Soundwaves vs Lyris
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Soundwaves
Connect your iOS device to your Subsonic music server for a simple and seamless audio and video streaming experience. Enjoy your media library at home or on the go, even with limited bandwidth. Supports various audio and video formats, and compatible with other Subsonic API servers.
- Subsonic music server client
- Audio and video streaming
- Bandwidth-limited connection support
- CarPlay compatibility
- FLAC, Opus, Ogg Vorbis playback
- Plays movies from server
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Soundwaves is a client for the Subsonic music server. Soundwaves focuses on simplicity, making it the ideal client to connect your iPad or iPhone to your home theater setup. Optionally setting a suitable max bit rate, enables Soundwaves to work well even over a bandwidth limited connection (e.g. a mobile connection). It will also play nicely with your car radio, connected via USB, Bluetooth or CarPlay. In addition to audio formats natively supported by iOS (e.g. mp3, AAC), Soundwaves can also play FLAC, Opus and Ogg Vorbis content. Soundwaves can also play movies from your Subsonic server, as long as they are in a supported format (.mov, .mp4, .mpv, .3gp) or a proper transcoding has been configured on the server. Soundwaves works with other media servers which implement the same Subsonic API's, such as Madsonic, Airsonic, Supysonic, LMS or Ampache. Note about privacy: tracking only happens when using the free, ad-supported version. Removing ads via the in-app purchase also stops tracking and data collection.
Lyris
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Your self-hosted music, beautifully played. Navidrome, Subsonic and Jellyfin in a fast native player. Free for 7 days, then one purchase unlocks it for good. YOUR LIBRARY, AT HOME ON YOUR iPHONE • Browse artists, albums, tracks, genres and playlists • Instant search across your whole collection • Favourites, ratings and smart playlists • Multi-disc albums, release dates, artist pages with your albums and similar artists in your library • Choose which music folders or libraries to show A PLAYER THAT FEELS RIGHT • Gapless-feeling queue with shuffle, repeat and a queue you can reorder • Synced lyrics when your server provides them • Equalizer and ReplayGain volume levelling • Lock screen, Control Center, AirPlay and CarPlay • Keeps playing smoothly on weak or changing networks OFFLINE AND ON THE GO • Download albums and playlists to listen without a connection • Stream in original quality, or transcode to MP3, AAC or Opus at the bitrate you choose — separately for Wi-Fi and cellular • Instant seeking, even in transcoded tracks DISCOVER MUSIC • Recommendations based on what you actually listen to, powered by the open MusicBrainz and ListenBrainz databases • Optional ListenBrainz scrobbling with your own token • Optional Lidarr integration: manage your lidarr server directly from your music player app PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No analytics, no ads, no backend: Lyris talks to your servers and to open music databases, never to us • Your credentials stay in the iOS Keychain; Lyris stores a token, never your password • Works with servers on your local network, over a VPN such as Tailscale, or behind Cloudflare Access with custom headers • Certificates are always validated by iOS REQUIREMENTS Lyris needs a music server you run or have access to: Navidrome (recommended), another Subsonic/OpenSubsonic-compatible server, or Jellyfin. Lyris does not include or sell any music.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Lyris at Free against Soundwaves's $3.99. Soundwaves's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
Lyris is free to download; Soundwaves costs $3.99 up front. Soundwaves sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Lyris sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Soundwaves | Lyris |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (12 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 60.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simone Tellini | Emile Vignoli |
In-app purchases
Soundwaves
- Ads-free Edition$3.99
Lyris
- 7-day TrialFree
- Lyris Unlock$12.99









