HDHomeRun vs Meural
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HDHomeRun
Stream live, over-the-air, and cable TV channels directly to your iOS device. Pause, rewind, and fast-forward live broadcasts. Access program guides with images and logos for an enhanced viewing experience.
- Live TV streaming (OTA & Cable)
- Pause, FF, RW live TV
- HD channel support
- Program guide with images
- Fast channel changes
- Intuitive UI controls
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Enjoy free over-the-air TV throughout your home on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, and Mac with HDHomeRun and a TV antenna. Simply connect your HDHomeRun to your TV antenna and home network to enjoy a modern TV experience throughout your home. Discover shows, explore a beautiful guide, see what's on now and next, and start watching with fast channel changes and an intuitive interface. Add a USB hard drive to your HDHomeRun for DVR across your home. Pause and rewind live TV, record your favorite shows, and watch your recordings on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Watch NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) where available with the HDHomeRun FLEX 4K. Features: • Watch free over-the-air TV from your TV antenna on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, and Mac • Discover shows with a beautiful guide • Pause and rewind live TV • Fast channel changes • Record your favorite shows with HDHomeRun DVR • Schedule series and movie recordings • Watch your HDHomeRun DVR recordings on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, and Mac • Watch NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) with the HDHomeRun FLEX 4K where available Requirements: • HDHomeRun connected to your TV antenna and home network • Wi-Fi or wired home network • Internet connection for guide data
Meural
Instantly share and experience photos from your phone on a connected frame. Invite loved ones to contribute their pictures and automatically display smartphone albums. Explore a vast library of iconic art and manage your personal memories.
- Share photos instantly
- Invite family to share
- Display smartphone albums
- Remote frame control
- Explore 30,000+ artworks
- Manage photo library
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The Meural app lets you instantly share and experience your beautiful photos from your phone to your Meural, from anywhere. Stay connected with loved ones by inviting family and friends to share photos right to your frame. Use the Meural app to: - Display and share your favorite photos on your frame - Invite the family to share their photos to your Meural - Automatically display your smartphone albums on your Meural - Remotely control your Meural settings - Set up and connect your Meural to WiFi - Explore over 30,000 iconic and exclusive works of art - Manage your photos and curate your favorite memories
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Meural at 4.3 against HDHomeRun's 2.6. Meural also leads on ratings volume (3.7K vs 476). HDHomeRun's advantage is device support (5 vs 3). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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.
Meural holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meural has 3.7K ratings behind it against 476, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 27% of HDHomeRun's written reviews are positive against 25% of Meural's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
HDHomeRun ships an update every 2 months, Meural every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HDHomeRun | Meural |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.6 (476 ratings) | 4.3 (3.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 26.9% of reviews — better | 25.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 476 | 3.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 160 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SiliconDust USA, Inc. | NETGEAR |
Customer experience
HDHomeRun
Meural
User reviews
HDHomeRun
From 476 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fastest TV app
- 📺 Great picture quality
- 🔍 Picks up more channels than TV tuner
- 🔌 Works reliably
- 🔨 Decent hardware
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🔍 Unreliable channel detection
- 🤖 Clunky and unintuitive UI
- 🔇 No independent volume control
- 🔒 Lacks DRM support
Meural
From 3.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🖼️ Excellent art and photo display quality
- 📚 Wide variety of art and photo content
- 🎨 Great for displaying personal photos and artwork
- 🕰️ Convenient scheduling and playlist features
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable app with frequent crashes
- 🔍 Difficult to browse and manage photos/albums
- 🔒 Privacy concerns with required full photo library access
- 🔌 Unreliable connectivity and sync issues
- 💰 Expensive product with poor value for money
Bugs and requests
HDHomeRun
Reported bugs
6 issues- Fails to detect tuner device
- Channels not loading
- Playback issues after updates
- Crashes on channel change
- Compatibility problems with iOS 15+
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- Lip-sync issues
Requested features
5 requests- Picture-in-Picture mode
- Channel favorites and filtering
- Improved DVR functionality
- Manual IP address entry
- Native Apple TV app
Meural
Reported bugs
4 issues- App freezes and crashes when trying to upload photos
- Inability to log in or sync with canvas device
- Scheduled playlists and sleep/wake times not working reliably
- Incompatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to sort and search photo albums
- Improve photo upload and management functionality
- Provide more granular control over brightness and settings
- Integrate with smart home platforms like Google Home
In-app purchases
HDHomeRun
No in-app purchases
Meural
No in-app purchases
