Comparison

Emby vs Jellyfin Mobile

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

Head to head
About

Emby

Unite your personal videos, music, and photos into a single, accessible library. Stream your media to any device with automatic on-the-fly conversion and elegant organization. Share with friends and family, and manage access with robust parental controls.

Highlights
  • Personal media aggregation
  • On-the-fly media conversion
  • Elegant media organization
  • Media sharing with friends/family
  • Parental controls
  • Cloud-synced media streaming
Features
Read full description

Bringing all of your personal media together into one place has never been easier! Emby unites your personal videos, music, and photos and streams them to your devices. Get the free Emby Media Server from the Emby website (required as part of your Emby install). • Emby automatically converts your media on-the-fly to play on any device. • Emby organizes your media into an elegant display with artwork, rich metadata and related content. • Easily share your media with friends and family. • Rich parental control and management features allow the Emby Server administrator to easily control access for your entire family. • Stream your cloud-synced media (with installed cloud sync providers) The app is free to browse your media collection, and free to cast media to other devices. Playback requires a small one-time in-app purchase, or an active Emby Premiere subscription, also available in-app. Emby Premiere is available in-app as a monthly subscription for $6.99 USD per month. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account upon confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and the renewal cost is $6.99 USD. Subscriptions may be managed and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active subscription period. Our privacy policy can be found at https://emby.media/privacy. Please also see our terms of use at https://emby.media/terms. All content displayed here is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. The videos displayed are available on the Open Movie Project, found at http://www.blender.org/

About

Jellyfin Mobile

Access and stream your entire media collection from your own server. Enjoy your audio, video, and photos on your device with a user-friendly interface. This app requires a Jellyfin server to be set up and running.

Highlights
  • Stream personal media collections
  • Access audio, video, and photos
  • User-friendly interface
  • Watch Live TV and recorded shows
  • Official companion app
Features
Read full description

The Jellyfin project is an open source, free software media server. No fees, no tracking, no hidden agenda. Get our free server to collect all your audio, video, photos, and more in one place. To use the app, you must have a Jellyfin server set up and running. Find out more at https://jellyfin.org With a Jellyfin server, you can: - Watch Live TV and recorded shows from your Jellyfin server (additional hardware/services required) - Stream your media to your iOS/iPadOS device - View your collection in an easy to use interface This is the official Jellyfin companion app. Thank you for using Jellyfin!

Screenshots

Emby1 screens
Jellyfin Mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Jellyfin Mobile at 4.0 against Emby's 3.1. Jellyfin Mobile also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (49% vs 31%). Emby's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and device support (5 vs 3). On price, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Emby sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Jellyfin Mobile asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Jellyfin Mobile holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 660 and 502 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Emby's written reviews are positive against 49% of Jellyfin Mobile's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Emby ships an update every 3 weeks, Jellyfin Mobile every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Emby versus Jellyfin Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEmbyJellyfin Mobile
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (660 ratings)4.0 (502 ratings) — better
Positive reviews30.6% of reviews49.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings660 — better502
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size126 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEmby MediaAnthony Lavado

Customer experience

Emby

All ratings654 ratings
Positive48.0%
Neutral7.5%
Negative44.5%
Written reviews454 reviews
Positive30.6%
Neutral12.1%
Negative57.3%

Jellyfin Mobile

All ratings467 ratings
Positive74.3%
Neutral6.6%
Negative19.1%
Written reviews287 reviews
Positive49.5%
Neutral18.8%
Negative31.7%

User reviews

Emby

From 660 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app
  • 👍 Awesome interface
  • 🚀 Flawless performance
  • 🚀 Smooth playback
  • 👍 Customizable home screen

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Buggy app
  • 🐛 Unreliable Chromecast support
  • 🔒 Paywall for basic functionality
  • 🐛 Playback issues

Jellyfin Mobile

From 502 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Wonderful FOSS app
  • 🚀 Light weight and effective
  • 🚀 Getting close to Plex
  • 👍 Amazing!
  • 👍 Works great

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Audio problems with background playback
  • 🐛 Download on iPad not working
  • 🐛 Background play does not work
  • 🐛 Slow on RasPi
  • 🐛 Clunky but functional

Bugs and requests

Emby

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Playback errors
  • Inability to play certain file formats
  • Disconnection issues
  • Syncing problems
  • Crashes on launch
Show 2 more
  • Orientation issues
  • Transcoding problems

Requested features

7 requests
  • Picture-in-picture mode
  • Swipe gestures for navigation
  • Improved music management
  • Offline playback enhancements
  • Chromecast improvements
Show 2 more
  • Faster server scanning/indexing
  • Better codec/format support

Jellyfin Mobile

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Audio problems with background playback
  • Download on iPad not working
  • Background play does not work
  • Slow on RasPi
  • Won't connect
Show 7 more
  • Couldn't connect to server
  • Subtitle scaling issues
  • Buggy client state
  • Transcoding issues
  • Chromecast connection failure
  • Stops playing after 30 seconds
  • Buggy and feature limited

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add background playback
  • Add Chromecast support
  • Add offline downloads
  • Add shuffle functionality
  • Add Apple TV support
Show 3 more
  • Add external subtitle support
  • Add lockscreen controls for music
  • Add download offline functionality

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Emby

Subscriptions1
  • Emby Premiere$6.991 Month
One-time1
  • Unlock Playback2 variants$4.99
None

Jellyfin Mobile

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Emby free?
Emby is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Jellyfin Mobile free?
Jellyfin Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Emby or Jellyfin Mobile?
Jellyfin Mobile is rated higher. Emby averages 3.1 out of 5 from 660 ratings, while Jellyfin Mobile averages 4.0 from 502 ratings.
Do Emby or Jellyfin Mobile have ads?
Neither Emby nor Jellyfin Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Emby or Jellyfin Mobile?
Emby ships an update every 3 weeks, and Jellyfin Mobile every 4 months. Most recently, Emby was updated on November 1, 2026 and Jellyfin Mobile on November 3, 2026.

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