JRemote vs Swiftfin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Swiftfin
Stream your video collection from a Jellyfin media server to your iOS device. Enjoy an easy-to-use interface for your media library and watch live TV if you have the necessary hardware.
- Native iOS/iPadOS video player
- Connects to Jellyfin media servers
- Stream video collection
- Easy-to-use interface
- Watch Live TV (with hardware)
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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 JRemote's $12.99. Swiftfin also leads on ratings volume (267 vs 28). JRemote's advantage is review sentiment (63% vs 53%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.6). On rating, 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; JRemote costs $12.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.8 for JRemote against 3.8 for Swiftfin. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Swiftfin has 267 ratings behind it against 28, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 63% of JRemote'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 October 15, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | JRemote | Swiftfin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (28 ratings) | 3.8 (267 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.7% of reviews — better | 53.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 28 | 267 — better |
| 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 | 53 MB | 186 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | JRiver | Anthony Lavado |
Customer experience
JRemote
Swiftfin
User reviews
JRemote
From 28 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Swiftfin
From 267 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
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
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- CarPlay support
- Synced cover art display
- Metadata editing capabilities
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
JRemote
No in-app purchases
Swiftfin
No in-app purchases









