Comparison

play vs mStream Player

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

play

Stream your self-hosted music library to various devices with customizable audio settings. Enjoy lossless playback, gapless transitions, and a powerful equalizer. Browse your collection by folders, artists, or albums, and cache music for offline listening.

Highlights
  • Stream Subsonic-hosted music
  • Lossless and gapless playback
  • 10-band customizable equalizer
  • Crossfade and replay gain
  • Browse by folder, artist, album
  • Offline caching of music
  • Supports multiple servers
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Your music, from your own server, everywhere. play:Sub plays your Navidrome, Gonic, Subsonic or other Subsonic-compatible library on iPhone, iPad and Mac, in the car with CarPlay, on Chromecast or through your server's Jukebox - streamed in the quality you choose, or offline. NEW: AUTO SYNC • Keeps your starred songs, albums and artists, your newest albums or any playlist on your device, automatically • Choose per source: Download to keep it, or Cache to let it make room for other music NEVER LET THE MUSIC STOP • Auto DJ keeps playing when the queue runs out, with music related to what you started • Or pick an Auto Play mode: favorite artists, random albums, newest additions, artist radio, decade radio and more SERVERS • Navidrome, Gonic, Airsonic, Ampache, Funkwhale, Booksonic, Subsonic and more • OpenSubsonic support • Multiple servers, with easy switching • Some servers need their Subsonic API turned on AUDIO • FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, AIFF, WEBM and more, without transcoding • Lossless and gapless playback, hi-res up to 24-bit/192 kHz • 10-band equalizer with presets, crossfade and ReplayGain • Playback speed from 0.5x to 2x • Audio Visualizer, and lyrics where your server has them PLAY ANYWHERE • iPhone, iPad and Mac (Apple silicon): any orientation, multitasking and resizable windows • CarPlay: your library, the play queue, server switching, and album and artist pages with play and shuffle buttons • Chromecast and Subsonic Jukebox • AirPlay, Bluetooth, headphone and car controls, Lock Screen and Control Center • Home Screen widgets you can play from • Picks up again after phone calls OFFLINE • Download music to keep it, or let the cache fill and trim itself • Played tracks are cached automatically, upcoming tracks preloaded • Download or cache single tracks or whole albums, artists, folders and playlists • Cached audio is upgraded to a better bitrate when available • Background downloads • The same app offline: browse, play, star and edit playlists, synced when you are back online BROWSE AND DISCOVER • Artists, albums, songs, folders, genres, decades and record labels • Playlists, favorites, podcasts, audiobooks and bookmarks • Recently added, frequently played and random • Artist radio, top songs and similar artists • Internet radio: your server's stations, plus 20,000+ from radio-browser.info • Search everything, filter by media folder or show only starred • Long-press anything for the actions that fit PLAYLISTS AND FAVORITES • Create, edit and delete playlists, personal or shared • Star artists, albums, songs, folders and record labels • 5-star ratings MAKE IT YOURS • Customizable tabs and library order • Light and dark themes that follow the system, or your own colors • Alternate app icons • Sleep timer CONNECTION • HTTPS, including self-signed certificates • Token authentication on Subsonic 5.3+ servers • Separate bitrates for cellular and Wi-Fi, with overrides for slow or fast Wi-Fi networks SCROBBLING • Scrobbles to Last.fm through your server, and updates Now Playing • Cached plays count too; offline plays are scrobbled when back online Requires a server with the Subsonic API 1.8 or newer (Subsonic 4.8+; Subsonic itself needs a Premium license for apps). Some features depend on your server, such as top songs, artist radio, similar artists and record labels.

About

mStream Player

Stream your personal music library from a self-hosted server directly to your mobile device. Browse folders, search by artist or album, and create dynamic playlists with Auto DJ. Enjoy fine volume control, shuffle, and loop features for a personalized listening experience.

Highlights
  • Browse music folders
  • Search by artist/album/song
  • Create dynamic playlists
  • Shuffle and loop playback
  • HTTP(S) support
  • Authenticated login
Read full description

This is a mobile app client for personal and self-hosted mStream music servers (https://github.com/IrosTheBeggar/mStream). Current features: - Browse your music folders - Search in folders - Play music in a folder - Search by artist/album/song - Play an album, song, or playlist - Create dynamic playlists with "Auto DJ" - Fine volume control - Shuffle your queue - Loop a queue or single track - HTTP(S) support - Authenticated & password-less login Note, the app does not support the following features yet: - Playing OGG files - Self-signed certificates The app is completely private. No data is collected.

Screenshots

play4 screens
mStream Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: mStream Player at Free against play's $4.99. play's advantage is ratings volume (434 vs 26) and chart position (#130 vs unranked). On rating, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

mStream Player is free to download; play costs $4.99 up front. play sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and mStream Player sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for play against 4.6 for mStream Player. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: play has 434 ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of play's written reviews are positive against 64% of mStream Player's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

play ships an update every 3 weeks, mStream Player every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
play versus mStream Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterplaymStream Player
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (434 ratings)4.6 (26 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.5% of reviews — better63.6% of reviews
Number of ratings434 — better26
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#130 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael HansenNiera Tech Inc.

Customer experience

play

All ratings433 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral5.5%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews280 reviews
Positive72.5%
Neutral12.9%
Negative14.6%

mStream Player

All ratings25 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive63.6%
Neutral18.2%
Negative18.2%

Bugs and requests

play

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Songs not playing properly
  • Library desyncing issues
  • Freezing during database sync
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching networks

Requested features

5 requests
  • Repeat single track option
  • Automatic theme switching
  • Batch download/caching
  • Apple Watch support
  • Improved CarPlay experience

mStream Player

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

play

One-time5
  • Generous Tip$1.99
  • Amazing Tip$3.99
  • Unbelievable Tip$8.99
Show 2 more
  • Mind-blowing Tip$49.99
  • Unparalleled Tip$99.99
3 purchases

mStream Player

One-time3
  • Coffee-Sized Tip$6.99
  • Snack-Sized Tip$9.99
  • Meal-Sized Tip$14.99

Questions

Is play free?
play costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is mStream Player free?
mStream Player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, play or mStream Player?
mStream Player is rated higher. play averages 4.5 out of 5 from 434 ratings, while mStream Player averages 4.6 from 26 ratings.
Do play or mStream Player have ads?
Neither play nor mStream Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, play or mStream Player?
play ships an update every 3 weeks, and mStream Player every 5 weeks. Most recently, play was updated on November 11, 2026 and mStream Player on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons