Comparison

NowSeen vs DuckTV

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

Head to head
About

NowSeen

This app organizes and plays your personal IPTV playlists, M3U files, and Emby/Jellyfin libraries. It offers a program guide, multiscreen viewing, and subtitle customization. Syncs watch history and settings across devices.

Highlights
  • Plays M3U, Emby, Jellyfin
  • Program guide with artwork
  • Continue Watching row
  • Multiscreen live TV
  • AirPlay and Chromecast support
  • Customizable interface
  • Subtitle management
Features
Read full description

Your IPTV, Plex, Jellyfin and Emby in one beautiful app NowSeen is a player for your own IPTV playlists, M3U files, Xtream accounts and Plex, Jellyfin or Emby libraries, on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Add your sources and you get proper artwork, seasons and episodes, ratings, and a Continue Watching row that remembers where you stopped. Everything in one place Movies, series and live channels live side by side. Browse by genre, see what's trending, pin your favourite categories to the Start screen, or search and find something in seconds. A guide that just works A full programme guide with artwork and descriptions, fast to scroll and easy to read on a big screen. Live TV comes with list and grid views, catch-up support and reminders that let you know when a programme starts. Missed a moment? Rewind live TV and jump back to live whenever you want. Sportshub Follow your favourite sports, competitions and teams, see upcoming matches and find out right away which of your channels is showing them. Multiscreen Watch up to four live channels at the same time in a 2x2 grid, switch audio between them and open any of them full screen with one press. A better way to watch Skip intros and credits with one press, pick up the next episode automatically, and keep watching in picture in picture while you use other apps on iPhone and iPad. From your Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server you can even download movies and episodes to watch offline. AirPlay and Chromecast Send live TV, movies and series to your TV with AirPlay or Chromecast, subtitles included. Choose which device plays and keep browsing on your phone. Profiles for everyone Give everyone in the house their own profile with their own favourites, history and Continue Watching, and protect a profile with a PIN if you like. Make it yours Rename and reorder channels and categories, hide the rows you don't use, set which sections appear on Start, pick your own EPG sources, choose your metadata language, adjust the text size and set up parental locks. Nearly everything in NowSeen can be changed to how you like it. Subtitles the way you want them Choose your language, pick your exact text size, and switch tracks without leaving the picture. Closed captions are supported, and if a movie or episode has no subtitles you can fetch them from OpenSubtitles right from the player. Keeps everything in sync Your playlists, favourites and settings follow you across your devices with iCloud. Optional Trakt, Simkl and WeTrakr integration keeps your watch history and progress up to date, automatically and in the background. Made for every screen On Apple TV, NowSeen has a native interface with Top Shelf support. One Premium unlocks the full experience on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Premium Live TV is free to watch. Premium unlocks the full experience: 1 month for EUR 1.99 12 months for EUR 19.99 Lifetime for EUR 49.99, a single payment with no subscription Prices may vary by region. Your sources, your control NowSeen is a player. It does not provide any content, channels or subscriptions. You bring your own sources. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://nowseen.app/Privacy.html

About

DuckTV

This app acts as an interface for live TV, movies, and series using your existing provider login. It offers a full TV guide, on-demand playback, and integrated sports scores. Parental controls and a DVR function are also included.

Highlights
  • Live TV playback with instant channel switching
  • On-demand movies and series with playback memory
  • Integrated sports scores and schedules
  • Multiview for watching multiple channels simultaneously
  • DVR functionality for recording live TV
  • Parental controls with PIN protection
  • Support for various stream formats via VLC and Apple's engine
Read full description

