# Emby vs Lenna

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.

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.

## The numbers

| Metric | Emby | Lenna |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [3.1 (660 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/emby/id992180193/reviews) | **[4.9 (119 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lenna-video-library-player/id6502967807/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **660** | 119 |
| Positive reviews | 30.6% of reviews | **93.5% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 126 MB | 101 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch** | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Emby Media](https://appshunter.io/developer/992180192) | [佳琦 王](https://appshunter.io/developer/1733384420) |

## What reviewers say

### Emby

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/emby/id992180193)

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:** Family Sharing, Siri integration, Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Emby Premiere | $6.99 | per month |
| Unlock Playback | $4.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

- Playback errors
- Inability to play certain file formats
- Disconnection issues
- Syncing problems
- Crashes on launch

**Requested features**

- Picture-in-picture mode
- Swipe gestures for navigation
- Improved music management
- Offline playback enhancements
- Chromecast improvements


### Lenna

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lenna-video-library-player/id6502967807)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A Cup of Coffee | $1.99 | one-time |
| A Deluxe Dessert | $4.99 | one-time |
| A Big Meal | $14.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Excellent and free app
- 🚀 Seamless Emby/Jellyfin connection
- ✨ High quality for free
- 🌟 User-friendly interface
- 💯 Highly recommended

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Audio/video sync issues
- 🐛 Dolby vision green screen
- 🐛 Subtitles not loading
- 🐛 Multi-season display issue
- 🐛 Playback buffering problems

**Reported bugs**

- 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'

**Requested features**

- Add playback history tab
- Implement scraping and poster wall
- Add screen-off casting
- Support IPTV remote subscription (txt/m3u)
- Add gesture switch toggle


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Emby free?

Emby is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Lenna free?

Lenna is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Emby or Lenna?

Lenna is rated higher. Emby averages 3.1 out of 5 from 660 ratings, while Lenna averages 4.9 from 119 ratings.

### Do Emby or Lenna have ads?

Neither Emby nor Lenna shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Emby or Lenna?

Emby ships an update every 3 weeks, and Lenna every 3 weeks. Most recently, Emby was updated on November 1, 2026 and Lenna on November 5, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*