Comparison

Lyris vs PMDA

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

Head to head
About

Lyris

Features
Read full description

Lyris is a native iOS player for the music you host yourself. Connect your Navidrome, Subsonic-compatible or Jellyfin server and enjoy your whole library in a fast, beautiful app — with no account to create and no tracking. FREE TRIAL, THEN A ONE-TIME PURCHASE Lyris is free to download and every feature below is included in a 7-day free trial. After the trial, an in-app purchase (Lyris Unlock) is required to keep using the app. It is a single purchase, not a subscription: pay once and keep Lyris for good. YOUR LIBRARY, AT HOME ON YOUR iPHONE • Browse artists, albums, tracks, genres and playlists — even libraries of tens of thousands of tracks • 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 • Queue with shuffle, repeat and drag-to-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: send a request to your own Lidarr server when you find an artist or album you want in your collection 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, on your own private network, or behind Cloudflare Access with custom headers • Certificates are always validated by iOS AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH 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.

About

PMDA

Features
Read full description

PMDA (pronounced "pimda") is one music lover's take on building the music library of his dreams — and now yours. Point the app at your own self-hosted PMDA server and enjoy your entire collection, beautifully organized, anywhere you go. WHY PMDA Most music apps lock you into a subscription and their catalog, or leave your carefully-built library a mess of mismatched tags and missing covers. PMDA is different: 100% self-hosted, private, and it actually understands your music. WHAT YOU GET • Your whole library, everywhere — browse artists, albums, genres and labels, with rich, clickable artist pages. • Real listening — gapless playback, history, cross-user recommendations, synced lyrics and waveforms. • Lossless, your way — stream bit-perfect FLAC or save data with smart transcoding; download albums for offline, even on a plane. • Clean and yours — your files, your server, your rules. No cloud lock-in, no ads, no tracking, no AI. HOW IT WORKS PMDA mobile is a companion to the PMDA server (a free, self-hosted music library app you run on your own machine or NAS). Enter your server's address, sign in, and your library is in your pocket. Nothing is stored on our servers — the app talks only to the server you point it at. Built for people who are in love with music. Welcome.

Screenshots

Lyris4 screens
PMDA4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PMDA at none against Lyris's 2. PMDA also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Lyris's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 weeks). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lyris sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. PMDA asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lyris ships an update every 2 days, PMDA every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 5 level
Lyris versus PMDA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLyrisPMDA
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEmile VignoliRaphael Vael

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Lyris

One-time2
  • 7-day TrialFree
  • Lyris Unlock$12.99
None

PMDA

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lyris free?
Lyris is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PMDA free?
PMDA is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Lyris or PMDA have ads?
Neither Lyris nor PMDA shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lyris or PMDA?
Lyris ships an update every 2 days, and PMDA every 3 weeks. Most recently, Lyris was updated on October 24, 2026 and PMDA on October 5, 2026.

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