Comparison

JellyBox Player vs Discrete

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

Head to head
About

JellyBox Player

Access and play your local music library from Jellyfin, Emby, or Navidrome servers. Enjoy features like time-synced lyrics, offline playback, and remote control of your media.

Highlights
  • Browse local music library
  • Remote device control
  • Time-synced lyrics
  • Full offline mode
  • Downloads
  • Apple CarPlay support
Read full description

JellyBox Player is a client application for Jellyfin, Emby or Navidrome servers. JellyBox allows you seamlessly play all your local music by simply connecting to your home server. This player can: * Browse and your local lib - artists, albums, songs, playlists * Continuity - remotely control your devices or move playback between them * Relay - connect remotely to your home server without use of VPN or tailscale tunnels * Home page widget * Show a time synced lyrics(when available) * Full offline mode, including a "plane" support * Downloads * Native Apple CarPlay app

About

Discrete

A sleek and lightweight music player designed for Jellyfin servers. Enjoy your music library directly from your server with features like offline playback, playlist management, and CarPlay support. Optimized for minimal resource usage and a smooth user experience.

Highlights
  • Jellyfin server integration
  • Offline playback and downloads
  • CarPlay support
  • Playlist creation and management
  • Transcoding options
  • Background playback
  • Sleep timer
Features
Read full description

Discrete is a carefully crafted native music player for your Jellyfin library, made for iPhone and iPad. Enjoy a clean interface, thoughtful controls and layouts that feel at home on your device. Stability and performance are central to the design, with cached library views, progressive loading and background downloads to support everyday listening. MADE FOR IPHONE DUO Thoughtfully adapted library navigation and a dedicated player make the most of iPhone Duo. Enjoy artwork, playback controls and your queue or lyrics together on its expanded screen, with layouts that respond as you rotate or fold the device. YOUR LIBRARY, CLOSE AT HAND - Browse albums, artists, playlists and All Tracks, with artwork and useful music details. - Find songs, albums, artists and playlists in one search. - Rediscover your collection through Home suggestions, new releases and recently added music. - Keep favorites close and revisit your listening history. LISTEN YOUR WAY - Play a song next, add it to the queue, or drag upcoming tracks into the order you want. - Save your queue and playback position between app launches. - Shuffle, repeat, set a sleep timer, or start a Jellyfin Instant Mix from a song, album or playlist. - Follow synced lyrics and tap a timed line to jump to that part of the song, when lyrics are available on your server. - View audio format, bit depth and sample rate while listening. TAKE YOUR MUSIC WITH YOU - Download tracks, albums and playlists for offline listening. - Browse and search downloaded music without a connection. - Let audio downloads continue in the background and follow their progress in a Live Activity. - Stream original files or use automatic or custom Jellyfin transcoding, with separate preferences for cellular, Wi-Fi and downloads. MADE FOR IPHONE, IPAD AND CARPLAY - Enjoy player layouts for portrait and landscape, with support for iPad multitasking. - Swipe between tracks in the mini player, listen in the background, and use Lock Screen controls or AirPlay. - Browse your library, play downloaded music and manage Up Next in CarPlay. MAKE THE COLLECTION YOURS Create and rename playlists, add or remove songs, and reorder them with a drag. Playlist changes and favorites are saved to your Jellyfin server. FREE TO ENJOY. PRO TO SUPPORT. The core listening experience is free, including playback, downloads, playlists, lyrics and CarPlay. Optional Discrete Pro supports continued development and adds multiple accounts, alternate app icons and accent colors. Pro is available through monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscriptions, or a lifetime purchase. You can manage or cancel subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Requires access to a Jellyfin server with a music library. Format support and transcoding depend on your device and server. Privacy Policy: https://discrete.app/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

JellyBox Player3 screens
Discrete4 screens

Verdict

The call

JellyBox Player and Discrete both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 92% of Discrete's written reviews are positive against 44% of JellyBox Player's. Discrete also leads on ratings volume (53 vs 7). JellyBox Player's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, ads 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

Both are free to download. Discrete sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. JellyBox Player asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for JellyBox Player against 4.7 for Discrete. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Discrete has 53 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of JellyBox Player's written reviews are positive against 92% of Discrete's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

JellyBox Player ships an update every 5 days, Discrete every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
JellyBox Player versus Discrete: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJellyBox PlayerDiscrete
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7 ratings)4.7 (53 ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.8% of reviews91.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings753 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.4 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOleksandr SynelnykovAleksandr Orlov

Customer experience

JellyBox Player

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral14.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive43.8%
Neutral25.0%
Negative31.3%

Discrete

All ratings50 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive91.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

JellyBox Player

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Discrete

Subscriptions2
  • Discrete Pro [Monthly]$0.991 Month
  • Discrete Pro [Yearly]$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Discrete Pro [Lifetime]$19.99

Questions

Is JellyBox Player free?
JellyBox Player is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Discrete free?
Discrete is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, JellyBox Player or Discrete?
Discrete is rated higher. JellyBox Player averages 4.7 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Discrete averages 4.7 from 53 ratings.
Do JellyBox Player or Discrete have ads?
Neither JellyBox Player nor Discrete shows ads.
Which is updated more often, JellyBox Player or Discrete?
JellyBox Player ships an update every 5 days, and Discrete every 2 weeks. Most recently, JellyBox Player was updated on November 3, 2026 and Discrete on November 5, 2026.

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