Comparison

Emby vs Play Remote

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

Play Remote

Control your DMP series Digital Audio Player from your mobile device. Manage music libraries, playlists, and player settings for a seamless listening experience.

Highlights
  • Mobile control for DMP audio players
  • Music library management
  • Playlist organization
  • Favorite song management
  • Working mode settings
Features
Read full description

Play remote is the mobile control APP of DMP series Digital Audio Player. It working with the Audio Player to birng you a covenient music playing experience. Easily to the management of albums, files, music lists and favorites in the music player, quickly set the working mode of the player and a real faest for music lover.

Screenshots

Emby4 screens
Play Remote2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Emby at 3.1 against Play Remote's 2.3. Emby also leads on review sentiment (31% vs 0%) and ratings volume (647 vs 3). Play Remote's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). On price 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. Play Remote asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Emby holds the better App Store score, 3.1 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Emby has 647 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Emby's written reviews are positive against 0% of Play Remote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Emby ships an update every 3 weeks, Play Remote every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Emby versus Play Remote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEmbyPlay Remote
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (647 ratings) — better2.3 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews30.8% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings647 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15
Further details — not scored
Size131 MB50 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEmby MediaShenzhen Yuemei Technology Co.,Ltd

Customer experience

Emby

All ratings647 ratings
Positive48.1%
Neutral7.4%
Negative44.5%
Written reviews452 reviews
Positive30.8%
Neutral12.2%
Negative57.1%

Play Remote

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative50.0%

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

Play Remote

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Emby

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

Play Remote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Emby free?
Emby is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Play Remote free?
Play Remote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Emby or Play Remote?
Emby is rated higher. Emby averages 3.1 out of 5 from 647 ratings, while Play Remote averages 2.3 from 3 ratings.
Do Emby or Play Remote have ads?
Neither Emby nor Play Remote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Emby or Play Remote?
Emby ships an update every 3 weeks, and Play Remote every 10 days. Most recently, Emby was updated on October 10, 2026 and Play Remote on October 3, 2026.

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