Illumi Player vs Pippin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Illumi Player
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Illumi Player helps you discover new films and shows, build watchlists, and enjoy your personal media — all from the comfort of your Apple TV and iPhone. Designed specifically for Apple platforms, Illumi Player delivers a fast, elegant, and focused experience for discovering content and seamless playback. The free plan lets you connect one Emby or Plex server and stream your personal media in up to 1080p. Upgrade to Illumi Player Pro to unlock higher-quality playback, multiple servers, downloads, profiles, and other premium features. Illumi Player automatically tracks playback progress so you can easily continue watching right where you left off across your devices. Features • Discover new films and TV shows • Create and manage watchlists • Connect to your Emby or Plex server • Free plan includes one connected server and streaming up to 1080p • Stream and play media from your personal library • Automatic playback progress tracking and resume watching • Audio and subtitle selection during playback • Illumi Player Pro: Connect multiple servers • Illumi Player Pro: Stream in higher resolutions and quality • Illumi Player Pro: Download media for offline viewing on iPhone and iPad • Illumi Player Pro: Create multiple user profiles • Designed specifically for Apple TV with a clean, intuitive interface Privacy Policy: https://www.illumiplayer.com/privacy Terms and Conditions: https://www.illumiplayer.com/terms
Pippin
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Pippin is a beautiful and deeply customisable Apple-native client for Plex and Jellyfin. Playback • Custom player with hardware acceleration for low battery consumption • HDR and wide codec support • Customisable subtitle styles • Search for missing subtitles online • Thumbnail scrubbing previews Make it yours • Build your own pages from custom shelves • Apply custom filters • Light or dark themes with custom accent colours • Hide spoilers for unwatched episodes Everything in one place • Combine Plex and Jellyfin servers • Seerr, Sonarr, and Radarr integrations • Ratings from IMDb, TMDb, Trakt, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and Letterboxd • Download any title (and it’s metadata) to watch offline * Search across everything Watch Together • Start a FaceTime SharePlay session to watch with friends and family • Playback stays in sync, everyone can control playback • Family Sharing for in-app purchases Note: Pippin is a media client only and requires your own Plex or Jellyfin server. Some features require a Pippin Pro subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Illumi Player and Pippin are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Illumi Player sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Pippin sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Illumi Player ships an update every 2 weeks, Pippin every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Illumi Player | Pippin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 99 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BRADLEY JOHN LEFTLEY | Liam Morris |
In-app purchases
Illumi Player
- Pro Monthly Subscription2 Months trial$1.991 Month
- Yearly Pro Subscription2 Months trial$12.991 Year
Pippin
- Pippin Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
- Pippin Pro Yearly$4.991 Year
- Pippin Pro - Lifetime$9.99
