Comparison

Crivid IPTV Player vs Photon Player

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

Head to head
About

Crivid IPTV Player

This app transforms your personal playlists into a seamless TV viewing experience on your iPhone and iPad. It acts as a player only, requiring you to provide your own content sources like M3U playlists or Xtream Codes logins.

Highlights
  • Personal playlist integration
  • Fast, full-screen TV guide
  • Live channel preview
  • Catch-up and replay functionality
  • VOD catalogue with search
  • Series tracking
  • Multi-view for multiple streams
Features
Read full description

Crivid IPTV Player turns your own playlists into a fast, beautiful TV experience on iPhone and iPad. BRING YOUR OWN CONTENT Crivid IPTV Player is a player only — it does not include, sell or provide any channels, streams or subscriptions. You sign in with your own M3U playlist or Xtream Codes login from your TV provider, and optionally connect your own media servers and tuners. FAST FULL-SCREEN TV GUIDE • A lightning-fast programme guide built for big channel lists • Live channel preview while you browse — tap again for full screen • Catch-up & replay: rewind the timeline and watch earlier programmes (Pro) MOVIES & SERIES • Full VOD catalogue with posters, details and search (Pro) • Series with seasons, episode lists and watched-tracking (Pro) • Auto-play next episode MULTI-VIEW • Watch up to four live streams at once, with instant audio switching (Pro) YOUR WHOLE MEDIA HUB • Connect Plex, Jellyfin and Emby alongside your IPTV (Pro) • HDHomeRun network tuners and local files • Multiple playlists and profiles — combine them into one guide (Pro) MADE FOR iPHONE AND iPAD • Picture-in-Picture: keep watching while you do other things (Pro) • AirPlay audio to Apple TV, HomePod and speakers • Favorites for the channels, movies and shows you love (Pro) • Sleep timer, subtitle and audio track selection FREE AND PRO The free tier gives you live TV from one source plus the full TV guide — forever. A 7-day trial unlocks everything so you can try the whole app; after that, a single lifetime purchase unlocks Pro. No subscription. Crivid IPTV Player plays only the content you provide. It does not endorse or promote any third-party content service. An active playlist or server of your own is required.

About

Photon Player

Features
Read full description

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, and with Pro, TrueHD Atmos rendered with its height • 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 • Dolby Atmos from TrueHD soundtracks, rendered for your speakers or headphones • 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

Crivid IPTV Player4 screens
Photon Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Photon Player at daily against Crivid IPTV Player's every 2 days. Crivid IPTV Player's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Crivid IPTV Player sells 1 one-off in-app purchase 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Crivid IPTV Player ships an update every 2 days, Photon Player daily. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Crivid IPTV Player versus Photon Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCrivid IPTV PlayerPhoton Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TViPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size107 MB37 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperCrivid ASOliver Walton

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Crivid IPTV Player

One-time1
  • Crivid Pro — Lifetime$17.99
3 purchases

Photon Player

Subscriptions2
  • Photon Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Photon Pro Yearly$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Photon Pro Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Crivid IPTV Player free?
Crivid IPTV Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Photon Player free?
Photon Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Crivid IPTV Player or Photon Player have ads?
Neither Crivid IPTV Player nor Photon Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Crivid IPTV Player or Photon Player?
Crivid IPTV Player ships an update every 2 days, and Photon Player daily. Most recently, Crivid IPTV Player was updated on October 12, 2026 and Photon Player on October 14, 2026.

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