Comparison

CMSPlayer vs iPlay

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

Head to head
About

CMSPlayer

This app provides a seamless playback experience for VOD sources, offering features like playback speed adjustment, AirPlay, and Picture in Picture. It allows users to manage multiple sources, search for content, and track watch history. Optimized for Apple devices, it integrates with iCloud for cross-platform syncing.

Highlights
  • Seamless playback experience
  • Playback speed adjustment
  • AirPlay and Picture in Picture support
  • Manage multiple VOD sources
  • Aggregate search with history
  • iCloud sync across platforms
Features
Read full description

Cross-platform player for VOD sources. # Show and Episodes - Seamless play experience - Native app UI/UX, optimized for iPhone, iPhone Duo, iPad, Apple TV and Vision Pro - Display shows in grid or list - Browse show details including actors and descriptions - Quickly navigate to an episode with segment or season selection - Sort episodes alphabetically or in reverse order # Play experience - Playback speed adjustment - AirPlay, Picture in Picture, SharePlay - Auto-play next episode - Pan horizontally to adjust playback progress - Pan vertically to adjust brightness and volume - Skip intro and outro with manual configuration - Auto-playback from last seen timestamp - tvOS/visionOS: Next episode button in info view # Search - Aggregate search - Search history - Option to enable exact match # Manage my stuff - Favorite - Watch history - Navigate to show from history # Source management - Manage multiple sources - Edit, delete or sort sources - Hide certain sources - Import sources from JSON - Export sources to JSON - Manually add source # Apple feature integration - iCloud sync across all platforms (can be disabled) - tvOS TopShelf Icon Attribution: Television icons created by Freepik - Flaticon https://www.flaticon.com/free-icons/television Disclaimer: This app doesn't provide, contain or distribute any VOD or video sources. All sources are provided and entered by the users. Users must provide copyright-free contents or ensure they have acquired the copyrights to play videos in CMSPlayer.

About

iPlay

Watch your videos anytime with this powerful media player. It supports adding Emby sites as content providers, offering a convenient way to access your media library across devices.

Highlights
  • Powerful video playback
  • Emby content provider support
  • Cross-platform compatibility
  • Watch videos anytime
  • Access media library
Features
Read full description

A powerful video player that supports playback of various video formats. Add your media sources and enjoy watching your videos anytime, anywhere. Terms of Use: [https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/)

Screenshots

CMSPlayer4 screens
iPlay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: CMSPlayer at 80% against iPlay's 17%. CMSPlayer also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.6) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). iPlay's advantage is price (Free vs $2.99). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

iPlay is free to download; CMSPlayer costs $2.99 up front. iPlay sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. CMSPlayer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CMSPlayer holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CMSPlayer has 160 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of CMSPlayer's written reviews are positive against 17% of iPlay's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CMSPlayer ships an update every 9 days, iPlay weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
CMSPlayer versus iPlay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCMSPlayeriPlay
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (160 ratings) — better3.6 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews — better16.7% of reviews
Number of ratings160 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Vision ProiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB281 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperYuzhou ZhuangGuangzhou Panyu Huanyu Life Software Studio

Customer experience

CMSPlayer

All ratings160 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral0.6%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

iPlay

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

CMSPlayer

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • iOS 18.1 system crashes
  • Apple TV version keeps crashing
  • App keeps prompting for rating
  • Playback interface cannot switch episodes
  • Playback interface cannot adjust brightness

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add more high-quality, ad-free sources
  • Improve built-in player for smoother scrubbing
  • Support Android TV Box protocol
  • Add more protocols and fix UI
  • Add iOS 12 system version
Show 3 more
  • Add more high-quality web sources
  • Add new features
  • Add more high-quality web sources

iPlay

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

CMSPlayer

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

iPlay

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pass$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Pass$1.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Pass$4.99

Questions

Is CMSPlayer free?
CMSPlayer costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is iPlay free?
iPlay is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CMSPlayer or iPlay?
CMSPlayer is rated higher. CMSPlayer averages 4.7 out of 5 from 160 ratings, while iPlay averages 3.6 from 5 ratings.
Do CMSPlayer or iPlay have ads?
Neither CMSPlayer nor iPlay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CMSPlayer or iPlay?
CMSPlayer ships an update every 9 days, and iPlay weekly. Most recently, CMSPlayer was updated on October 25, 2026 and iPlay on October 24, 2026.

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