Comparison

Tilus vs Vivid

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

Head to head
About

Tilus

Features
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Forget formats. Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and lossless 7.1 — from a USB drive, a NAS, Jellyfin, Plex or the cloud, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Played by an engine of our own. Nothing converted. Frame for frame. 35 YEARS OF VIDEO. ONE ENGINE. • Dolby Vision profiles 5 and 8. Profile 7 from UHD Blu-ray is converted to 8.1 on the fly. • Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus plays as Atmos — in AirPods, on speakers that support it, on your TV over AirPlay. • Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA and FLAC — every channel up to 7.1, lossless, to your TV over AirPlay. • HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. 4K and 8K, 120 fps, 10-bit. • H.264 and HEVC on Apple's hardware decoders. AV1 in hardware where the chip has it, in software up to 4K everywhere else. • Deinterlacing for broadcast recordings, DVDs and digitised tapes. WHEREVER YOUR FILMS LIVE • On your device: Files, Photos, USB drives, external SSDs, SD cards. • Network storage: SMB and WebDAV — Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid, Nextcloud, ownCloud, Windows, macOS. Servers on your network are found automatically. • Media servers: Jellyfin, Emby, Plex. • Cloud: Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Yandex Disk, pCloud, Box, Mail.ru Cloud, Koofr — no full download first. • Links: direct links, HLS streams, live HLS. • Works with: OpenSubtitles, Simkl, TheTVDB, iCloud, Google Gemini. Your server stops transcoding: every file plays exactly as it is stored, and your NAS stays cool and quiet. EVERY SCREEN. NATIVE. System menus, gestures, Liquid Glass — Tilus looks and responds as if it came with the device. • iPhone: a season from your NAS, downloaded for the road. • iPad: Picture in Picture with any file — episode after episode, over your library or other apps. • Mac: keyboard, pointer and windows. • Apple TV: your TV matches each film's frame rate and HDR. Made for the Siri Remote, with Continue Watching on the Top Shelf. • AirPlay and HDMI: iPhone and iPad become the remote. Library, sources and progress sync through iCloud — pick up on any screen from the same frame. A LIBRARY THAT SORTS ITSELF Shows, seasons and episodes in order, with cover art and descriptions. Continue Watching gathers every source on one shelf. Skip Intro, chapters and bookmarks. Downloads resume from the last byte. SUBTITLES THAT WEREN'T THERE • From speech: no subtitles? Tilus transcribes the speech on device with Apple's latest models — a whole episode in about half a minute. • In your language: any track, translated. It appears right next to the others. • One tap: tap any word to see its translation — offline, on device. • Matched by ear: subtitles from another release line up with the speech. EVERY FORMAT, BY NAME Video: H.264, Hi10P, HEVC, ProRes, AV1, VP9, VP8, MPEG-4 (Xvid, DivX), DivX 3, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, VC-1, WMV, RealVideo, DV, MJPEG, Cinepak, Microsoft Video 1, H.263, Sorenson Spark, VP6. Picture: 4K, 8K, 120 fps, 10-bit, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision 5, 7 and 8, deinterlacing, anamorphic. Audio: up to 7.1, Dolby Atmos, APAC, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD MA, DTS, FLAC, ALAC, PCM, G.711, AAC, HE-AAC, MP3, MP2, Opus, Vorbis, WMA, RealAudio, ATRAC3, AMR, QCELP, Nellymoser, ADPCM, GSM, separate audio files. Containers: MKV, MP4, MOV, M4V, AVI, TS, M2TS, WebM, MPEG, VOB, DVD, ASF, FLV, RealMedia, 3GP, DV, Blu-ray, ISO, Video CD. Subtitles: SRT, ASS/SSA, WebVTT, PGS, VobSub, DVB, Teletext, CEA-608, MicroDVD, MPL2, TMPlayer, SAMI, TX3G, separate subtitle files. Nothing plays like Tilus. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Vivid

