Emby vs Swiftfin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Personal media aggregation
- On-the-fly media conversion
- Elegant media organization
- Media sharing with friends/family
- Parental controls
- Cloud-synced media streaming
Read full descriptionHide 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/
Swiftfin
Stream your video collection from a Jellyfin media server to your iOS device. Enjoy an easy-to-use interface for your media library and watch live TV if you have the necessary hardware.
- Native iOS/iPadOS video player
- Connects to Jellyfin media servers
- Stream video collection
- Easy-to-use interface
- Watch Live TV (with hardware)
Read full descriptionHide full description
Swiftfin is a fast, native video player that works with Jellyfin, the open source free software media server. 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 video to your iOS/iPadOS device - View your collection in an easy to use interface This is an official Jellyfin companion app. Thank you for using Jellyfin!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Swiftfin at 3.8 against Emby's 3.1. Swiftfin also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (53% vs 31%). Emby's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 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
Both are free to download. Emby sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Swiftfin asks for nothing beyond the download.
Swiftfin holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 647 and 267 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Emby's written reviews are positive against 53% of Swiftfin's.
Emby ships an update every 3 weeks, Swiftfin every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Emby | Swiftfin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (647 ratings) | 3.8 (267 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.5% of reviews | 53.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 647 — better | 267 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 131 MB | 186 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Emby Media | Anthony Lavado |
Customer experience
Emby
Swiftfin
User reviews
Emby
From 647 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Swiftfin
From 267 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Smooth and responsive UI
- 🚀 Fast and efficient media playback
- 🔒 Secure user profiles and pin protection
- 💡 Seamless switching between multiple user accounts
- 👍 Clean and modern app design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔋 Inconsistent battery performance
- 🔒 Difficulty changing server IP/domain
- 🐛 Issues with subtitle and audio track selection
- 🐛 Unreliable live TV and DVR functionality
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 moreShow fewer
- 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 moreShow fewer
- Faster server scanning/indexing
- Better codec/format support
Swiftfin
Reported bugs
5 issues- Unable to connect to Jellyfin server after recent updates
- Sorting and filtering not working as expected
- Playback issues with certain video codecs and formats
- Home bar not disappearing during video playback
- Sync issues between iOS and tvOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Add offline media download capability
- Implement Picture-in-Picture mode
- Introduce a shuffle option for episodes
- Integrate e-book and audiobook support
- Allow customization of media library views
In-app purchases
Emby
- Emby Premiere$6.991 Month
- Unlock Playback2 variants$4.99
Swiftfin
No in-app purchases







