Photon Player vs PickAChannel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Photon Player
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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 ā 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 ā 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 ā 4K, MKV, Dolby Vision, TrueHD and DTS ā 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/
PickAChannel
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PickAChannel turns any IPTV source you already have into a fast, beautifully organized, native experience ā on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro. PickAChannel does not provide, sell, or promote any IPTV, streaming, or television service of any kind. All content sources are supplied entirely by you. You are solely responsible for ensuring you have the legal right to access any stream, playlist, or content source you connect. CONNECT YOUR WAY Add a connection using any of three standard, open formats: ⢠An M3U / M3U8 playlist URL ⢠An Xtream Codes server (host, username, password) ⢠An XMLTV (EPG) feed, for program-guide data on its own or layered onto either connection type above ONE LIBRARY, EVERY SCREEN Once connected, your channels, movies, and shows are organized into a single searchable, favoritable library ā with a live program guide that highlights what's on right now. FEATURES ⢠Live TV, Movies, and Shows, with search and category filters ⢠Favorites, with drag-to-reorder on Apple TV ⢠Live program guide (EPG) with on-air-now highlighting ⢠Rich Movie and Show detail pages ā poster, cast, rating, synopsis ā when available ⢠iCloud sync of your saved connections across every device ā your credentials live only in your own private iCloud account, never on our servers ⢠A native SwiftUI app built specifically for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro ā not a stretched-out port Bring your own source. PickAChannel handles the rest.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Photon Player at none against PickAChannel's shown. Photon Player also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 10 days). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Photon Player sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and PickAChannel sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Photon Player ships an update daily, PickAChannel every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Photon Player | PickAChannel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Daily ā better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No ā better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 ā better | 26.5 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Oliver Walton | Ricardo E. Marrero Guzman |
In-app purchases
Photon Player
- Photon Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
- Photon Pro Yearly$14.991 Year
- Photon Pro Lifetime$49.99
PickAChannel
- PickAChannel Pro$12.99
Questions
Is Photon Player free?
Is PickAChannel free?
Do Photon Player or PickAChannel have ads?
Which is updated more often, Photon Player or PickAChannel?
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