Comparison

Prismedia 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

Prismedia

Features
Read full description

Your media is already one collection. Prismedia gives it one private home. Connect the native app to the Prismedia server you host, then browse, watch, listen, and read without handing your library to an advertising platform. Movies, series, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics, images, and galleries keep their own purpose-built experiences while sharing one identity, one account, and personal progress. WATCH IN FULL FIDELITY Prismedia uses a custom native player built around the codecs and playback capabilities of your Apple devices. Supported sources can direct-play at original quality, including lossless audio, while the server can remux or transcode when the device needs another format. Paused playback keeps title, timeline, stream state, resolution, audio, subtitles, and speed controls readable. READ YOUR WAY Open EPUB, PDF, and comic archives in a native reader. Choose typography, theme, margins, spacing, pagination, or continuous scrolling. A book can also carry an audiobook edition, keeping reading and listening progress together so you can move between text and narration. LISTEN NATIVELY Browse artists and albums, manage a queue, and control music or audiobooks with familiar native playback surfaces. Artwork, chapters, progress, shuffle, and repeat stay close at hand. BUILT FOR EVERY SCREEN Use touch-first browsing and reading on iPhone and iPad, then move to a focus-first living-room experience on Apple TV. Personal accounts keep playback and reading progress with the right member of the household. SELF-HOSTED BY DESIGN Prismedia connects to a server you operate. The server centralizes library scanning, metadata, files, requests, acquisition, streaming, and background work. The native app has no advertising, cross-app tracking, or developer analytics. Requires a reachable Prismedia server and a Prismedia account. Server software, installation instructions, and source are available from the Prismedia website.

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 of all your content, including high-quality formats and subtitles, across multiple Apple devices.

Highlights
  • 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
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 • 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

Prismedia4 screens
Photon Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Prismedia at none against Photon Player's 3. Photon Player's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 3 weeks) and device support (5 vs 3). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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. Photon Player sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Prismedia asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Prismedia ships an update every 3 weeks, Photon Player daily. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Prismedia versus Photon Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrismediaPhoton Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size82 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaul DavisOliver Walton

In-app purchases

None

Prismedia

No in-app purchases

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 Prismedia free?
Prismedia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Photon Player free?
Photon Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Prismedia or Photon Player have ads?
Neither Prismedia nor Photon Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Prismedia or Photon Player?
Prismedia ships an update every 3 weeks, and Photon Player daily. Most recently, Prismedia was updated on October 25, 2026 and Photon Player on October 29, 2026.

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