Comparison

Aether Player vs HANAplay

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — 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 — 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, Dolby Vision, DTS: formats other players choke on play through a modern engine, GPU-accelerated for smooth 4K. • Picture in Picture, AirPlay, Dolby Atmos, 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

About

HANAplay

Browse and play media from your personal servers on Apple devices. Enjoy a cinematic home screen, continue watching, and access rich metadata. Control playback natively on iPhone and iPad.

Highlights
  • Browse personal media servers
  • Cinematic home screen
  • Continue watching feature
  • Rich metadata and ratings
  • Select audio tracks and subtitles
  • Picture in Picture support
Features
Read full description

HANAplay is a native app for browsing and playing media from your personal media servers on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Choose Plex or Silo directly from the first-run screen, or connect Jellyfin and Emby through More. Browse a cinematic home screen, continue watching, search your library, explore collections and curated rows, view rich metadata and ratings, and choose available media versions, audio tracks, and subtitles. On iPhone and iPad, play compatible media, use Picture in Picture on supported routes, view Live Activities, and control playback with native system controls. Playback capabilities depend on your media, server, device, display, and audio equipment. HANAplay does not provide, host, sell, or include media. You supply access to a compatible personal media server and are responsible for the media you access. HANAplay is an independent client and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Plex, Silo, Jellyfin, or Emby. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Screenshots

Aether Player4 screens
HANAplay2 screens

Verdict

The call

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Player ships an update weekly, HANAplay every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Aether Player versus HANAplay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether PlayerHANAplay
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple TV
Requires iOS26.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size107 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVaclav ZmrhalManav Agarwal

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
None

HANAplay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HANAplay free?
HANAplay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Aether Player or HANAplay have ads?
Neither Aether Player nor HANAplay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Player or HANAplay?
Aether Player ships an update weekly, and HANAplay every 3 days. Most recently, Aether Player was updated on October 10, 2026 and HANAplay on October 15, 2026.

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