Comparison

PMDA vs Amare Control

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

Head to head
About

PMDA

Features
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PMDA (pronounced "pimda") is one music lover's take on building the music library of his dreams β€” and now yours. Point the app at your own self-hosted PMDA server and enjoy your entire collection, beautifully organized, anywhere you go. WHY PMDA Most music apps lock you into a subscription and their catalog, or leave your carefully-built library a mess of mismatched tags and missing covers. PMDA is different: 100% self-hosted, private, and it actually understands your music. WHAT YOU GET β€’ Your whole library, everywhere β€” browse artists, albums, genres and labels, with rich, clickable artist pages. β€’ Real listening β€” gapless playback, history, cross-user recommendations, synced lyrics and waveforms. β€’ Lossless, your way β€” stream bit-perfect FLAC or save data with smart transcoding; download albums for offline, even on a plane. β€’ Clean and yours β€” your files, your server, your rules. No cloud lock-in, no ads, no tracking, no AI. HOW IT WORKS PMDA mobile is a companion to the PMDA server (a free, self-hosted music library app you run on your own machine or NAS). Enter your server's address, sign in, and your library is in your pocket. Nothing is stored on our servers β€” the app talks only to the server you point it at. Built for people who are in love with music. Welcome.

About

Amare Control

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Amare Control is the primary interface for Amare Musica players – music servers designed and built in Poland. The app connects to the device on your home network and gives you full control over your music, with no middlemen and no cloud. NOW PLAYING Artwork, title, recording format (FLAC, DSD, 24 bit / 96 kHz…) and a plain answer whether the signal is bit‑perfect. Pause, seek, favourites, amplifier volume, sleep timer. Control from the lock screen, headphones and Siri too. LIBRARY Albums from the player's drive and from streaming services in one place. Filter by quality (CD, Hi‑Res, DSD), source and format. Search, recently played, favourites. QUEUE What plays next – drag to reorder, swipe to remove. Repeat, shuffle, "play next". SIGNAL PATH Source, engine and output in one view – with a direct answer whether the audio data was altered on the way. Proof, not a claim. ROOM ACOUSTICS The player plays a test signal, the phone records it. The result shows where your room booms and where the bass disappears, saved for before/after comparison. We measure – we do not correct digitally. STATISTICS How much you listen, who you play most, and what share of it was bit‑perfect. DEVICE PANEL Seven views of the player's screen, brightness, artwork as background – all from your phone. SERVICES TIDAL, Qobuz and HighResAudio – you sign in directly with the provider; the app never sees your password. AirPlay, Spotify Connect and Roon work with the player as a target device. PRIVACY The app collects no data. No analytics, no ads, no accounts. It talks only to your player over the local network. DEMO MODE No player yet? Enter demo mode from the welcome screen and explore the app with sample data. Requires an Amare Musica player on the same Wi‑Fi network. Works on iPhone and iPad, in English and Polish.

Screenshots

PMDA4 screens
Amare Control4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Amare Control at every 5 days against PMDA's every 3 weeks. PMDA's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PMDA ships an update every 3 weeks, Amare Control every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
PMDA versus Amare Control: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPMDAAmare Control
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 5 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac β€” better
Requires iOS16.4 β€” better18.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size82 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRaphael VaelMarcin Solowiow

In-app purchases

None

PMDA

No in-app purchases

None

Amare Control

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PMDA free?
PMDA is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Amare Control free?
Amare Control is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PMDA or Amare Control have ads?
Neither PMDA nor Amare Control shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PMDA or Amare Control?
PMDA ships an update every 3 weeks, and Amare Control every 5 days. Most recently, PMDA was updated on October 25, 2026 and Amare Control on October 22, 2026.

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