Comparison

Discrete vs Crate for Plex

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

Head to head
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/

About

Crate for Plex

A native, unofficial music player for your Plex Media Server, designed for iPhone and Apple Watch. Enjoy your owned music library with features like offline listening, crossfade, and queue management without subscriptions or ads.

Highlights
  • Plex music library browsing
  • Offline listening
  • Apple Watch app
  • Crossfade playback
  • Queue management
  • Smart caching
Features
Read full description

Your Plex music library, finally given the iOS music player it deserves. Crate is a native, unofficial music player for your Plex Media Server, built for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay. Pay once. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. Just your music, played beautifully. ON IPHONE - Browse your entire library — albums, artists, playlists - Now Playing reimagined with crossfade, queue, lyrics, and hearts - Stations built from your own library — Hits, Heart Beats, On Repeat, and more - Discover view to rediscover albums you'd forgotten you loved - Download albums for offline listening - Smart caching keeps recently-played tracks ready offline - Pick up where you left off — Crate restores your last session on launch - Light and dark modes that actually look like iOS IN THE CAR - Full CarPlay app — Home, Library, Discover, Stations, and Search - Top Picks and recent albums the moment you connect - Hands-free with Siri: "Hey Siri, play House in Crate" - Ask Siri for a playlist, an artist, or a station, or say "I like this song" to heart it ON IPAD - A layout built for the big screen, in both orientations - Lyrics alongside the artwork, the way they should be ON APPLE WATCH - A real watchOS app — browse, download, and play from your wrist - Doubles as a remote when your iPhone is the one playing - Download albums directly to your watch - Phone-optional playback with AirPods THE FUNDAMENTALS, DONE RIGHT - Gapless playback with crossfade between tracks - Volume matching, so quiet albums and loud ones sit at the same level - Lossless FLAC playback on iPhone (Apple Watch auto-transcodes for compatibility) - Stream quality control, with Data Saver and Low Data Mode respected automatically - Shuffle with no repeats - Hearts to track what you love - Queue management you can actually use WHAT'S NOT INSIDE - No subscription - No ads - No tracking - No login wall to a service that isn't yours Crate connects directly to your own Plex Media Server. Your music. Your server. Your player. REQUIREMENTS Crate requires a Plex Media Server with a music library and a free Plex account. Plex Pass is not required. Crate is an unofficial third-party application and is not made by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Plex Inc.

Screenshots

Discrete4 screens
Crate for Plex4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Discrete at Free against Crate for Plex's $3.99. Discrete also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (92% vs 75%). Crate for Plex's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On 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

Discrete is free to download; Crate for Plex costs $3.99 up front. Discrete sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Crate for Plex 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 Discrete against 4.7 for Crate for Plex. 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: 92% of Discrete's written reviews are positive against 75% of Crate for Plex's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Discrete ships an update every 2 weeks, Crate for Plex every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Discrete versus Crate for Plex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiscreteCrate for Plex
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.7 (53 ratings) — better4.7 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews91.7% of reviews — better75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings53 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.4
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAleksandr OrlovDarren Ebbing

Customer experience

Discrete

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

Crate for Plex

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%

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
None

Crate for Plex

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Discrete free?
Discrete is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Crate for Plex free?
Crate for Plex costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Discrete or Crate for Plex?
Discrete is rated higher. Discrete averages 4.7 out of 5 from 53 ratings, while Crate for Plex averages 4.7 from 7 ratings.
Do Discrete or Crate for Plex have ads?
Neither Discrete nor Crate for Plex shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Discrete or Crate for Plex?
Discrete ships an update every 2 weeks, and Crate for Plex every 2 months. Most recently, Discrete was updated on November 5, 2026 and Crate for Plex on November 5, 2026.

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