Comparison

Discrete vs Embeat

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

Embeat

Features
Read full description

Embeat is the native music player for your Emby or Jellyfin server. Enjoy your library just the way you organized it: artists, albums, tracks, genres and playlists, with cover art and metadata. • Gapless, lossless playback for FLAC and ALAC. • CarPlay. Browse and play your library from the car screen: recent, new, favorites and playlists, with cover art, the queue, and shuffle and repeat. Plus a tab with your downloads, which plays even when the server is out of reach. • Radio mode. When the queue runs out, Embeat keeps going on its own with music that fits what you were listening to. • Sleep timer. Tell it to stop in 15, 20, 30, 45 or 60 minutes and fall asleep to it: the countdown stays on screen. • Embeat Connect streams music to DLNA/UPnP devices on your local network, Sonos speakers included — gapless there too. • Download tracks, albums and playlists to listen offline, on your phone and in the car. • Choose a quality cap for mobile data and keep the original on Wi-Fi — gapless either way. • Multiple Emby and Jellyfin servers, with quick switching between them. • Global search, favorites that update themselves when you star something elsewhere, an editable queue, background playback and lock screen controls. • Ask Siri to play your music on Embeat. Sonos only accepts audio up to 48 kHz. If your library is hi-res, Embeat adapts it on the way there, keeping it lossless. Embeat connects directly to your server. It collects no data and shows no ads. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Emby, Jellyfin or Sonos. Embeat Annual — auto-renewable subscription. Length: 1 year. Price: €9.99 / year, with a 1-month free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account upon confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically at the same price and for the same duration unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it at any time in your Apple Account settings. If you buy the subscription during a free trial, any unused portion of the trial is forfeited. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://www.embeat.media/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.embeat.media/privacy

Screenshots

Discrete4 screens
Embeat4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Embeat at every 3 days against Discrete's every 2 weeks. On price, 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

Both are free to download. Discrete sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Embeat sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $8.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Discrete ships an update every 2 weeks, Embeat every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Discrete versus Embeat: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiscreteEmbeat
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (54 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings54 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 — better18.4
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAleksandr OrlovJoan Pallas Ribes

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
1 purchases

Embeat

Subscriptions1
  • Embeat anual1 Month trial$8.991 Year

Questions

Is Discrete free?
Discrete is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Embeat free?
Embeat is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Discrete or Embeat have ads?
Neither Discrete nor Embeat shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Discrete or Embeat?
Discrete ships an update every 2 weeks, and Embeat every 3 days. Most recently, Discrete was updated on November 8, 2026 and Embeat on November 10, 2026.

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