Comparison

Wristrax vs Shelv Player

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

Head to head
About

Wristrax

Access and play your personal music library from your Apple Watch. Browse artists, albums, and playlists, then download and transfer tracks for offline listening without needing your phone.

Highlights
  • Offline Plex music playback
  • Browse artists, albums, playlists
  • Download tracks to phone
  • Transfer music to Apple Watch
  • Play music with connected AirPods
  • Supports Play Now widget
Features
Read full description

** Requires a Plex Media Server and a Plex account. Wristrax displays music from your own Plex library; no content is provided by the app. ** Plex and Plexamp are great. But what if you want to have your music on your Apple Watch? At the gym or while running, carrying your phone just to listen to music is not great. Wristrax finally brings offline playback to your Plex library. Browse artists, albums and playlists, download tracks to your phone, and transfer them to your Apple Watch. Here, you can browse your tracks and play them, for example with connected AirPods. Supports the Play Now widget. Files can be transcoded server-side for saving pace, or transferred as is. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Shelv Player

Stream and download your personal music library from a compatible server. Enjoy features like synced lyrics, smart mixes, and offline listening across multiple Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Stream personal music library
  • Offline downloads
  • Synced lyrics
  • Smart mixes
  • Gapless playback
  • Cross-device queue sync
  • CarPlay and AirPlay support
Features
Read full description

Shelv is a native music player for Navidrome and Subsonic-compatible servers, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Stream your own music library, download it for offline listening, add radio stations, and enjoy smooth playback with gapless, transcoding and smart pre-cache. Shelv is built around albums and artists, with smart mixes, synced lyrics, listening insights and optional Last.fm. Features: - Album and artist focused library - Artist pages with Top Songs, Albums, Singles & EPs and Live albums - Smart Mixes, Instant Mix and Infinity Mix - Random Albums and Shuffle All - Last.fm for mixes and Top Songs (optional) - Offline Downloads - Radio Stations - Listening Insights - Synced Lyrics with LRCLIB - Gapless Playback - Transcoding - ReplayGain - Smart Pre-cache - Queue Sync across devices - Scrobbling - Multiple Servers - CarPlay, Siri and Shortcuts - AirPlay - iCloud Sync Shelv requires your own Navidrome or Subsonic-compatible music server.

Screenshots

Wristrax4 screens
Shelv Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shelv Player at none against Wristrax's 2. Shelv Player also leads on ratings volume (7 vs 1) and device support (4 vs 2). Wristrax's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, ads and iOS requirement 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. Wristrax sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per year. Shelv Player asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Wristrax against 5.0 for Shelv Player. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shelv Player has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Wristrax ships an update weekly, Shelv Player every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Wristrax versus Shelv Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWristraxShelv Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings17 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB25 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperHolger SchuelerVasco Kugler

Customer experience

Wristrax

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Shelv Player

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Wristrax

Subscriptions1
  • Annual Unlocked$8.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlimited$24.99
None

Shelv Player

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Wristrax free?
Wristrax is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shelv Player free?
Shelv Player is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Wristrax or Shelv Player?
Wristrax and Shelv Player are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 7 ratings respectively.
Do Wristrax or Shelv Player have ads?
Neither Wristrax nor Shelv Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Wristrax or Shelv Player?
Wristrax ships an update weekly, and Shelv Player every 2 weeks. Most recently, Wristrax was updated on October 24, 2026 and Shelv Player on October 31, 2026.

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