Comparison

Hue Disco vs Swiftfin

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

Head to head
About

Hue Disco

Transform your home or business into a dynamic light show. This app syncs Philips Hue lights with music, creating custom color themes and moods. Features include audio reactivity, strobes, and background operation.

Highlights
  • Music-reactive light shows
  • Customizable color themes
  • Multiple strobe effects
  • Mood lighting with timed transitions
  • Background audio support
  • Microphone sensitivity control
Features
Read full description

Often imitated, never surpassed: Hue Disco ! An amazing controller for your Philips Hue connected house or business. Turn your ordinary livingroom into a dancefloor. Use your Hue Connected restaurant as a party location without the need for an expensive lightplan. ***Hue Disco requires a Philips Hue Bridge*** Hue Disco does it all with your Philips Hue setup. The Mood function changes your Hue Lights within a themed colorset at your chosen time interval over and over again. Perfect for warming up your party or any other occasion. Just perfect. Hue Disco is the best in recognizing your favorite music through the microphone. Even at low volume levels changes are accurately detected and transformed into a lightshow. It's the only Hue App with a real fast Stroboscope! (Strobe) Checkout the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjXzdmjPMhU&feature=youtu.be Some detailed features: ****Audio options**** - Microphone sensitivity sliders let you control how often music is turned into light (change) and control silence detection. (dB) - Brightness control sliders manage the maximum and minimum brightness of your disco setup - Indicators to show when your thresholds are being 'hit' by the music. - LED indicator for TEMPO tap button indicating current BPM. -> Auto Disco (strobe, transition style) ****Color Control and Custom Color Themes**** - User configurable color themes. - Color control slider helps you set the saturation of bulbs. - Color range control - Transform any image from your library or Camera in a color theme. ****Strobe**** - New Color Strobe. - Rainbow Strobe. - Classic White Strobe - Custom Color Strobe - Strobe your own Custom Color theme -> Smooth, Snap or Mix Transition. For selecting soft or crazy wild fast transition. Warning for the epileptic! - Mood Tab. Control any mood with these new great features: -> Select transition/cycle time between selected lights from 1 second to 10 minutes! -> Choose a theme or select a color range -> Create your own color theme -> Choose to change all bulbs to the same color -> Or never change to the same color -> Or sometimes -> Or Frequent -> Shake for random setting within current theme (option) -> Overall Mood Brightness Control -> Overall Mood Color Intensity Control -> Sleeptimer for Mood mode Hue Disco listens to an external sound source. It supports running in the background! - It’s possible to use hue disco while playing audio with any other app through: - Bluetooth - Airplay - the internal speaker - a connected dock with audio features - a device connected through the headphone jack Warning: Hue Disco requires a Philips Hue Bridge with at least one controlled bulb. Don't buy this App if you do not know what Philips Hue is. See http://www.meethue.com for more information.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Native iOS/iPadOS video player
  • Connects to Jellyfin media servers
  • Stream video collection
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Watch Live TV (with hardware)
Features
Read full description

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

Hue Disco4 screens
Swiftfin4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Swiftfin at Free against Hue Disco's $4.99. Swiftfin also leads on rating (3.8 vs 2.7) and review sentiment (53% vs 43%). Hue Disco's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and chart position (#189 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Swiftfin is free to download; Hue Disco costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Swiftfin holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 91 and 278 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of Hue Disco's written reviews are positive against 53% of Swiftfin's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hue Disco ships an update every 2 weeks, Swiftfin every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Hue Disco versus Swiftfin: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHue DiscoSwiftfin
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating2.7 (91 ratings)3.8 (278 ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.3% of reviews53.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings91278 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#189 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple TV
Requires iOS12.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB133 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiMakeStuffAnthony Lavado

Customer experience

Hue Disco

All ratings91 ratings
Positive37.4%
Neutral8.8%
Negative53.8%
Written reviews321 reviews
Positive43.3%
Neutral11.2%
Negative45.5%

Swiftfin

All ratings278 ratings
Positive64.7%
Neutral11.2%
Negative24.1%
Written reviews366 reviews
Positive53.0%
Neutral14.8%
Negative32.2%

User reviews

Hue Disco

From 91 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎉 Great for parties
  • 👍 Customizable lighting effects
  • 🚀 Works well with Hue lights
  • 💡 Demonstrates potential of Hue lights

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Connectivity issues
  • 🐛 Compatibility problems with newer Hue bridges
  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🔋 Drains device battery
  • 👎 Unreliable performance

Swiftfin

From 278 App Store ratings

What 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

Hue Disco

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Resets Hue light names and room settings
  • Fails to connect to Hue bridge
  • Lights get stuck on certain colors
  • Incompatible with latest iOS and Hue hardware

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to control music and lighting from same device
  • Support for more smart bulb brands
  • Improved synchronization with music
  • Option to select specific light colors

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

None

Hue Disco

No in-app purchases

None

Swiftfin

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hue Disco free?
Hue Disco costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Swiftfin free?
Swiftfin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Hue Disco or Swiftfin?
Swiftfin is rated higher. Hue Disco averages 2.7 out of 5 from 91 ratings, while Swiftfin averages 3.8 from 278 ratings.
Do Hue Disco or Swiftfin have ads?
Neither Hue Disco nor Swiftfin shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hue Disco or Swiftfin?
Hue Disco ships an update every 2 weeks, and Swiftfin every 3 months. Most recently, Hue Disco was updated on November 10, 2026 and Swiftfin on November 12, 2026.

Other comparisons