Comparison

xREL vs Aether Player

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

Head to head
About

xREL

Access movie release dates and game NFO graphics on the go. Receive push notifications for categories or personal favorites, and manage your content with custom filters and themes. It's an information platform for NFO graphics, not for illegal downloads.

Highlights
  • Push notifications for categories
  • Personalized favorite notifications
  • Discover upcoming movie releases
  • View Scene and P2P NFOs
  • Filter and search database
  • Multiple light and dark themes
  • Manage favorites and mark as read
Features
Read full description

This app puts the information from xREL.to in your pocket: on iPhone, iPad and now on iPhone Duo with a dedicated layout for the unfolded display. When does a movie hit theaters? Is there already an NFO for your favorite series? Which scene and P2P releases just came out? The app shows you all of this at a glance. Features: - Push notifications for the categories you choose - Latest scene and P2P NFOs with ratings and comments - Quick filters for resolution, HDR and your own keywords, including exclusions - Keep track of theatrical releases and add them straight to your calendar - Product pages with plot, cast, trailers, images and streaming providers - Search the entire xREL.to database With your xREL.to account you also get: - Manage favorites lists and mark NFOs as read - Push notifications for your favorites, with personal filter lists - Use the overview filter you set up on xREL.to - Check your favorites lists for new NFOs IMPORTANT: Neither this app nor xREL.to offers any way to illegally download movies or other content. It is purely an information platform specializing in so-called NFO graphics. This is not an official xREL app. The developer is not affiliated with the xREL.to team in any way.

About

Aether Player

This media player aggregates content from Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and local files into a unified library. It supports a wide range of formats and offers features like offline downloads, user profiles, and advanced subtitle management.

Highlights
  • Unified library from multiple sources
  • Supports various media formats (MKV, HEVC, HDR)
  • Offline downloads and Smart Downloads
  • User profiles with age restrictions
  • Advanced subtitle customization and search
  • Music playback with offline catalog
  • Live TV support with custom guides
Features
Read full description

Aether is a personal media player for Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and your own files — built natively for every Apple screen. Connect your server and your whole library appears: movies, shows, music, Continue Watching, Recently Added. Add a second server and both merge into one deduplicated view, with a picker that tells you which copy is the better file. Your media, not theirs. PLAY ANYTHING • Direct play or server-transcoded — Aether follows the best path automatically, per title. • MKV, HEVC, HDR, lossless audio: formats other players choke on play through a modern engine, GPU-accelerated for smooth 4K. • Picture in Picture, AirPlay, surround sound, lock-screen controls. • Switch audio and subtitle tracks mid-playback on every platform. • Offline downloads, including whole seasons — and Smart Downloads that keep the next unwatched episodes ready. EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE • Profiles: separate Continue Watching, watchlist, ratings, Home rails and trackers, with a PIN on the way in and per-profile library visibility. • A child's profile can be held to an age rating. • Pair a profile to your Plex Home profile, or to its own Jellyfin or Emby user, so watched state stays separate on the server too. • Two profiles are included; up to five with Supporter. SUBTITLES, DONE PROPERLY • Aether reads subtitle files itself and times them against the picture, so they sit where you put them — in the black bars or over the video, in your own style, with sync and size adjustable in the player. • Search OpenSubtitles from a title's own page in thirty-one languages, ranked against the exact file you're playing. YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY • One library across every connected source, filtered by genre, year, rating, country, audio language, server or the libraries you curated on them. • Continue Watching, Up Next and a Discover tab with trending titles and Where to Watch availability in your region. • Person pages, franchise collections, and ratings from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb. • Music as its own tab — artists, albums, playlists, and a player built for it, with the catalog kept on disk so it opens offline. • Live TV from a playlist you already have, with a full guide, categories you make yourself, Xtream Codes accounts and HDHomeRun tuners. Bring-your-own: Aether provides no channels. BEAUTIFUL ON EVERY SCREEN • iPhone and iPad: cinematic hero art, a page that grows out of the poster you tapped. • Apple TV: precision focus design, and your Continue Watching in the top shelf. • Apple Vision Pro: an auditorium around the picture — raked seating, masking walls, house lights down. • Mac: a native app with a menu-bar mode, a series browser, and Apple's own decoder for what it can play. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Aether connects only to the servers you configure. No account of ours, no cloud, no ads, no cross-app tracking. Your ratings, watchlist and resume positions live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Optional anonymous usage statistics can be turned off any time. SOURCES • Plex (multi-server, multi-account) • Jellyfin (multi-server) • Emby (multi-server, Live TV, music) • Silo • SMB / network shares, with Bonjour discovery • WebDAV • Local files Optional, all bring-your-own: connect your own Seerr to request what you don't have, your own Trakt or Simkl account to track what you watch, and your own OpenSubtitles account for subtitle search. Aether requires a Plex, Jellyfin, Emby or Silo media server, an SMB or WebDAV share, or local video files. It is not a streaming service and does not provide any content. Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Silo, Trakt, Simkl and OpenSubtitles are trademarks of their respective owners. Aether is an independent, third-party client and is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by them. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://aetherplayer.com/privacy

Screenshots

xREL4 screens
Aether Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: xREL at 100% against Aether Player's 50%. xREL also leads on rating (4.5 vs 2.0) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). Aether Player's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and device support (5 vs 2). On price, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. xREL sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Aether Player sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

xREL holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of xREL's written reviews are positive against 50% of Aether Player's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

xREL ships an update every 2 months, Aether Player weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
xREL versus Aether Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterxRELAether Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (2 ratings) — better2.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings23 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS18.6 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB160 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperCrEaK-WebmediaVaclav Zmrhal

Customer experience

xREL

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Aether Player

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

xREL

One-time3
  • Kleine Spende$0.99
  • Mittlere Spende$2.99
  • Große Spende$4.99
6 purchases

Aether Player

Subscriptions2
  • Supporter (Monthly)14 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Supporter (Yearly)14 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Aether Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is xREL free?
xREL is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, xREL or Aether Player?
xREL is rated higher. xREL averages 4.5 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Aether Player averages 2.0 from 3 ratings.
Do xREL or Aether Player have ads?
Neither xREL nor Aether Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, xREL or Aether Player?
xREL ships an update every 2 months, and Aether Player weekly. Most recently, xREL was updated on November 1, 2026 and Aether Player on November 5, 2026.

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