Comparison

Aether Player vs Swiftly 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 for Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby servers, as well as local files. It offers a unified library view, supports a wide range of formats, and provides features like offline downloads and user profiles. Enjoy your media across all Apple devices with a focus on privacy.

Highlights
  • Connects to Plex, Jellyfin, Emby servers
  • Unified library view with deduplication
  • Supports MKV, HEVC, HDR, lossless audio
  • Offline downloads and Smart Downloads
  • User profiles with age rating controls
  • Customizable subtitles and OpenSubtitles search
  • Music player 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

Swiftly Player

This app provides a seamless playback experience for your personal media server, ensuring content plays as intended without transcoding. It offers cross-device resume, offline downloads, and advanced playback controls.

Highlights
  • Direct playback without transcoding
  • Cross-device playback resume
  • Offline downloads of original files
  • Picture-in-Picture mode
  • Support for multiple servers
  • Customizable home screen layout
  • Skip Intro and Skip Credits
Features
Read full description

Swiftly plays the films on your Jellyfin server just as they are. Most apps have the server rebuild a film while you're watching. Swiftly leaves it alone — and tells you beforehand that it will. If something ever does have to be converted, you'll see which part of the file was responsible. Picture in Picture is built in, so a film can carry on in the corner while you get on with something else. RESUME ON THIS DEVICE Something playing on the Apple TV turns up as a button on your iPhone. One tap and it carries on here, at the second you left it. It works in every direction between iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. SERVERS AND ACCOUNTS Add more than one Jellyfin, stay signed in to all of them, and switch from your profile without typing a password again. DOWNLOADS Take episodes and films with you. Swiftly downloads the original file, so what you watch offline is the same quality as what you stream. MORE • Request what your server doesn't have yet, through Seerr, without leaving the app • Skip Intro and Skip Credits, via the Jellyfin plugin • People pages: tap a name in the cast for a biography and everything of theirs you own • Your home screen in your order — rows off, rows moved, genres as rows or as chips • Custom headers per server, for Jellyfin behind Cloudflare Access, Authelia, Authentik or Pangolin • Collections and each library, straight from the Movies and Shows title • Sign in with a Quick Connect code instead of a password • Lock screen and headphone controls, plus background audio • Your audio and subtitle language, chosen once • Next episode on its own, sleep timer, playback speed • Watchlist, filters and search • English and German Swiftly brings no films of its own — it simply shows what's already on your server. And it collects nothing: no analytics, no advertising, no account with us. Your viewing position goes to your server and nowhere else. You'll need a Jellyfin server of your own, 10.8 or newer, on a secure (https) address, and an iPhone or iPad with iOS 18. Uses VLCKit and libVLC by VideoLAN under the LGPL 2.1 or later. Licenses and source code: https://swiftlyplayer.com/licenses/ SUPPORT - All features are free, for everyone. - Optional Supporter extras (app icons, accent colours, a heart in About): Monthly 1.99 EUR per month, or Lifetime 19.99 EUR once. Optional tips: 1.99, 4.99 or 9.99 EUR. Monthly Supporter is an auto-renewable subscription (1.99 EUR per month). Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Lifetime is a one-time purchase and lasts for as long as Swiftly Player exists, on all your devices. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://swiftlyplayer.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Aether Player4 screens
Swiftly Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Swiftly Player at 100% against Aether Player's 50%. Swiftly Player also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.0) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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 Swiftly Player sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Swiftly Player holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Aether Player's written reviews are positive against 100% of Swiftly Player's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Player ships an update weekly, Swiftly Player every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Aether Player versus Swiftly Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether PlayerSwiftly Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3 — better2
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size156 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVaclav ZmrhalPaul Herter

Customer experience

Aether Player

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

Swiftly Player

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 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
5 purchases

Swiftly Player

Subscriptions1
  • Supporter$1.991 Month
One-time4
  • A coffee$1.99
  • Coffee and cake$3.99
  • A movie night$8.99
Show 1 more
  • Swiftly Supporter Lifetime$17.99

Questions

Is Aether Player free?
Aether Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Swiftly Player free?
Swiftly Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aether Player or Swiftly Player?
Swiftly Player is rated higher. Aether Player averages 2.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Swiftly Player averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Aether Player or Swiftly Player have ads?
Neither Aether Player nor Swiftly Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Player or Swiftly Player?
Aether Player ships an update weekly, and Swiftly Player every 6 days. Most recently, Aether Player was updated on October 31, 2026 and Swiftly Player on November 1, 2026.

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