Playfyn vs Media Stack
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Playfyn
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Playfyn is a beautiful, fast client for your own Jellyfin media server β built for people who care how their library looks and plays. Point it at your server, sign in, and your movies and shows are ready on Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. PLAYBACK THAT RESPECTS YOUR FILES β’ Full-quality 4K HDR10 and Dolby Vision passthrough β your files play as they were mastered, not re-encoded β’ MKV and more play seamlessly; when a transcode is genuinely needed, Playfyn degrades gracefully and automatically β’ Surround audio (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus) with smart track selection that keeps quality high β’ Automatic intro and credits skipping (with the Intro Skipper plugin) β’ Continuous playback, resume anywhere, and an Up Next row that keeps your place across devices MADE FOR EVERY SCREEN β’ Apple TV: a fast, focus-driven interface designed for the big screen, with a Top Shelf and light/dark looks β’ iPhone and iPad: Picture in Picture, AirPlay, background audio with full lock-screen controls, and cellular data protection that caps streaming quality on the go β’ iPad multitasking: Split View, Slide Over, and Stage Manager YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY β’ A rich home screen with a featured carousel, Up Next, favorites, and recently added β’ Powerful library browsing: filter by genre or resolution, sort your way, search everything β’ Playback stats HUD for the curious: live codec, bitrate, and resolution info PRIVATE BY DESIGN Playfyn talks only to your Jellyfin server. No accounts with us, no analytics, no tracking β the App Privacy label is "Data Not Collected," and we mean it. FREE TO TRY, ONE PURCHASE EVERYWHERE Try Playfyn free. Upgrading to Playfyn Pro unlocks unlimited playback with a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase β and universal purchase means one buy covers Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. REQUIREMENTS Playfyn requires your own Jellyfin server (free, open-source software β jellyfin.org) on your home network or reachable remotely. Playfyn ships with no media content; you bring your own library. Playfyn is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Jellyfin project. PLAYFYN PRO β SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS β’ Playfyn Pro Monthly β $4.99 per month, auto-renewing β’ Playfyn Pro Lifetime β $39.99, one-time purchase, does not renew Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A monthly subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel your subscription in Settings > your Apple Account > Subscriptions. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Terms of Use (EULA): https://playfyn.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://playfyn.app/privacy/
Media Stack
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Bring your media services together in a quiet, native home for iPhone and iPad. Connect as many Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Prowlarr, Seerr and Tautulli services as you need. Keep each server distinct while browsing useful combined views. YOUR SERVICES, IN PERSPECTIVE Arrange Home around service health, upcoming releases, downloads, pending requests and current playback. Search your film, series and music libraries with filters and grid or list layouts. DAILY MANAGEMENT, CLOSE AT HAND Add and edit films, series or artists, choose profiles and folders, set monitoring, compare releases, manage downloads, preview file renames and match manual imports. Search every indexer at once through Prowlarr and send a release straight to a download client. Actions identify their originating service, and file deletion requires an explicit choice. A PLACE FOR WHATβS NEXT See episode, film and album releases in Month or Upcoming calendar views. Add optional local release reminders. Follow requests and reported issues through Seerr, and view playback details, history and statistics through Tautulli. AT HOME ON YOUR DEVICE Upcoming-release and queue widgets show the last fetched information. Shortcuts open Home, Queue, Calendar, Requests or media search. Light and dark appearances, Dynamic Type, native navigation and an adaptive iPad sidebar make room for your way of working. Optional alerts tell you when a release is grabbed, a download finishes, a file is upgraded, Plex adds a title, a stream starts, a request arrives or a service needs attention. SIMPLY YOURS No ads, subscriptions or Managerr account. Services are stored locally on each device. API keys stay in device-only Keychain. Saved snapshots remain available offline; server changes require connectivity. Try the clearly labelled offline demo without a server. Managerr requires your own supported services for real management and does not supply, host or play media. Some actions depend on service capabilities and permissions. Widgets alerts and local reminders use the information last fetched by the app; there is no hosted push notification service.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Media Stack at none against Playfyn's 2. Media Stack also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Playfyn sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Media Stack asks for nothing beyond the download.
Playfyn ships an update fortnightly, Media Stack every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Playfyn | Media Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 2 days β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No β better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV β better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Playfyn Media LLC | Mann Badal |
In-app purchases
Playfyn
- Playfyn Pro - Monthly$4.991 Month
- Playfyn Pro - Lifetime$39.99
Media Stack
No in-app purchases









