collections as well as searching by date, location and area of interest. Contemporary short films, newsreels, travelogues, animation, public information films, home movies and documentaries have been included, as we want to reflect all aspects of indigenous amateur and professional film production in Ireland in the past 100 years. New content is uploaded regularly ensuring there is always something unique to discover from the IFI Irish Film Archive anytime and anywhere you want. The IFI Player App uses streaming technology, which means that you must be connected to the Internet in order to watch content. The IFI Player App supports Airplay so you can watch content on your Apple TV from any IOS device.The IFI Player is available worldwide from the App Store We hope you enjoy discovering Ireland’s rich film heritage
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: IFI Archive Player at none against RTÉ Player's shown. IFI Archive Player also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). RTÉ Player's advantage is ratings volume (6.3K vs 5) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for RTÉ Player against 4.6 for IFI Archive Player. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RTÉ Player has 6.3K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 46% of RTÉ Player's written reviews are positive against 50% of IFI Archive Player's.
RTÉ Player ships an update every 3 weeks, IFI Archive Player every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RTÉ Player | IFI Archive Player |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6.3K ratings) — better | 4.6 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 46.1% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6.3K — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | RTÉ | Irish Film Institute |
Customer experience
RTÉ Player
IFI Archive Player
In-app purchases
RTÉ Player
No in-app purchases
IFI Archive Player
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is RTÉ Player free?
Is IFI Archive Player free?
Which has better reviews, RTÉ Player or IFI Archive Player?
Do RTÉ Player or IFI Archive Player have ads?
Which is updated more often, RTÉ Player or IFI Archive Player?
Other comparisons
