Comparison

ReelFin 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

ReelFin

Features
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ReelFin turns your Jellyfin library into a native experience on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Browse your movies and shows, find an episode, and pick up right where you left off. ReelFin connects to your own server, so your media library stays under your control. PLAYBACK MADE FOR APPLE • Playback with Apple technologies and Direct Play when your media and device are compatible. • Resume, skipping, seeking, and progress saved to your Jellyfin account. • Selection of available audio tracks and subtitles. • Home, Library, and Search help you quickly find the right title. • Quick Connect on Apple TV lets you approve sign-in from another device. YOUR SERVER, YOUR MEDIA You need a reachable Jellyfin server and an account on that server. ReelFin does not include, provide, or sell movies or shows. Playback formats and available features depend on your media, server, and device. ReelFin is an independent client and is not affiliated with the Jellyfin project.

About

Aether Player

A personal media player for Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby servers, as well as local files. It offers a unified library view, supports a wide range of formats, and provides features like offline downloads and user profiles. Enjoy your media across all Apple devices with a focus on privacy.

Highlights
  • Connects to Plex, Jellyfin, Emby servers
  • Unified library view with deduplication
  • Supports MKV, HEVC, HDR, lossless audio
  • Offline downloads and Smart Downloads
  • User profiles with age rating controls
  • Customizable subtitles and OpenSubtitles search
  • Music player and Live TV support
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

ReelFin3 screens
Aether Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ReelFin at none against Aether Player's 6. Aether Player's advantage is device support (5 vs 3). On price, update cadence, 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. Aether Player sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. ReelFin asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ReelFin ships an update fortnightly, Aether Player weekly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
ReelFin versus Aether Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReelFinAether Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating—2.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size94 MB156 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperFLORIAN DAMIEN TAFFINVaclav Zmrhal

In-app purchases

None

ReelFin

No in-app purchases

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 ReelFin free?
ReelFin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ReelFin or Aether Player have ads?
Neither ReelFin nor Aether Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ReelFin or Aether Player?
ReelFin ships an update fortnightly, and Aether Player weekly. Most recently, ReelFin was updated on October 31, 2026 and Aether Player on October 31, 2026.

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