Jellyfin Mobile 4+

It’s so easy to take a speedy internet connection for granted, but there still are (and may always be) times and places where offline capabilities are needed. I’d really love the ability to download some of my media to my device. It’s technically feasible, but Plex hid that feature behind. paywall.

The only other app that provided download ability was playerXtreme, and it went under. So how ‘bout it, Jellyfin?

This app is the bomb. Totally free, open source server software, easy to use, and looks super sharp. It took me less than half an hour to set up the server software on a 11 year old Windows desktop, and it scanned my 1.5 terabytes of media, grabbing all images, chapters, and descriptions, in only about 6 hours (not bad for the 600kbps internet and old Phenom CPU). I also installed the client on a Raspberry Pi running OSMC, and it integrated seamlessly. The software provides a beautiful web interface that any browser can use (I’ve had no trouble with Firefox on Windows or Mac, Chromium on Raspbian, and for my 2012 iPad, Firefox mobile 8.0). The old PC has no trouble running the server, and multiple 1080p streams simultaneously have been no problem. (I do have a very nice Nighthawk router, so gigabit-speed WiFi LAN might be filling the scales in my favor). Overall, wonderful app, my only complaint is the lack of a download feature. However, the server software does have the option to run UPnP, and I can download to VLC mobile using that. So not a big deal, but the only thing keeping this from being perfect.
Question for the devs: any chance of getting a tvOS app in the near future?

Until I found Jellyfin, I had been pulling my hair out trying to find a local solution to play my media without tracking, online services, or having any pay walls. My setup is simple. I run Jellyfin on a Windows virtual machine, and watch my media on Apple TV or iPad.

I had previously used Plex, reluctantly. They track usage, cause issues when you want to connect offline, and certain features require Plex Pass. So then I looked to Emby, but only some of the app is open source, and they still have the premium pricing for certain features, the most basic being able to play media on the iPad app.

As a privacy minded person I have been searching for an alternative for a long long time. Finally Jellyfin checks all of the boxes.

Dev feedback: Please add a feature to download media offline. That would be amazing. Thanks for the effort you are putting into this open source project. It has been needed for a very long time.