Tromme vs Crate for Plex
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tromme
Stream your music library from Plex without needing a Plex Pass. Enjoy features like CarPlay support, infinite playlists, and synced lyrics. It offers lossless transcoding and cellular streaming options.
- Plex music streaming
- CarPlay support
- Magic Mix infinite playlists
- Lossless ALAC transcoding
- Synced lyrics
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Stream your music library from Plex, no Plex Pass required. - Full CarPlay support - Magic Mix - generates an playlist based on the style and genre of what you're listening to - Infinite Mode - keeps the music going by automatically adding tracks to your queue when empty - Lossless ALAC transcoding for FLAC files - Cellular transcoding - Sound Check (like ReplayGain) - Synced lyrics from LRCLIB.net - Offline Downloads and Playback - Changeable app icon and app theme
Crate for Plex
A native, unofficial music player for your Plex Media Server, designed for iPhone and Apple Watch. Enjoy your owned music library with features like offline listening, crossfade, and queue management without subscriptions or ads.
- Plex music library browsing
- Offline listening
- Apple Watch app
- Crossfade playback
- Queue management
- Smart caching
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Your Plex music library, finally given the iOS music player it deserves. Crate is a native, unofficial music player for your Plex Media Server, built for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay. Pay once. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. Just your music, played beautifully. ON IPHONE - Browse your entire library — albums, artists, playlists - Now Playing reimagined with crossfade, queue, lyrics, and hearts - Stations built from your own library — Hits, Heart Beats, On Repeat, and more - Discover view to rediscover albums you'd forgotten you loved - Download albums for offline listening - Smart caching keeps recently-played tracks ready offline - Pick up where you left off — Crate restores your last session on launch - Light and dark modes that actually look like iOS IN THE CAR - Full CarPlay app — Home, Library, Discover, Stations, and Search - Top Picks and recent albums the moment you connect - Hands-free with Siri: "Hey Siri, play House in Crate" - Ask Siri for a playlist, an artist, or a station, or say "I like this song" to heart it ON IPAD - A layout built for the big screen, in both orientations - Lyrics alongside the artwork, the way they should be ON APPLE WATCH - A real watchOS app — browse, download, and play from your wrist - Doubles as a remote when your iPhone is the one playing - Download albums directly to your watch - Phone-optional playback with AirPods THE FUNDAMENTALS, DONE RIGHT - Gapless playback with crossfade between tracks - Volume matching, so quiet albums and loud ones sit at the same level - Lossless FLAC playback on iPhone (Apple Watch auto-transcodes for compatibility) - Stream quality control, with Data Saver and Low Data Mode respected automatically - Shuffle with no repeats - Hearts to track what you love - Queue management you can actually use WHAT'S NOT INSIDE - No subscription - No ads - No tracking - No login wall to a service that isn't yours Crate connects directly to your own Plex Media Server. Your music. Your server. Your player. REQUIREMENTS Crate requires a Plex Media Server with a music library and a free Plex account. Plex Pass is not required. Crate is an unofficial third-party application and is not made by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Plex Inc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Tromme at every 2 days against Crate for Plex's every 2 months. Tromme also leads on price ($0.99 vs $3.99). Crate for Plex's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 67%). On rating, ratings volume, ads 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
Tromme costs $0.99 and Crate for Plex $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Tromme against 4.7 for Crate for Plex. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 6 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Tromme's written reviews are positive against 75% of Crate for Plex's.
Tromme ships an update every 2 days, Crate for Plex every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tromme | Crate for Plex |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (6 ratings) | 4.7 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #198 | #177 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 27.0 | 26.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 27 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kyle McClain | Darren Ebbing |
Customer experience
Tromme
Crate for Plex
In-app purchases
Tromme
No in-app purchases
Crate for Plex
No in-app purchases
