Comparison

Aether Player vs ZeoPlayer

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

Head to head
About

Aether Player

This app is a personal media player that connects to your Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby servers, or plays your own files. It supports a wide range of formats and offers features like offline downloads, user profiles, and advanced subtitle handling.

Highlights
  • Connects to Plex, Jellyfin, Emby servers
  • Plays local media files
  • Supports wide range of formats (MKV, HEVC, HDR)
  • Offline downloads and Smart Downloads
  • User profiles with age restrictions
  • Advanced subtitle customization and search
  • Music playback and Live TV support
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

ZeoPlayer

A powerful media player for Apple devices that supports a wide range of video and audio formats, including advanced HDR and immersive audio. Stream content from network shares and online sources with customizable subtitle and audio track options.

Highlights
  • Cinema-grade HDR rendering
  • Universal codec and container support
  • Immersive audio decoding
  • Network and SMB streaming
  • Subtitle and audio track management
  • Deep system integration
Features
Read full description

ZeoPlayer is a modern, minimal, and powerful media player built natively for the Apple ecosystem (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, tvOS). Powered by AetherEngine with VideoToolbox hardware acceleration and FFmpeg, it delivers a cinema-grade audiovisual experience. Key Features: • Cinema-Grade Picture Quality: Native advanced dynamic HDR (HDR10 / HDR10+ / HLG) rendering, and 10-bit color depth support. • Universal Codec & Container Support: Hardware and software decoding for HEVC/H.265, H.264, AV1, VP9 across MKV, MP4, M2TS/TS, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, WebM, and M3U8 (HLS). • Immersive Audio Decoding: Full support for immersive multi-channel audio, TrueHD, E-AC3, DTS-HD, FLAC lossless audio, and multi-channel pass-through/output. • Liquid Glass Design: Beautiful frosted glass material and dark mode-first interface for immersive viewing. • Network & SMB Streaming: Play online HTTP/HTTPS video streams, M3U8 live channels, and network shares via SMB protocol. • Subtitles & Audio Tracks: Automatic detection of embedded subtitles/tracks and support for external SRT/ASS files with sync adjustment. • Deep System Integration: macOS menu bar & hotkeys, iOS gesture controls for volume/brightness, Picture-in-Picture, and SwiftData history sync.

Screenshots

Aether Player4 screens
ZeoPlayer4 screens

Verdict

The call

Aether Player and ZeoPlayer both sit at 2.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 50% of Aether Player's written reviews are positive against 0% of ZeoPlayer's. Aether Player also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (3 vs 1). ZeoPlayer's advantage is iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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 ZeoPlayer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 2.0 for Aether Player against 2.0 for ZeoPlayer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Aether Player's written reviews are positive against 0% of ZeoPlayer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Player ships an update weekly, ZeoPlayer every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Aether Player versus ZeoPlayer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether PlayerZeoPlayer
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.0 (3 ratings)2.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision ProiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro
Requires iOS26.018.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size164 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVaclav ZmrhalHongbo Ji

Customer experience

Aether Player

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

ZeoPlayer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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
1 purchases

ZeoPlayer

One-time1
  • ZeoPlayer Pro Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ZeoPlayer free?
ZeoPlayer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aether Player or ZeoPlayer?
Aether Player and ZeoPlayer are both rated 2.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Aether Player or ZeoPlayer have ads?
Neither Aether Player nor ZeoPlayer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Player or ZeoPlayer?
Aether Player ships an update weekly, and ZeoPlayer every 6 weeks. Most recently, Aether Player was updated on November 10, 2026 and ZeoPlayer on November 6, 2026.

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