Comparison

Aether Player vs Riveo

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

Head to head
About

Aether Player

Features
Read full description

Aether is a personal media player for Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and your own files β€” 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 β€’ Direct play or server-transcoded β€” Aether follows the best path automatically, per title. β€’ MKV, HEVC, Dolby Vision, DTS: formats other players choke on play through a modern engine, GPU-accelerated for smooth 4K. β€’ Picture in Picture, AirPlay, Dolby Atmos, lock-screen controls. β€’ Switch audio and subtitle tracks mid-playback on every platform. β€’ Offline downloads, including whole seasons β€” and Smart Downloads that keep the next unwatched episodes ready. EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE β€’ Profiles: separate Continue Watching, watchlist, ratings, Home rails and trackers, with a PIN on the way in and per-profile library visibility. β€’ A child's profile can be held to an age rating. β€’ 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. β€’ Two profiles are included; up to five with Supporter. SUBTITLES, DONE PROPERLY β€’ Aether reads subtitle files itself and times them against the picture, so they sit where you put them β€” in the black bars or over the video, in your own style, with sync and size adjustable in the player. β€’ Search OpenSubtitles from a title's own page in thirty-one languages, ranked against the exact file you're playing. YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY β€’ One library across every connected source, filtered by genre, year, rating, country, audio language, server or the libraries you curated on them. β€’ Continue Watching, Up Next and a Discover tab with trending titles and Where to Watch availability in your region. β€’ Person pages, franchise collections, and ratings from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb. β€’ Music as its own tab β€” artists, albums, playlists, and a player built for it, with the catalog kept on disk so it opens offline. β€’ 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 β€’ iPhone and iPad: cinematic hero art, a page that grows out of the poster you tapped. β€’ Apple TV: precision focus design, and your Continue Watching in the top shelf. β€’ Apple Vision Pro: an auditorium around the picture β€” raked seating, masking walls, house lights down. β€’ 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 β€’ Plex (multi-server, multi-account) β€’ Jellyfin (multi-server) β€’ Emby (multi-server, Live TV, music) β€’ Silo β€’ SMB / network shares, with Bonjour discovery β€’ WebDAV β€’ 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

About

Riveo

Features
Read full description

Riveo brings your entire video world into one fast, beautiful player β€” movies, shows, and live TV from wherever they live. No conversions, no juggling apps. CONNECT EVERYTHING - Media servers: Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin with full library browsing - Network shares: stream straight from your NAS over SMB, NFS, WebDAV, or FTP - Cloud drives: Backblaze B2, Dropbox, OneDrive, pCloud and Koofr - Live TV: M3U playlists and Xtream portals with a full TV guide (XMLTV EPG) PLAY IT YOUR WAY - Play MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, TS, and many more formats - Enjoy 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision, and high-frame-rate playback - Switch between multiple audio tracks - Use embedded and external subtitles - Watch in Picture in Picture - Stream to the big screen with AirPlay - Download videos for offline viewing LIVE TV DONE RIGHT Browse live channels, movies, and series from your own IPTV sources. Navigate a full programme guide, search your catalog, and set reminders before a show begins. DISCOVER WHAT’S NEXT Explore trending movies and shows, then see instantly where to watch them across your own connected libraries. MADE FOR APPLE PLATFORMS Built natively in SwiftUI for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. AirPlay to the big screen, lock the app with Face ID, and keep your library, watch progress, and history in sync across devices through your private iCloud. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No Riveo account. No ads. No tracking. Credentials are stored securely on your devices, while synced app data stays in your private iCloud. SUPPORT RIVEO Riveo Pro is an optional way to support ongoing development. Available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Family Sharing supported. YOUR CONTENT, YOUR PRIVACY No accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your credentials stay in the iOS Keychain, and sync happens through your private iCloud β€” we never see your data. β€” Important notice: Riveo is a player only. It does not provide, host, or include any media content, channels, or playlists. You connect the servers, services, and playlists you already own or subscribe to, and you are responsible for ensuring you have the right to access that content. Metadata and artwork provided by TMDB, a community-maintained movie and TV database. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms & Privacy: https://riveo.io/legal

Screenshots

Aether Player4 screens
Riveo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Aether Player at weekly against Riveo's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Aether Player sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Riveo sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Player ships an update weekly, Riveo every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 10, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Aether Player versus Riveo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether PlayerRiveo
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly β€” betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro β€” betteriPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size107 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVaclav ZmrhalR17 GEEK DEVELOPMENT SRL

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Aether Player

Subscriptions2
  • Supporter$0.991 Month
  • Supporter$9.991 Year
One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
3 purchases

Riveo

Subscriptions2
  • Riveo Pro Monthly$1.491 Month
  • Riveo Pro Annual$12.991 Year
One-time1
  • Riveo Pro Lifetime$69.99

Questions

Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Riveo free?
Riveo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Aether Player or Riveo have ads?
Neither Aether Player nor Riveo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Player or Riveo?
Aether Player ships an update weekly, and Riveo every 3 weeks. Most recently, Aether Player was updated on October 10, 2026 and Riveo on October 10, 2026.

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