Play vs Klipsch Stream
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Play
Wirelessly stream high-fidelity audio throughout your home using Wi-Fi. Control music from various sources, including streaming services, radio, and your device's library. Easily set up and manage multiple speakers for a whole-home listening experience.
- Whole-home wireless audio
- Wi-Fi streaming
- Multiple music sources
- Speaker group management
- Volume control
- DLNA server support
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Breakthrough DTS Play-Fi(R) technology powers simple, great-sounding whole-home wireless audio systems for smartphones and tablets. You can stream your favorite tunes over Wi-Fi right from the Play-Fi app to speakers from DTS Play-Fi product partners. It's a huge step up from Bluetooth - the audio quality and reliability are outstanding, and you can enjoy music from your phone in one room, or all your rooms. The "Hi-Fi over Wi-Fi" listening experience is just a touch away, thanks to this handy app. Choose a speaker, choose a song, and your favorite tunes are streaming all through the house. The app offers built-in streaming options: stream from worldwide music services; use AM/FM and Internet radio, connect to DLNA servers, or play anything from your device's music library, including your iTunes playlists. The app automatically organizes and indexes the music for you. The app also handles set-up for your speakers, and gives you full control of volume and speaker selection. Choose one, set up speaker groups, or stream to all of them at once. Manage speaker groups for Spotify Connect, too. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have a Play-Fi product from Polk Audio, Definitive Technology or Phorus, please search for and download the custom Play-Fi app for your audio brand. Please also note that the Play-Fi app is companion software to audio products enabled with Play-Fi technology. It is not intended as a stand-alone audio player.
Klipsch Stream
Control your wireless multi-room audio system to stream high-resolution audio throughout your home. Select rooms, choose music sources like streaming services or local files, and manage volume for a complete home audio experience.
- Wireless multi-room audio control
- High-resolution streaming
- Room selection and grouping
- Volume control
- Multiple music source selection
- DLNA server support
- iTunes playlist integration
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The Klipsch Stream App gives you access and full control of your Klipsch Stream Wireless Multi-Room Audio system, delivering high resolution streaming audio to any room of your home where your Klipsch Stream-enabled sound bar, wireless speaker, tabletop stereo speaker system, or wifi amplifier is located. Using the Klipsch Stream app on your phone or tablet, easily select the room(s) you want to listen to music in and select the source you want to listen to. Choose from a variety of internet streaming radio stations, content stored on your phone/tablet, content stored on a network attached storage drive, or even your CD player or turntable (when connected to the Klipsch Gate or Powergate product). The Klipsch Stream app easily allows you to set up and name the rooms in your home where your Klipsch Stream-enabled products are located and gives you full control of volume. Choose one room or stream to them all at once for a complete multi-room audio experience. The Klipsch Stream App gives you access and full control of your Klipsch Stream Wireless Multi-Room Audio system, delivering high resolution streaming audio to any room of your home where your Klipsch Stream-enabled sound bar, wireless speaker, tabletop stereo speaker system, or wifi amplifier is located. Using the Klipsch Stream app on your phone or tablet, easily select the room(s) you want to listen to music in and select the source you want to listen to. Choose from a variety of internet streaming radio stations, content stored on your phone/tablet, content stored on a network attached storage drive, or even your CD player or turntable (when connected to the Klipsch Gate or Powergate product). The Klipsch Stream app easily allows you to set up and name the rooms in your home where your Klipsch Stream-enabled products are located and gives you full control of volume. Choose one room or stream to them all at once for a complete multi-room audio experience. The app offers built-in streaming options: stream from worldwide music services; use AM/FM and Internet radio, connect to DLNA servers, or play anything from your device's music library, including your iTunes playlists. The app automatically organizes and indexes the music for you. The app also handles set-up for your speakers, and gives you full control of volume and speaker selection. Choose one, set up speaker groups, or stream to all of them at once. Manage speaker groups for Spotify Connect, too. Please note that the Klipsch Stream app is the companion app to Klipsch Stream Wireless Multi-Room Audio products or other DTS® Play-Fi® enabled products and is not intended as a standalone application.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Play at ad-supported against Klipsch Stream's free with in-app purchases. Play also leads on ratings volume (3.5K vs 500). Klipsch Stream's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Play against 4.5 for Klipsch Stream. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Play has 3.5K ratings behind it against 500, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 25% and 26% positive.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and August 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Play | Klipsch Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (3.5K ratings) | 4.5 (500 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 25.5% of reviews | 25.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.5K — better | 500 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 285 MB | 360 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DTS, Inc. | Klipsch Group, Inc. |
