Comparison

ReCast Player vs Aether Player

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

Head to head
About

ReCast Player

Features
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Recast — Your Radio, Replayed Play your recorded radio shows from local storage, iCloud Drive, or SMB network shares — all in one app. Smart Date Detection Automatically extracts dates from filenames and organizes episodes chronologically. Supports multiple date formats including ISO 8601, Japanese dates, and more. Per-Folder Playback Tracking Remembers your last playback position for each folder. Instantly see which show you were listening to and pick up right where you left off. Network Playback Connect directly to SMB shares on your home server or NAS. Browse folders, select shows, and stream without copying files to your device. Built for Radio Listeners - Background playback with lock screen controls - Sleep timer, playback speed control, shuffle & repeat - Mark episodes as played/unplayed - Sort by date or filename

About

Aether Player

This media player aggregates content from Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and local files into a unified library. It supports a wide range of formats and offers features like offline downloads, user profiles, and advanced subtitle management.

Highlights
  • Unified library from multiple sources
  • Supports various media formats (MKV, HEVC, HDR)
  • Offline downloads and Smart Downloads
  • User profiles with age restrictions
  • Advanced subtitle customization and search
  • Music playback with offline catalog
  • Live TV support with custom guides
Features
Read full description

Aether is a personal media player for Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and your own files — built natively for every Apple screen. Connect your server and your whole library appears: movies, shows, music, Continue Watching, Recently Added. Add a second server and both merge into one deduplicated view, with a picker that tells you which copy is the better file. Your media, not theirs. PLAY ANYTHING • Direct play or server-transcoded — Aether follows the best path automatically, per title. • MKV, HEVC, HDR, lossless audio: formats other players choke on play through a modern engine, GPU-accelerated for smooth 4K. • Picture in Picture, AirPlay, surround sound, lock-screen controls. • Switch audio and subtitle tracks mid-playback on every platform. • Offline downloads, including whole seasons — and Smart Downloads that keep the next unwatched episodes ready. EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE • Profiles: separate Continue Watching, watchlist, ratings, Home rails and trackers, with a PIN on the way in and per-profile library visibility. • A child's profile can be held to an age rating. • Pair a profile to your Plex Home profile, or to its own Jellyfin or Emby user, so watched state stays separate on the server too. • Two profiles are included; up to five with Supporter. SUBTITLES, DONE PROPERLY • Aether reads subtitle files itself and times them against the picture, so they sit where you put them — in the black bars or over the video, in your own style, with sync and size adjustable in the player. • Search OpenSubtitles from a title's own page in thirty-one languages, ranked against the exact file you're playing. YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY • One library across every connected source, filtered by genre, year, rating, country, audio language, server or the libraries you curated on them. • Continue Watching, Up Next and a Discover tab with trending titles and Where to Watch availability in your region. • Person pages, franchise collections, and ratings from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb. • Music as its own tab — artists, albums, playlists, and a player built for it, with the catalog kept on disk so it opens offline. • Live TV from a playlist you already have, with a full guide, categories you make yourself, Xtream Codes accounts and HDHomeRun tuners. Bring-your-own: Aether provides no channels. BEAUTIFUL ON EVERY SCREEN • iPhone and iPad: cinematic hero art, a page that grows out of the poster you tapped. • Apple TV: precision focus design, and your Continue Watching in the top shelf. • Apple Vision Pro: an auditorium around the picture — raked seating, masking walls, house lights down. • Mac: a native app with a menu-bar mode, a series browser, and Apple's own decoder for what it can play. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Aether connects only to the servers you configure. No account of ours, no cloud, no ads, no cross-app tracking. Your ratings, watchlist and resume positions live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Optional anonymous usage statistics can be turned off any time. SOURCES • Plex (multi-server, multi-account) • Jellyfin (multi-server) • Emby (multi-server, Live TV, music) • Silo • SMB / network shares, with Bonjour discovery • WebDAV • Local files Optional, all bring-your-own: connect your own Seerr to request what you don't have, your own Trakt or Simkl account to track what you watch, and your own OpenSubtitles account for subtitle search. Aether requires a Plex, Jellyfin, Emby or Silo media server, an SMB or WebDAV share, or local video files. It is not a streaming service and does not provide any content. Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Silo, Trakt, Simkl and OpenSubtitles are trademarks of their respective owners. Aether is an independent, third-party client and is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by them. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://aetherplayer.com/privacy

Screenshots

ReCast Player4 screens
Aether Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Aether Player at none against ReCast Player's shown. Aether Player also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks) and device support (5 vs 1). ReCast Player's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price and in-app purchases 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. ReCast Player sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Aether Player sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ReCast Player ships an update every 6 weeks, Aether Player weekly. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ReCast Player versus Aether Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReCast PlayerAether Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating—2.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB160 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTakahiro MachidaVaclav Zmrhal

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ReCast Player

One-time1
  • Recast Pro$1.99
6 purchases

Aether Player

Subscriptions2
  • Supporter (Monthly)14 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Supporter (Yearly)14 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Aether Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is ReCast Player free?
ReCast Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ReCast Player or Aether Player have ads?
ReCast Player shows ads; Aether Player does not.
Which is updated more often, ReCast Player or Aether Player?
ReCast Player ships an update every 6 weeks, and Aether Player weekly. Most recently, ReCast Player was updated on November 5, 2026 and Aether Player on November 5, 2026.

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