RexyView vs Cathode Player
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RexyView
Access and stream your personal media library from any Apple device. Enjoy offline playback, monitor your server's performance, and customize your viewing experience with a beautifully designed interface.
- Browse and watch Plex media library
- Offline playback for downloaded content
- Real-time Plex server monitoring
- Customizable interface and themes
- Apple Watch companion app
- Home screen widgets for quick access
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RexyView brings your Plex, Jellyfin and Emby servers together in one beautiful app, built natively for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro, with an Apple Watch companion. It helps your family find something to watch, gives parents real control and follows you across every Apple device. ALL YOUR SERVERS, ONE LIBRARY Use Plex, Jellyfin and Emby side by side, with as many servers and Plex accounts as you like. Turn on Combine Libraries to see every server as one collection. A title on several servers appears once, with a badge for each, and Play From lets you pick which copy to watch. FIND SOMETHING TO WATCH • Browse by Theme: pick themes like Dinosaurs, Heists or Christmas and see every title that matches them all • Under 1 Hour: only what fits the time you have • Surprise Me: a random pick, from the app or by asking Siri • Holiday picks that change with the season • Smart Rows: your own Home rows, like “Best of the 90s” or “Unwatched in 4K” • Your Year: a shareable card of everything you watched this year PROFILES AND PARENTAL CONTROLS “Who’s Watching?” profiles work across every server at once, each with its own photo, optional PIN and maximum content rating, based on your server’s ratings. Set a bedtime, a daily viewing time or a number of episodes a day. When time runs out, a child can ask for more and a parent approves it right from their phone. Profiles and limits can be shared with your family’s devices through iCloud, and viewing time adds up across them, so switching devices doesn’t reset the clock. EVERY APPLE DEVICE, IN SYNC iCloud Sync carries your settings, Home layout and Smart Rows to your other devices. Sign-ins can be shared through iCloud Keychain, so a new device is ready in seconds. Handoff continues what you’re looking at on another device. Watched status can stay in step across your servers. MAKE HOME YOURS Reorder, hide and add Home rows per profile, choose your Discover tiles, pick a poster grid or a cinematic hero layout, accent colours and backgrounds. HomeKit scenes can dim the lights when you press play. WATCH AND DOWNLOAD Plays with Apple’s own video player, with Skip Intro and Credits, Up Next, chapters, audio and subtitle choices, Find Subtitles (when your server supports it), a sleep timer and Picture in Picture. When a file isn’t in a format your device plays, your server converts it. Download movies and episodes to watch offline on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. FOR SERVER OWNERS A full Dashboard shows who’s watching what, users and playback history, and lets you stop a stream. Home Screen widgets and the Apple Watch companion keep your server at a glance, and Apple TV shows your newest titles in Top Shelf. BUILT FOR APPLE Designed for the Liquid Glass look, with Siri and Shortcuts, Spotlight search, keyboard shortcuts on iPad and Mac, and swipe brightness and volume on iPhone and iPad. PRIVACY FIRST No analytics, no tracking and no ads. RexyView has no servers of its own. It connects to your media servers, to Plex’s and Emby’s online services when you use those accounts, to your own iCloud for syncing, to IMDb or YouTube when you open those pages, and to TMDB only if you add your own API key. Nothing reaches the developer unless you choose to send a bug report. ==== Requires your own Plex Media Server (with a Plex account), Jellyfin server or Emby server. RexyView doesn’t provide any content. RexyView is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Plex, Inc., the Jellyfin project, Emby LLC or The Movie Database (TMDB). Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes are trademarks of their respective owners. Metadata and artwork come from your media server. RexyView uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs (with your own API key) but is not endorsed, certified or otherwise approved by TMDB. ==== Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://rexyview.com/privacy
Cathode Player
A native video viewer for following channels and watching content across your Apple devices. Enjoy a fast, lightweight experience with features like picture-in-picture, background audio, and cross-device sync via iCloud. Discover new content with curated channel suggestions.
- Follow channels and view latest videos
- Search for videos and channels
- Native player with picture-in-picture and background audio
- Save videos to Watch Later
- Cross-device playback progress sync
- Curated channel suggestions
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Cathode is a clean, native video viewer for following channels and watching content on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Built with SwiftUI for a fast, lightweight experience. FEATURES • Follow channels and see all their latest videos in one feed • Search for videos and channels • Watch shorts and regular videos with a native player • Picture-in-picture, background audio, and AirPlay support • Save videos to Watch Later • Pick up where you left off — playback progress syncs across your devices via your private iCloud account • Read comments • Compact mini-player while you keep browsing • Curated channel suggestions across Tech, Science, Programming, Cooking, and Lifestyle to help you get started CROSS-DEVICE SYNC Watch Later, history, and saved channels are stored in your private iCloud account so they are always with you. Nothing is sent to our servers. PRIVACY Cathode does not collect personal information, has no analytics, and does not require an account. Your data stays on your device or in your private iCloud.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: RexyView at 5.0 against Cathode Player's 4.2. RexyView also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 75%) and device support (6 vs 4). Cathode Player's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ratings volume, ads and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. RexyView sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Cathode Player asks for nothing beyond the download.
RexyView holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of RexyView's written reviews are positive against 75% of Cathode Player's.
RexyView ships an update every 3 weeks, Cathode Player every 5 days. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.
| Parameter | RexyView | Cathode Player |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.2 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 27.0 | 26.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chris Ortega | Zabir Raihan |
Customer experience
RexyView
Cathode Player
In-app purchases
RexyView
- Small Coffee$0.99
- Large Coffee$2.99
- Buy Me Lunch$4.99
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- You're Amazing$9.99
Cathode Player
No in-app purchases