Customer experience
Play
Klipsch Stream
User reviews
Play
From 3.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Works well
- 🔒 Integrates well with amplifier
- 👍 Keeps improving with updates
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy, glitchy, and unreliable
- 👎 Limited features and functionality
- 🔌 Constant connection issues
- 💤 Slow to load and connect
- 🤯 Frustrating user experience
Klipsch Stream
From 500 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎶 Great sound quality
- 🎛️ Excellent functionality
- 🔊 Streams to multiple devices
- 🎚️ Stereo Pair functionality
- 🌐 Supports many streaming services
Room to improve
- 🐛 App constantly crashes
- 🔌 Drops speaker recognition
- 🐛 App is horrible
- 🐛 Super glitchy
- 🐛 Connectivity issues via Wi-Fi
Bugs and requests
Play
Reported bugs
5 issues- Drops connections frequently
- Fails to recognize devices
- Resets music playback unexpectedly
- Issues with volume control and balancing
- Incompatible with recent firmware/software updates
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for Apple Music
- Improve Spotify integration
- Implement gapless playback
- Provide better interface and navigation
- Add search functionality for local music libraries
Klipsch Stream
Reported bugs
52 issues- System update breaks music server playback
- Latest update frequently lists wrong song
- App constantly crashes
- App drops play
- App constantly drops recognition of speakers/devices
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- App constantly drops recognition of music apps
- Troubleshooting BOT is a joke
- App no longer recognizes PowerGate
- Search function for Amazon Music doesn’t work
- Connectivity issues through Wi-Fi
- App needs a lot of work
- App and its connectivity with streaming services and the Alexa app are really horrendous
- Last update helped when it came to recognizing the device but still needs improvement
- Can’t find any networks
- App doesn’t perform consistently
- Sometimes have to open and close it multiple times before it connects
- Not my internet
- No support for Apple Music
- Packaging it all up tomorrow and returning it
- Great hardware; very weak software
- Have to reboot the PowerBridge multiple times a day to keep it paired with my phone
- Even then it sometimes can’t find the device
- The app used to not work and take a series of closing it out and reopening before it would stream internet radio
- This app is no where near what it should be from a company like Klipsch
- Had the same experience as others with dropped speakers, etc
- Either figure it out, or make everything Bluetooth and drop the dts Play-Fi
- More times than not, it drops a speaker or the music stops while it tries to reconnect
- Not a great experience in the middle of a party
- Speakers should not stop working every time there is a software ‘upgrade’
- This update, just like the last, turns a perfectly working speaker into one that does not work at all
- The last update required several hours work before the speaker was functional again
- Why do you repeatedly release updates that do not work?
- I was perfectly happy with the original version
- It’s a speaker. It should play music regardless of what updates are pushed through the apple store
- Maby the worst app ever created
- It demands updates almost ever time I try and mostly give up
- For every update it ask for the serial number on back that is microscopic
- Great hardware. Awful software.
- Wish I had read reviews before trying to go wireless with Klipsch
- Love the sound, am very frustrated with everything else
- Hours wasted for what now feels like overpriced speakers
- Wireless though? Not worth your time as the apps are finicky at best and a month in I’ve spent more time trying to troubleshoot than I care to think about
- Make better software and I’ll change my view
- Right now I’d offload these for a very expensive loss if I had the heart to put this on someone else...
- It would be a 4 or 5 if the app would stay connected more reliably
- Some days it won't connect at all, others it connects fine but loses connection after a period of listening
- When it works, it works great, I just wish that was more often
- System is very unstable from a software perspective
- If the update it keeps telling me I need was ever available might fix it but the update never works
- System disconnects all the time
- Bad software
- Hope the update comes through and will be much more stable aystem
Requested features
3 requests- Please add TuneIn Radio
- Add Apple Music support
- Better instructions for setup
In-app purchases
Play
No in-app purchases
Klipsch Stream
No in-app purchases
