Amico Controller vs Afterplay
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Amico Controller
Transform your smart device into a game controller for immersive couch multiplayer experiences. Connect wirelessly to a console or home app to play with friends and family. Offers various sign-in options and customizable controller settings.
- Turns smart devices into game controllers
- Wi-Fi network connectivity
- Touchscreen for game-specific controls
- Microphone and speaker support
- Multiple player sign-in options
- In-game menu and options
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Experience the joy of “couch play” multiplayer gaming with your family and friends! Requirements There are three components required to enjoy games on Amico Home: 1. This FREE Amico Controller app – turns smart devices into Amico game controllers. 2. An Amico Console or the FREE Amico Home app which turns a compatible smart device into an Amico Console. 3. A Wi-Fi network shared by all participating devices. Amico Controller Features Please see the screenshots for the appearance of the features described here. • Disc – directional input for gameplay and menu navigation. • Touchscreen – displays the controller’s menus as well as game-specific information, controls, and menus. • Menu Button – open/close the controller options menu on the touchscreen. It also pauses/resumes gameplay. • Action Buttons – games-specific functions and selecting highlighted menu items on the “console” device. • Speaker – some games play sound effects through your controller device’s speaker. • Microphone – some games ask you to record your voice through your controller device’s microphone for in-game content. Sign-In Menu When you launch the Amico Controller app, it automatically connects over your Wi-Fi network to the device running the Amico Home app. Then it shows the sign-in menu which presents four ways for you to sign in as a player: 1. Create a new resident account – enter your player nickname, preferred language and optional account password (and password hint). 2. Choose from a list of previously created resident accounts. 3. Use a guest account – type in your player guest nickname. 4. Use an anonymous guest account – it assigns you the name of “Player1”, or “Player2”, etc. A resident account preserves your account information and controller preferences between sessions; a guest account does not. In no case is your information sent over the Internet or stored on cloud servers. Options Menu Press the little menu button to open the controller’s option menu on the touchscreen area. This action pauses game play if a game is in active play (i.e. not on a game menu). Resume game play by pressing the menu button again to close the options menu. The options menu offerings vary depending on the current state of play and whether you are signed in or not and connected to the Amico Home console device or not. Only options that are currently applicable are shown to keep the menu streamlined. Important Options Menu Items • Sign Out – sign out of the current signed-in player account and return to the controller Sign-In menu. • Game Menu – Exit active gameplay and return to the game’s main menu. • Amico Home – Exit a game completely and return everyone to the Amico Home app. • Settings (Gear) – a submenu of various settings options to customize your controller and gameplay experience. • Rotation Lock/Unlock – a toggle that locks and unlocks the ability for the controller UI to rotate when you rotate the controller to different orientations. A user-friendly feature of Amico Controllers is the ability to rotate it for left-handed or right-handed comfort. Some games may restrict the controller UI to only landscape or only portrait orientations due to demands of their touchscreen displays. But within those restrictions you are free to rotate the controller 180 degrees to change which side has the Disc and which side has the touch screen. The touchscreen UI and Disc directions will automatically adjust to the new orientation (unless you have locked rotation, see above). “Amico” is a trademark of Intellivision Entertainment, LLC.
Afterplay
This app transforms your retro gaming experience by allowing you to play classic games from over 30 supported consoles on any device. Enjoy seamless cross-device gaming with cloud saves and autosave, enhanced gameplay features like fast forward and rewind, and customizable controls.
- 30+ supported consoles
- Cloud saves
- Autosave
- Fast Forward & Rewind
- Multiplayer
- Customizable controls
- Video shaders
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Buy retro games. Play anywhere. Afterplay is a store and player for retro games. Buy new and classic games from independent publishers, and play them straight away on your phone, tablet or computer. No emulator to set up, nothing to configure. BUY AND PLAY, ALL IN ONE APP • Browse a growing catalogue of games for the consoles you grew up with • Your purchase goes straight into your library, ready to play • Some publishers also let you download the game files to keep • No subscription required to buy and play PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF • Your games and saves sync across your phone, tablet and computer • Start on the bus, finish on the sofa • Autosaves mean you never lose progress YOUR GAMES, UPGRADED • Rewind a bad jump, slow down a tricky moment, or fast-forward the grind • Save states whenever you like • Classic looks: CRT scanlines, handheld LCD grids and smooth upscaling • Cheats, hotkeys and button macros • Capture screenshots and record clips • Translate games into your language with AI ALREADY HAVE GAMES? Add your own game files from 39 systems and keep them alongside your store purchases in one library. Import your existing saves too. Adding your own games is free. Supported systems include Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn, Neo Geo, PC Engine, Atari, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, arcade and more. AFTERPLAY+ Afterplay is free, with cloud sync included. Afterplay+ adds rewind and slow motion, faster fast-forward, unlimited save states, shaders, core options, cheats, hotkeys and macros, screenshots and video. Our mission is to make every game playable again, working with publishers to bring gaming history to modern devices, legally and faithfully. Afterplay does not include or provide copyrighted games you have not bought. Questions or problems? Visit afterplay.io/support. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://app.termly.io/policy-viewer/policy.html?policyUUID=21c4d778-684e-4e6a-a393-1a9639ce06b5
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Amico Controller at none against Afterplay's 15. Amico Controller also leads on review sentiment (64% vs 41%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). Afterplay's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 months). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Afterplay sells 15 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Amico Controller asks for nothing beyond the download.
Afterplay holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 3.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 44 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Amico Controller's written reviews are positive against 41% of Afterplay's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Amico Controller ships an update every 3 months, Afterplay every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Amico Controller | Afterplay |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (17 ratings) | 3.4 (44 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.6% of reviews — better | 41.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 17 | 44 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 71 MB | 548 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Intellivision | Afterplay.io |
Customer experience
Amico Controller
Afterplay
Bugs and requests
Amico Controller
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Afterplay
Reported bugs
2 issues- Resets game progress after saving
- Compatibility issues with older devices
Requested features
2 requests- Add more emulator cores for different systems
- Improve free tier to make it more accessible
In-app purchases
Amico Controller
No in-app purchases
Afterplay
- Premium$3.991 Month
- Premium$19.991 Year
- Premium$24.991 Year
- Game Purchase ($1.99)$1.99
- Gift 1 Month$3.99
- Game Purchase ($4.99)$4.99
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- Game Purchase ($6.99)$6.99
- Gift 3 Months$9.99
- Game Purchase ($11.99)$11.99
- Game Purchase ($12.99)$12.99
- Game Purchase ($13.99)$13.99
- Game Purchase ($22.99)$22.99
- Gift 1 Year$24.99
- Game Purchase ($27.99)$27.99
- Game Purchase ($29.99)$29.99








