Comparison

CloudSpinner vs Familiar Player

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

Head to head
About

CloudSpinner

Features
Read full description

CloudSpinner: Spin your records and videos from your personal cloud This app requires you using a third party cloud service as your file storage. It currently supports Dropbox, Google Drive and One Drive. By popular demand, other services can be considered implemented at a later point. CloudSpinner lets you browse, play, and manage your backed-up music, recordings, demos, and videos using cloud services you may already subscribe to. Connect to Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive and browse your existing folder structure directly, treating your cloud storage as a personal media library. The app supports lossless playback when available, stable streaming with low CPU and power usage, and playlist creation across one or multiple cloud services. Tracks and playlists can be downloaded for offline playback and managed locally on your device. CloudSpinner includes a practice mode with adjustable playback speed without changing pitch, useful for rehearsing, learning parts, or working with recordings and demos. Built-in search makes it easy to locate tracks, folders, or albums across connected libraries. A sleep timer can be used for those who fall asleep to sounds playing. Cover art can be auto-scanned and cached locally, or manually selected from public databases. You may also access Discogs and MusicBrainz databases to view track information. Playback continues in the background with lock screen controls. The app supports Apple CarPlay for in-car use. Network usage can be adjusted, allowing you to control Wi-Fi and cellular data behavior when streaming or downloading content. CloudSpinner supports both light and dark mode and follows system appearance settings. CloudSpinner is designed for reliable playback and focused listening, without ads, social features, analytics, or automated content modification. Your rhythm, no algorithms. Auto-renewable subscription: CloudSpinner Premium โ€“ Annual Subscription (1 year / 12 months) Price: $7.99/year (price may vary by region) Subscription automatically renews unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.lurenstudio.no/apps/cloudspinner/privacy/

About

Familiar Player

Features
Read full description

Familiar is a self-hosted music player that understands the sound of your music, not just its metadata. Ask for "something that sounds like rain on a window" and it actually works. Point Familiar at your own home server (macOS Docker, Linux, Synology, OpenMediaVault โ€” whatever you run). Nothing leaves your network. No cloud accounts, no subscriptions, no tracking. โ€ข AI chat and playlist creation โ€” Powered by the Claude API using your own key. Describe a mood, a setting, a vibe; Familiar pulls from your library. โ€ข Semantic audio search โ€” CLAP embeddings let you match by how music sounds, not just artist or genre. โ€ข Deep feature analysis โ€” BPM, key, energy, brightness, danceability, valence, instrumentalness, and more, extracted on your server. โ€ข Ambient mode โ€” continuous drone plus ghostly snippets from your library, tuned to the current key. โ€ข Community analysis cache โ€” opt in to share anonymized audio fingerprints so others skip hours of analysis, and benefit from theirs. โ€ข Smart playlists โ€” rules-based playlists that update automatically as your library changes. โ€ข Offline playback, lock-screen controls, synced lyrics (LRCLIB), Last.fm scrobbling. โ€ข Works with FLAC, ALAC, MP3, AAC, Ogg, Opus. Familiar is open-source (MIT) and requires you to run your own backend. Setup guides for Docker, macOS, and common NAS platforms are on GitHub.

Screenshots

CloudSpinner4 screens
Familiar Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Familiar Player at none against CloudSpinner's 1. CloudSpinner's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. CloudSpinner sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per year. Familiar Player asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CloudSpinner ships an update every 6 weeks, Familiar Player every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
CloudSpinner versus Familiar Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCloudSpinnerFamiliar Player
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks โ€” betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS14.0 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size34 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHans Martin AustestadSee-through Lab LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

CloudSpinner

Subscriptions1
  • CloudSpinner Annual1 Month trial$7.991 Year
None

Familiar Player

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CloudSpinner free?
CloudSpinner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Familiar Player free?
Familiar Player is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do CloudSpinner or Familiar Player have ads?
Neither CloudSpinner nor Familiar Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CloudSpinner or Familiar Player?
CloudSpinner ships an update every 6 weeks, and Familiar Player every 3 months. Most recently, CloudSpinner was updated on September 27, 2026 and Familiar Player on October 12, 2026.

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