DuckTV is a player. It does not provide, sell, or host any TV channels, streams, or IPTV subscriptions, and it comes with no content of any kind. There is nothing to watch until you sign in with an account you already have from a provider you already pay. You bring the account; DuckTV brings the interface. If you already have an Xtream Codes or M3U login from your provider, type the server address, your username and your password, and DuckTV turns that line into a proper TV app on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad. WHAT DUCKTV IS NOT • Not a channel provider. No channels, no playlists, no streams are bundled. • Not a subscription service for television. There is no signup, no provider directory, and no way to buy TV inside the app. • Not tied to any one company. Any standards-compliant Xtream Codes panel works. WHAT YOU GET Live TV that behaves like television One playback engine, so changing channel is instant instead of a reload. Slide-in channel and category lists, a now/next info bar, favourites, recent channels, and a full time-grid guide with a live now-line when your provider sends EPG data. Prefer a better guide than your panel ships? Point DuckTV at your own XMLTV URL instead. Movies and Series Your provider's on-demand catalogue in a poster grid with categories, sorting and search. Playback remembers where you stopped, and picks the next episode up automatically. Search One field across live channels, movies and series. Sports Live scores, schedules and standings for NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college football and basketball, major soccer competitions and Formula 1 — pulled from public sports data, not from your provider. A spoiler shield hides scores until you ask for them. If you play Yahoo Fantasy, you can connect your Yahoo account (an integration Yahoo has approved) to see your team, your matchup and your players alongside the game. Multiview Watch several channels at once in a grid on Apple TV, with audio following the tile you pick. DVR Record live TV to the device and play it back from the DVR tab. Parental controls A PIN that hides categories you choose, and hides adult categories across Live TV, Movies and Series until the PIN is entered. Because the channels come from your provider and not from us, DuckTV cannot know or filter what is on them — these controls, and your provider's own account settings, are how you decide what is reachable on your device. A player that actually plays things DuckTV uses VLC (libVLC) as well as Apple's own engine, so MPEG-TS, HEVC and MKV streams that AVPlayer refuses simply play. Buffer size, hardware decoding and stream format are yours to tune, and an optional stats overlay shows bitrate, resolution and frame rate while you watch. Built for the remote and for the phone The Apple TV app is built around the focus engine and the Siri Remote. The iPhone and iPad app is a real touch app — not a stretched TV layout — with Picture in Picture for on-demand playback and background audio. PRIVACY Your server address, username and password are stored on your device in the keychain and sent only to your provider. They are never sent to us. There are no ads, no ad identifiers and no third-party tracking SDKs. Anonymous diagnostics can be switched off entirely in Settings → Privacy. Yahoo Fantasy and DuckTrack only do anything if you connect them yourself. ONE MORE TIME, BECAUSE IT MATTERS DuckTV has no relationship with any IPTV provider and does not recommend, endorse or resell one. What you watch, and whether you have the right to watch it, is between you and whoever you get your line from. Use DuckTV only with content you are authorised to access. Requires an Apple TV, iPhone or iPad running tvOS/iOS 17 or later, an internet connection, and your own Xtream Codes or M3U account from a provider. Questions, or something not working? help@duckingstats.com

Screenshots

NowSeen4 screens
DuckTV4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: DuckTV at none against NowSeen's 5. DuckTV also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). NowSeen's advantage is ratings volume (19 vs 2). On price, review sentiment, 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. NowSeen sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. DuckTV asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DuckTV holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NowSeen has 19 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of NowSeen's written reviews are positive against 100% of DuckTV's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NowSeen ships an update every 2 days, DuckTV daily. Both last shipped on October 16, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
NowSeen versus DuckTV: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNowSeenDuckTV
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (19 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews93.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings19 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS18.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size115 MB120 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRicardo DimmendaalDocking LLC

Customer experience

NowSeen

All ratings19 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.7%

DuckTV

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

NowSeen

Subscriptions4
  • NowSeen Premium$1.991 Month
  • NowSeen Premium Family$3.991 Month
  • NowSeen Premium$17.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • NowSeen Premium Family$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • NowSeen Premium Lifetime$44.99
None

DuckTV

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NowSeen free?
NowSeen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DuckTV free?
DuckTV is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, NowSeen or DuckTV?
DuckTV is rated higher. NowSeen averages 4.8 out of 5 from 19 ratings, while DuckTV averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do NowSeen or DuckTV have ads?
Neither NowSeen nor DuckTV shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NowSeen or DuckTV?
NowSeen ships an update every 2 days, and DuckTV daily. Most recently, NowSeen was updated on October 16, 2026 and DuckTV on October 16, 2026.

Other comparisons