Comparison

Next Up On TV 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

Next Up On TV

Easily track your favorite TV shows and know exactly which episode to watch next. Organize your series, mark episodes as watched, and view upcoming broadcasts in a calendar. Enjoy offline access and a spoiler-free mode for an uninterrupted viewing experience.

Highlights
  • Track TV series and next episodes
  • Mark episodes as watched
  • View upcoming broadcasts in calendar
  • Organize series by status
  • Offline consultation
  • Spoiler-free mode
Read full description

Where did you leave off? Next Up On TV finds your next episode and lets you mark it watched with a tap. YOUR NEXT EPISODE See what’s left to watch, upcoming episodes and the shows you’re saving for later. Skip unavailable episodes without skewing your progress. Widgets bring your watch progress to your Home Screen and Lock Screen. A LIBRARY THAT’S YOURS Your watch progress stays on your iPhone. Browse your library and mark episodes watched even when you’re offline. No account is required. Export a backup and protect your library with local and iCloud Drive backups. FIND YOUR SHOWS Search the TVMaze catalog, explore seasons and follow your progress. Check upcoming episodes in the calendar and revisit your watch history and statistics. BRING YOUR PROGRESS Import from a compatible file, Trakt or BetaSeries. An optional Trakt or BetaSeries connection lets you send your progress to your chosen service. MAKE IT YOURS Choose a light or dark appearance, hide episode titles and summaries to avoid spoilers, translate episode information into French where Apple Translation is available, and choose your favorite app icon. The interface is available in English and French. On iPhone Duo, the app adapts to both screens and keeps everything off the fold. TRY IT FOR 7 DAYS Enjoy the tracking features during the 7-day trial. To keep editing your library after the trial, choose a monthly subscription, yearly subscription or lifetime purchase. Your library remains readable after the trial without an active purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled in your Apple account settings. Show data provided by TVMaze. Next Up On TV does not play videos or include a subscription to any streaming service. Privacy: https://nextupontv.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support: https://nextupontv.app/support

About

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 with support for high-quality formats and offline downloads.

Highlights
  • Connects to Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and more
  • Supports SMB, NFS, FTP, WebDAV, and UPnP shares
  • Live TV with EPG and channel lists
  • Dolby Vision and HDR playback
  • Offline downloads with Pro subscription
  • Handoff and Spotlight integration
  • Cross-platform support (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS)
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 Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Photon 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 with no media server at all • Live TV from an Xtream Codes subscription, M3U: a full programme guide, favourites, 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. • 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, macOS and visionOS, 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

Next Up On TV4 screens
Photon Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Photon Player at daily against Next Up On TV's every 2 weeks. Photon Player also leads on device support (5 vs 1). Next Up On TV's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Next Up On TV sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Next Up On TV against 5.0 for Photon Player. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Next Up On TV ships an update every 2 weeks, Photon Player daily. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Next Up On TV versus Photon Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNext Up On TVPhoton Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB37 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperNicolas SabatierOliver Walton

Customer experience

Next Up On TV

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Photon Player

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Next Up On TV

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Yearly$3.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$11.99
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 Next Up On TV free?
Next Up On TV is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Photon Player free?
Photon Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Next Up On TV or Photon Player?
Next Up On TV and Photon Player are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Next Up On TV or Photon Player have ads?
Neither Next Up On TV nor Photon Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Next Up On TV or Photon Player?
Next Up On TV ships an update every 2 weeks, and Photon Player daily. Most recently, Next Up On TV was updated on November 2, 2026 and Photon Player on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons