Universal Remote vs Bref Player
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Universal Remote
Transform your phone into a smart TV remote and screen mirroring device. Control your TV, cast media, and navigate menus with ease. Connect to your Smart TV over Wi-Fi for a seamless experience.
- Smart TV remote control
- Automatic TV detection
- Screen mirroring
- TV casting
- Touchpad navigation
- Keyboard input
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Universal Remote - TV Cast – Smart Remote & Screen Mirroring Turn your phone into a smart TV remote and screen casting tool. Control your Smart TV, mirror your screen, and cast videos, photos, and more with one simple app. Connect your phone and TV to the same Wi-Fi network and enjoy seamless control of your favorite Smart TVs. Adjust volume, change channels, switch inputs, navigate menus, and type faster with your mobile keyboard. No extra hardware required. With built-in Screen Mirroring and Cast features, you can easily share photos, videos, movies, music, presentations, and more directly to your TV. Enjoy your favorite content on a bigger screen with just one tap. Compatible with many popular Smart TVs and streaming devices, including Samsung, LG, Sony, Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, Vizio, Hisense, and more. Main Features: • Smart TV Remote Control Turn your phone into a convenient remote for your TV. Control power, volume, channels, navigation, and input sources anytime. • Automatic TV Detection Quickly find compatible Smart TVs connected to the same Wi-Fi network. • Screen Mirroring & TV Cast Mirror your phone screen and cast photos, videos, movies, and other media to your TV. • Touchpad Navigation Use your phone as a touchpad for smooth and easy menu browsing. • Keyboard Input Type searches, passwords, and messages faster using your phone keyboard. • Quick Access to TV Features Quickly access supported TV functions and channels from your mobile device. • Big Screen Entertainment Watch movies, play games, share presentations, and enjoy video calls on your TV screen. Whether you want a smarter way to control your TV or a simple way to share content on a bigger display, TV Remote Control gives you everything you need in one powerful app. Download now and experience the easiest way to control and cast to your Smart TV. This app is independently developed and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with any of the mentioned brands or companies.
Bref Player
Consolidate your video, music, and book collections across various devices. Access local files, cloud storage, and media servers to enjoy your owned media with extensive format support and advanced playback features.
- Unified media library
- Support for numerous video and audio formats
- Connect to local files, NAS, cloud drives, and media servers
- Offline downloads for viewing
- Advanced subtitle support
- Casting and IPTV playlist support
- Organized library with artwork and playback progress
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Your media, ready for every screen. Bref brings video, music and books together on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Connect your local files, NAS, cloud drives and media servers, and enjoy the collection you already own. VIDEO FORMATS Play MKV, MP4, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, ASF, FLV, WebM, RM / RMVB, MPEG / MPG, TS, MTS / M2TS, VOB, MXF, OGM / OGV, 3GP / 3G2, DVR-MS and WTV. Supported codecs include H.264 / AVC, H.265 / HEVC, AV1, VP9, VC-1 and MPEG. Open main features from BDMV and VIDEO_TS folders or ISO / IMG disc images, and resolve STRM / STRMLNK media links. PICTURE QUALITY Enjoy 4K video and HDR10, HLG or Dolby Vision playback on compatible devices, with hardware and software decoding paths. Compatible Apple TV setups can request a display mode that matches the content frame rate. DOLBY AUDIO AND MULTICHANNEL SOUND Play Dolby Digital (AC-3) and Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) audio, and decode TrueHD and DTS / DTS-HD tracks. Switch audio tracks, use multichannel PCM output or stereo downmix, and enjoy 5.1 or 7.1 content with compatible output devices. AC-3 / E-AC-3 can also use the system compressed-audio output path, subject to the device, operating system and audio connection. YOUR SOURCES Access local files, SMB, NFS, WebDAV, FTP, FTPES, FTPS, SFTP and UPnP / DLNA. Connect Jellyfin, Emby, Plex, Feiniu Video, Baidu Netdisk, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive on supported platforms. CASTING AND IPTV Cast video or music to Apple TV via UPnP / DLNA. Add M3U / M3U8 playlist URLs. MUSIC FORMATS Play MP3, AAC, M4A, FLAC, ALAC, APE, WAV, OGG, Opus and WMA, plus AC-3, E-AC-3, DTS / DTS-HD and MLP / TrueHD audio. Browse artwork and song information, follow available synchronized lyrics, and use playlists, shuffle and repeat playback. On iPhone and iPad, listen in the background and control music from the Lock Screen or Control Center. SUBTITLES AND BILINGUAL VIEWING Read SRT, ASS / SSA, WebVTT, TTML / DFXP, SAMI / SMI, MicroDVD and MPL2 text subtitles, plus PGS / SUP and VobSub (IDX / SUB) image subtitles. Choose embedded tracks, discover nearby files or import and associate subtitles manually. Adjust subtitle timing and display two subtitles together with compatible text-track combinations. AN ORGANIZED LIBRARY Match videos with artwork, descriptions and episode information. Manage favorites and watched status, save playback progress and return to recently played items. Create custom video collections across sources without moving the original files. OFFLINE DOWNLOADS Download supported videos for offline viewing. Pause and resume range-based downloads when the source is accessible. Add compatible HTTP / HTTPS video download links on iPhone, iPad and Mac. PREVIEWS AND CHAPTERS Preview the timeline and navigate supported disc titles and chapters. CACHE CONTROLS Use read-ahead and disk caching for network video. Adjust preload capacity, view cache usage and clear video or artwork caches. CROSS-DEVICE ACCESS AND ICLOUD Restore eligible purchases with the same Apple Account on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Sync supported source settings, playback progress and recently played records through iCloud. Enjoy controls adapted to touch, keyboard, pointer and the Siri Remote. BOOKS, TOO Connect an OPDS source to read EPUB and PDF books on supported platforms. APPLE TV: SWIPE TO SEEK Slide left or right on the Siri Remote touch surface to scrub continuously, with time and frame previews. Release to seek while preserving the prior playing or paused state. PLEASE NOTE Bref does not supply movies, third-party service memberships or decryption of protected content. Add media you own or are authorized to access. Available features and purchase options are shown in the app. Source, format and output support depend on the platform, operating system, media file and equipment. Network playback and sync require suitable services and connectivity. Privacy Policy: https://www.bref.cn/privacy/ Support: https://www.bref.cn/support/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Bref Player at every 2 days against Universal Remote's every 3 months. Bref Player also leads on ratings volume (8 vs 1) and device support (5 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Universal Remote sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Bref Player sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Universal Remote against 5.0 for Bref Player. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bref Player has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Universal Remote ships an update every 3 months, Bref Player every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Universal Remote | Bref Player |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 8 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 71 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | CHENGDU MIAOZHI TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. | Hatch Co., Ltd |
Customer experience
Universal Remote
Bref Player
In-app purchases
Universal Remote
- Lifetime Premium$7.99
Bref Player
- Bref Pro Monthly7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Bref Pro$9.99








