MusiCards Release Viewer vs Lyris
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MusiCards Release Viewer
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MusiCards is a visual MusicBrainz release browser and personal music player designed for exploring music data in a calm, clean and structured way. Search for artists, releases and tracks, scan CD barcodes, look up MusicBrainz release IDs, identify music using Shazam or Apple Music Now Playing, and explore detailed release, track and artist information. Connect an indexed local music library or your own Navidrome server to see which MusicBrainz releases you can play. Matching releases can be played directly in MusiCards with background playback and system media controls. The app organises music into five cards: • SEARCH: Find artists, releases and tracks, scan barcodes, use Shazam, browse recent items and discover releases from Apple Music Now Playing. • RELEASE: View cover art, release details, label information, release history and other available versions. Open the selected release in Apple Music when available, or play it from a connected library. • TRACKS: Browse the complete track list. For classical music, composers, works and movements are displayed in a structured way instead of a flat list. Tap any track to see performers, creators and technical credits. • ARTIST & DISCOGRAPHY: Read a short Wikipedia biography excerpt and browse a categorised MusicBrainz discography by year. English Wikipedia content is preferred, with another available language used when no English article exists. • PLAYER: Play matching releases from an indexed local library or Navidrome. View artwork, track information, performer credits, playback source, audio route and decoded audio format. Control playback from MusiCards, the Lock Screen, Control Center or the system Now Playing interface. A MusiCards account is not required. Connecting a local library or a self-hosted Navidrome server is optional; the complete MusicBrainz browsing experience remains available without either. MusiCards is a personal project focused on clear and transparent presentation of music metadata. The app does not infer or generate missing information — if data is unavailable from its sources, it is shown as missing. Powered by MusicBrainz, the open music encyclopedia. MusicBrainz data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 licence. Cover art is provided by the Cover Art Archive.
Lyris
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Your self-hosted music, beautifully played. Navidrome, Subsonic and Jellyfin in a fast native player. Free for 7 days, then one purchase unlocks it for good. YOUR LIBRARY, AT HOME ON YOUR iPHONE • Browse artists, albums, tracks, genres and playlists • Instant search across your whole collection • Favourites, ratings and smart playlists • Multi-disc albums, release dates, artist pages with your albums and similar artists in your library • Choose which music folders or libraries to show A PLAYER THAT FEELS RIGHT • Gapless-feeling queue with shuffle, repeat and a queue you can reorder • Synced lyrics when your server provides them • Equalizer and ReplayGain volume levelling • Lock screen, Control Center, AirPlay and CarPlay • Keeps playing smoothly on weak or changing networks OFFLINE AND ON THE GO • Download albums and playlists to listen without a connection • Stream in original quality, or transcode to MP3, AAC or Opus at the bitrate you choose — separately for Wi-Fi and cellular • Instant seeking, even in transcoded tracks DISCOVER MUSIC • Recommendations based on what you actually listen to, powered by the open MusicBrainz and ListenBrainz databases • Optional ListenBrainz scrobbling with your own token • Optional Lidarr integration: manage your lidarr server directly from your music player app PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No analytics, no ads, no backend: Lyris talks to your servers and to open music databases, never to us • Your credentials stay in the iOS Keychain; Lyris stores a token, never your password • Works with servers on your local network, over a VPN such as Tailscale, or behind Cloudflare Access with custom headers • Certificates are always validated by iOS REQUIREMENTS Lyris needs a music server you run or have access to: Navidrome (recommended), another Subsonic/OpenSubsonic-compatible server, or Jellyfin. Lyris does not include or sell any music.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MusiCards Release Viewer at none against Lyris's 2. Lyris's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Lyris sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. MusiCards Release Viewer asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | MusiCards Release Viewer | Lyris |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gyorgy Hild | Emile Vignoli |
In-app purchases
MusiCards Release Viewer
No in-app purchases
Lyris
- 7-day TrialFree
- Lyris Unlock$12.99
Questions
Is MusiCards Release Viewer free?
Is Lyris free?
Do MusiCards Release Viewer or Lyris have ads?
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