Riveo vs Photon Player
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Riveo
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Riveo brings your entire video world into one fast, beautiful player — movies, shows, and live TV from wherever they live. No conversions, no juggling apps. CONNECT EVERYTHING - Media servers: Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin with full library browsing - Network shares: stream straight from your NAS over SMB, NFS, WebDAV, or FTP - Cloud drives: Backblaze B2, Dropbox, OneDrive, pCloud and Koofr - Live TV: M3U playlists and Xtream portals with a full TV guide (XMLTV EPG) PLAY IT YOUR WAY - Play MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, TS, and many more formats - Enjoy 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision, and high-frame-rate playback - Switch between multiple audio tracks - Use embedded and external subtitles - Watch in Picture in Picture - Stream to the big screen with AirPlay - Download videos for offline viewing LIVE TV DONE RIGHT Browse live channels, movies, and series from your own IPTV sources. Navigate a full programme guide, search your catalog, and set reminders before a show begins. DISCOVER WHAT’S NEXT Explore trending movies and shows, then see instantly where to watch them across your own connected libraries. MADE FOR APPLE PLATFORMS Built natively in SwiftUI for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. AirPlay to the big screen, lock the app with Face ID, and keep your library, watch progress, and history in sync across devices through your private iCloud. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No Riveo account. No ads. No tracking. Credentials are stored securely on your devices, while synced app data stays in your private iCloud. SUPPORT RIVEO Riveo Pro is an optional way to support ongoing development. Available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Family Sharing supported. YOUR CONTENT, YOUR PRIVACY No accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your credentials stay in the iOS Keychain, and sync happens through your private iCloud — we never see your data. — Important notice: Riveo is a player only. It does not provide, host, or include any media content, channels, or playlists. You connect the servers, services, and playlists you already own or subscribe to, and you are responsible for ensuring you have the right to access that content. Metadata and artwork provided by TMDB, a community-maintained movie and TV database. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms & Privacy: https://riveo.io/legal
Photon Player
This app unifies your media library from various servers, cloud storage, and live TV subscriptions into a single, accessible interface. Enjoy seamless playback of all your content, including high-quality formats and subtitles, across multiple Apple devices.
- Connects to Jellyfin, Emby, Plex, Silo servers
- Supports cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive)
- Live TV via Xtream Codes subscription
- Plays MKV, 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR content
- Passes through Dolby Digital Plus, Atmos, TrueHD, DTS-HD
- Offline downloads with Pro subscription
- Handoff and Spotlight integration
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Photon is a native player for the library you already own. Connect your media servers, your cloud and network storage, and your Live TV subscription, and everything you can watch appears in one place — on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac, from a single purchase. YOUR OWN LIBRARY, TOGETHER • Works with Jellyfin, Emby, Plex and Silo • Connect a server free, or as many as you like with Pro. Home and Search bring them all together; the Library tab keeps each source's own shelves separate, so you can still ask what is on one server. • Play straight from an SMB, NFS, FTP or WebDAV share, a UPnP server on your network, or Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive, with no media server at all • Live TV from an Xtream Codes subscription: a full program guide, favorites, and a channel list built for thousands of channels • Open a video from Files or the Finder and it becomes a title like any other — with a resume point, artwork and a name you can match against your servers AS IT WAS MADE • Dolby Vision and HDR, with AVPlayer driving the display for real HDR output • MKV and 4K play as they are. Nothing is quietly downscaled or re-encoded behind your back. • Dolby Digital Plus with Atmos passed through untouched; TrueHD and DTS-HD decoded losslessly rather than folded to stereo • Subtitles drawn as overlays, never burned into the picture • Standing choices for audio language, subtitle language, and when subtitles should come on at all • Skip intros and credits, and go straight into the next episode EVERYWHERE YOU WATCH • Download for offline with Pro. Transfers carry on while you are elsewhere, with a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and a notice when a title lands. • Handoff picks a film up on the next device at the frame you left it • Spotlight opens a title directly • Top Shelf on Apple TV, a real menu bar on the Mac, and one design across all four platforms BUILT FOR THE PLATFORM Written in SwiftUI for iOS, tvOS and macOS, with full Dynamic Type, VoiceOver labels on every control, and Reduce Motion respected throughout. There is no account to create and no service of ours in the path: Photon talks to your servers and to your own iCloud, and to nothing else. PHOTON PRO The free app is the whole player: one media server and one Live TV subscription, every drive and network share, and every format — 4K, MKV, Dolby Vision, TrueHD and DTS — with browsing, search, Handoff and SharePlay, no advertising and nothing to sign up for. Pro adds: • Every source at once: as many servers and Live TV subscriptions as you like, together in Home and Search • Downloads, for watching offline • AirPlay to an Apple TV or any AirPlay screen • Your servers, settings and the way you have arranged Home, on every device you sign in on Available monthly, yearly, or as a one-off Lifetime purchase, with a free week on either subscription. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac. Photon plays the media you already have on servers and storage you control. It is an independent client and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Jellyfin, Emby or Plex. Terms of Use (EULA): https://photon.oliverwalton.uk/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://photon.oliverwalton.uk/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Photon Player at daily against Riveo's fortnightly. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Riveo sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month and Photon Player sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Riveo ships an update fortnightly, Photon Player daily. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Riveo | Photon Player |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | R17 GEEK DEVELOPMENT SRL | Oliver Walton |
In-app purchases
Riveo
- Riveo Pro Monthly$1.491 Month
- Riveo Pro Annual$12.991 Year
- Riveo Pro Lifetime$69.99
Photon Player
- Photon Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
- Photon Pro Yearly$14.991 Year
- Photon Pro Lifetime$49.99