Features
Read full description

Vivid Video Player for iPhone / iPad / Mac / Apple TV / Apple Watch Vivid plays videos stored on your NAS, PC, in the cloud, or on your device, smoothly and just as they are. No copying needed: stream directly from a NAS or PC on the same Wi‑Fi, or from WebDAV and Dropbox. [WHAT YOU CAN DO] ◆ Play videos straight from your NAS Connect over SMB to a NAS (Synology, QNAP and more) or a shared folder on your PC and stream your videos. Start watching even large files right away without using up device storage. Read-ahead buffering keeps waits short, even after seeking. ◆ Play videos from the cloud (new, Pro) Connect to WebDAV (NAS, Nextcloud, InfiniCLOUD and more) and Dropbox, and play videos without downloading them first. Add your favorite folders to your library. (Apple TV supports WebDAV.) ◆ Your videos, beautifully laid out Thumbnails are generated automatically so your videos line up in an easy-to-browse list. You can even set any scene you like as the cover thumbnail. ◆ Every control at a glance Skip back or forward 10 seconds, scrub with the slider, change playback speed, switch subtitle and audio tracks, add bookmarks, and add to playlists, all right from the player screen. ◆ Pick up where you left off Vivid remembers where you stopped, so "Continue" resumes playback in one tap. History is grouped by date and shows how far you have watched. ◆ Back-to-back playback with playlists Arrange videos in the order you want and play them one after another. ◆ MKV, 4K and disc images Play MKV and many other formats. With Pro, play 4K videos and unencrypted DVD / Blu-ray ISO files as they are, with chapter navigation and subtitle and audio switching. ◆ Connected across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV Sync playback position, bookmarks, history and registered folders with iCloud. Continue on iPad, Mac or Apple TV right where you stopped on iPhone. ◆ Watch on Apple Watch Open your iPhone library from Apple Watch and play videos. ◆ Home server support (Pro) Connect your Jellyfin / Emby libraries and play from them. ◆ Offline playback (Pro) and AirPlay Save videos to your device for offline playback (Pro). Send MP4 and other videos to Apple TV with AirPlay and watch them on your TV, even from your NAS or the cloud. ◆ Lock your private folders Protect folders with a passcode or Face ID. Safety Mode hides locked folders from the list. ◆ Try it right away with demo videos The app includes demo videos with a player controls guide, so you can try everything even without a NAS. [SUPPORTED FORMATS] MP4 / MOV / M4V / MKV / WebM / AVI / WMV / FLV / TS / M2TS / VOB / 3GP and more ISO (unencrypted DVD / Blu-ray disc images; Pro) * Playback compatibility varies by file and device. [GREAT FOR] ・People who keep their videos on a NAS or PC ・Anyone who stores videos in Dropbox or WebDAV (Nextcloud and more) ・Anyone who wants the same library on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV ・Watching DVD and Blu-ray ISO files as they are ・Jellyfin / Emby home server users [PRICING] Try every Pro feature free for the first 7 days. Watching local and SMB videos stays free. (Free version: includes ads; up to 1 registered folder each for local and SMB, 5 folder bookmarks and 1 playlist) Pro (one-time purchase) removes ads and unlocks Jellyfin / Emby integration, cloud playback (WebDAV, Dropbox), 4K, ISO, offline playback, unlimited playlists, autoplay of the next video, and unlimited registered folders and bookmarks. No subscription. Quad-A Digital

Screenshots

Tilus4 screens
Vivid4 screens

Verdict

The call

Tilus and Vivid 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Tilus sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Vivid sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tilus ships an update weekly, Vivid every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Tilus versus Vivid: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTilusVivid
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB122 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKirill Ustiuzhaninyuya takahara

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Tilus

Subscriptions1
  • AI Services$2.991 Month
One-time1
  • Full Player$24.99
1 purchases

Vivid

One-time1
  • Vivid Pro (One-Time Purchase)$9.99

Questions

Is Tilus free?
Tilus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Vivid free?
Vivid is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tilus or Vivid have ads?
Neither Tilus nor Vivid shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tilus or Vivid?
Tilus ships an update weekly, and Vivid every 2 weeks. Most recently, Tilus was updated on November 5, 2026 and Vivid on November 7, 2026.

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