How Lume compares.
Eight other IPTV players on Apple, checked one row at a time against their own App Store listings. Where we couldn't verify something, we say so instead of scoring it.
What Lume does differently
Some of this is unique in this field. The rest is a matter of price, and of fitting Apple properly.
$9.99, once
Lume Pro is a single $9.99 purchase, or $0.99 a month — the cheapest subscription in this comparison. For scale: UHF's lifetime unlock is $49.99, Snappier's $119.99, Chillio's $129.99.
The only open-source player here
Every line of Lume is on GitHub. Build it yourself and you get the whole app, every Pro feature unlocked, for nothing — no other player in this comparison offers that.
A free tier with no strings
No ads, no watermark, no countdown, no account, no device activation. One playlist and one profile, streaming for as long as you like.
A real Mac app
Most players in this set ship their iPad build to the Mac. Lume is native on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV, with the idioms each platform expects.
Every source type
M3U, Xtream Codes and Stalker/MAG portals. Of the players here, only iMPlayer also reads Stalker — and Lume can hand any stream off to Infuse, VLC or VidHub.
Four playback engines
KSPlayer, VLCKit, AVPlayer and Lume's own engine, with automatic fallback when a stream misbehaves. Switchable in Settings whenever you like.
The cheapest subscription here.
$0.99 a month, or $9.99 once and it's yours for good — on every Apple device you own.
Paying monthly
Every subscription in this comparison, cheapest first.
- Cheapest monthly subscription for each player, cheapest first.
Paying once
Lume Pro, for good.
$9.99
One purchase, every Apple device on your Apple ID, Family Sharing included. Or $0 if you build it from source.
For scale
- Chillio$129.99
- Snappier IPTV$119.99
- UHF$49.99
- GSE Smart IPTV$29.99
- iMPlayer$24.99
Head to head
Pick the player you're weighing Lume against, and see the whole feature list side by side.
Prices shown are each app's cheapest way in, from its US App Store listing.
Every row, side by side
The features worth choosing between. Scroll sideways for the rest of the field — Lume stays put beside the labels.
- Supported
- Supported with limits
- Not supported
- Not verified
| Feature | Lume$0.99 / month | Chillio$4.99 / month | UHF$1.99 / month | IPTVX$3.99 / month | Snappier IPTV$1.99 / month | iMPlayer$24.99 once | GSE Smart IPTV$4.99 / month | iPlayTV$5.99 once | Smarters Player Lite$1.99 once |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms & sources | |||||||||
| Native Mac app | Native | Runs the iPad app | Runs the iPad app | Runs the iPad app | Runs the iPad app | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Runs the iPad app |
| Stalker / MAG portals | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Hand a stream off to Infuse, VLC or VidHub | Yes | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Playback | |||||||||
| Selectable playback engines | 4 — KSPlayer, VLCKit, AVPlayer, Lume Engine | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | 2 — KSPlayer, VLC | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified |
| Multiview / multi-screen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | In Pro | No | No | No |
| OpenSubtitles search inside the player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not verified | Not verified | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Library & metadata | |||||||||
| TMDB artwork and metadata | Yes | Yes | Not verified | Not verified | Yes | Not verified | No | No | No |
| Ratings from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic | Yes | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | No | No | No |
| Per-episode watch progress | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Yes | No | No | Not verified |
| Offline downloads | In Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Not verified |
| Trakt integration | In Pro | Yes | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Profiles & sync | |||||||||
| Cross-device sync | Yes | Yes | In Pro | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | No | Partial |
| Multiple user profiles | In Pro | Yes | Not verified | Partial | Not verified | No | No | No | No |
| Trust & value | |||||||||
| No ads in the free tier | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Not applicable | No |
| Unlimited streaming on the free tier | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Not applicable | Yes |
| One purchase covers every Apple device | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Free when you build it from source | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Lume's column shows the full app, Pro features included. Pro is $9.99 once — or free when you build Lume from source.
- Native Mac app: Most players in this set ship their iPad build to the Mac. Lume is native on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.
- No ads in the free tier: IPTVX's free tier interrupts with pop-ups rather than ad banners. iPlayTV has no free tier at all — the app is paid.
- Unlimited streaming on the free tier: Snappier stops playback after 240 seconds, so its free tier is a trial rather than a tier.
- One purchase covers every Apple device: IPTVX licenses iOS and Apple TV separately. iMPlayer's premium covers roughly two devices, with further devices sold at about $7 each.
- Free when you build it from source: Lume is the only player in this comparison whose source you can read. Compile it yourself and every Pro feature is unlocked, at no cost, forever.
Prices are US App Store prices in USD and change over time; check the store before you buy. Tell us if anything here is out of date.
Try it for yourself.
The free tier has no ads, no watermark and no timer. Pro is $9.99 once, and free forever if you build it yourself.