Comparison

Aether Player vs Bandit Media Player

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

Head to head
About

Aether Player

A personal media player that connects to your Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby servers, or your own files. It offers a unified library view, supports a wide range of formats, and provides advanced subtitle management and offline downloads.

Highlights
  • Connects to Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and local files
  • Unified library view from multiple servers
  • Supports MKV, HEVC, HDR, and lossless audio
  • Offline downloads and Smart Downloads
  • User profiles with age rating restrictions
  • Advanced subtitle timing and search
  • Music playback with offline catalog
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, HDR, lossless audio: formats other players choke on play through a modern engine, GPU-accelerated for smooth 4K. • Picture in Picture, AirPlay, surround sound, 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

Bandit Media Player

Stream all your owned media from various servers, services, and file shares in one app. Enjoy a powerful player with features like offline downloads, live TV guides, and personalized recommendations. It prioritizes user privacy with no account or data collection.

Highlights
  • Connect Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, IPTV, WebDAV, SMB
  • Dual engine player (native + VLC)
  • Live TV with EPG guide
  • Offline downloads
  • Personalized Home screen
  • Privacy-focused, no tracking
Features
Read full description

Bandit is the all-in-one player for the media you already own. Connect your servers, services, and file shares — then browse, search, and stream everything from one beautiful, native app built for iPhone and iPad. CONNECT EVERYTHING • Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby media servers • IPTV via M3U playlists and Xtream Codes portals • WebDAV and SMB network file shares • Stremio-compatible add-on catalogs A REAL PLAYER • Dual engine (native + VLC) plays virtually anything — MKV, HEVC and more • Direct play with automatic server-transcode fallback • Chapters, skip intro/credits, and Up Next autoplay • Picture in Picture and AirPlay • Subtitles and preferred audio/subtitle languages LIVE TV WITH A GUIDE • Full EPG program guide, favorites and channel groups • Catch-up / timeshift where your provider supports it BUILT FOR YOU • A personalized Home with Continue Watching, Watchlist and recommendations • Instant on-device search and a complete synced library • Download to watch offline, anywhere • Home and away: automatic connection switching for Plex, Jellyfin and Emby PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account. No tracking. No data collection. • Your credentials stay in the device Keychain. Bandit is free to use with one source. Upgrade to Bandit Pro to connect unlimited sources. Bandit hosts no content — you bring your own servers and services. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Aether Player4 screens
Bandit Media Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bandit Media Player at 100% against Aether Player's 50%. Bandit Media Player also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.5) and update cadence (daily vs weekly). Aether Player's advantage is device support (5 vs 2). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Aether Player sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Bandit Media Player sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bandit Media Player holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Aether Player's written reviews are positive against 100% of Bandit Media Player's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Player ships an update weekly, Bandit Media Player daily. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Aether Player versus Bandit Media Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether PlayerBandit Media Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.5 (2 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings22
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size135 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVaclav ZmrhalJacob Wintheiser

Customer experience

Aether Player

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bandit Media Player

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Aether Player

Subscriptions2
  • Supporter (Monthly)14 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Supporter (Yearly)14 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Aether Lifetime$39.99
3 purchases

Bandit Media Player

Subscriptions2
  • Bandit Pro (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Bandit Pro (Yearly)$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Bandit Pro (Lifetime)$74.99

Questions

Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bandit Media Player free?
Bandit Media Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aether Player or Bandit Media Player?
Bandit Media Player is rated higher. Aether Player averages 2.5 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Bandit Media Player averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Aether Player or Bandit Media Player have ads?
Neither Aether Player nor Bandit Media Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Player or Bandit Media Player?
Aether Player ships an update weekly, and Bandit Media Player daily. Most recently, Aether Player was updated on October 25, 2026 and Bandit Media Player on October 12, 2026.

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