HDHomeRun vs Floatplane
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
Floatplane
This platform allows users to support content creators directly, offering an ad-free and high-quality video viewing experience. The mobile app extends this premium content access to users on the go.
- Ad-free viewing
- High-quality video
- Support content creators
- Personal premium experience
- Mobile access
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Say hello to Floatplane! We believe in supporting both content creators and fans by providing a stable platform to grow on, with ad-free viewing and high-quality video for a personal, premium experience for all. Floatplane’s iPhone app lets you bring all this awesomeness with you wherever you go!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Floatplane at 4.1 against HDHomeRun's 2.5. Floatplane also leads on review sentiment (51% vs 27%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). HDHomeRun's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and device support (5 vs 3). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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.
Floatplane holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 465 and 394 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of HDHomeRun's written reviews are positive against 51% of Floatplane's.
HDHomeRun ships an update every 2 months, Floatplane every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HDHomeRun | Floatplane |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (465 ratings) | 4.1 (394 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 26.6% of reviews | 50.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 465 — better | 394 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | SiliconDust USA, Inc. | Floatplane Media Inc. |
Customer experience
HDHomeRun
Floatplane
User reviews
HDHomeRun
From 465 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
Floatplane
From 394 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Clean and simple UI
- 🚀 Stable video playback
- 💡 Exclusive content access
- 🔒 Secure platform for creators
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes
- 🔍 Lack of search/discovery features
- 📱 Limited iPad support
- 🔇 No background audio playback
- 🖥️ No Apple TV/Chromecast support
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+
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- 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
Floatplane
Reported bugs
4 issues- Inconsistent video loading indicators
- Unreliable login/sign-up process
- Orientation issues on iPad
- Casting/mirroring problems
Requested features
5 requests- Picture-in-Picture mode
- Resume playback across devices
- Notification settings
- Offline video downloads
- Improved video scrubbing
In-app purchases
HDHomeRun
No in-app purchases
Floatplane
No in-app purchases
