Emby vs Lenna
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
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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/
Lenna
A media player for movie and TV enthusiasts, ideal for users with home NAS storage. It connects to Emby/Jellyfin servers and plays directly from WebDAV/SMB. Enjoy high-quality playback with HDR support, library management, and seamless syncing.
- Connects to Emby, Jellyfin, WebDAV, SMB
- Browse poster walls and search media
- Background and PiP playback
- Adjustable playback speed
- 4K, HDR, DolbyVision support
- iCloud and Trakt.TV sync
- DLNA casting
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Lenna is a media player software designed specifically for movie and TV enthusiasts. It is especially suitable for users who store their media content on a home NAS or cloud drive. Lenna supports managing multiple Emby/Jellyfin servers simultaneously, as well as direct video playback from WebDAV, SMB, 115 Drive, and Aliyun Drive sources. It offers powerful browsing, playback, and synchronization features, allowing you to easily enjoy high-quality home entertainment. Media Library Features: - Seamless connection to Emby, Jellyfin, WebDAV, SMB, 115 Drive, and Aliyun Drive servers. - Browse poster walls to quickly view all your media content. - Efficient search to easily find the movie or TV show you're looking for. - Categorized management to keep your media library organized. - Modify media library passwords to protect your personal content. Playback Features: - Background playback for uninterrupted streaming while multitasking. - Automatic picture-in-picture playback to enhance your multitasking experience. - Fixed and temporary playback speed control to cater to different viewing preferences. - Support for audio track and subtitle selection, providing a personalized viewing experience. - Full support for 4K, HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and DolbyVision video playback for an immersive audio-visual experience. - DLNA casting support for seamless streaming to compatible TVs and devices, allowing you to enjoy content on larger screens with just a tap. Syncing Features: - iCloud Sync allows seamless switching between devices, so your viewing experience continues anywhere, anytime. - Trakt.TV / Simkl Sync connects Lenna to Trakt.TV / Simkl, syncing your playback progress. * Note: This app does not provide any media server links or video content.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Lenna at 94% against Emby's 31%. Lenna also leads on rating (4.9 vs 3.1). Emby's advantage is ratings volume (660 vs 119). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Emby sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Lenna sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lenna holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Emby has 660 ratings behind it against 119, 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 94% of Lenna's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Emby | Lenna |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (660 ratings) | 4.9 (119 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.6% of reviews | 93.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 660 — better | 119 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 126 MB | 101 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Emby Media | 佳琦 王 |
Customer experience
Emby
Lenna
User reviews
Emby
From 660 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
Lenna
From 119 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent and free app
- 🚀 Seamless Emby/Jellyfin connection
- ✨ High quality for free
- 🌟 User-friendly interface
- 💯 Highly recommended
Room to improve
- 🐛 Audio/video sync issues
- 🐛 Dolby vision green screen
- 🐛 Subtitles not loading
- 🐛 Multi-season display issue
- 🐛 Playback buffering problems
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
Lenna
Reported bugs
11 issues- Audio and video out of sync after pausing and returning to app
- Subtitles and video out of sync after pausing for a while
- Dolby Vision playback shows a green screen
- Cannot load RST subtitles from Emby
- Some MP4 videos report 'avformat can't open input|Protocol not found'
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Login shows 403 error despite correct credentials
- Playback buffering issues (low kbps)
- Only displays Season 1 for shows with multiple seasons
- Original film discs do not display size/bitrate correctly, showing error
- Playback freezes when returning to the screen after pausing
- RTS subtitles cannot be loaded
Requested features
19 requests- Add playback history tab
- Implement scraping and poster wall
- Add screen-off casting
- Support IPTV remote subscription (txt/m3u)
- Add gesture switch toggle
Show 14 moreShow fewer
- Add SMB support
- Add WebDAV support
- Add video caching/download function
- Add alternative line option for Emby servers
- Add privacy blur for locked interface
- Add screen casting to playback interface
- Add option to disable subtitle styles/effects
- Add dual subtitle support
- Add loading local subtitles from Files app
- Add macOS version
- Add TV version
- Add local video import from Files/Photos
- Add media library summary statistics
- Add option to not scrape for 115 cloud drive
In-app purchases
Emby
- Emby Premiere$6.991 Month
- Unlock Playback2 variants$4.99
Lenna
- A Cup of Coffee$1.99
- A Deluxe Dessert$4.99
- A Big Meal$14.99








