# Swiftfin

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/swiftfin/

11 people recommended Swiftfin in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source Apple TV and iOS app for Jellyfin, praised for working well and for a recent tvOS update. Critics say it is less polished and stable than Infuse.

Summary written by Claude from 21 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Works well for most people (4 comments in the sample): "it is the free and open source option. Works great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46515299)) "Swiftfin as a client has been working fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47309120)) "is free and seems to work well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46522701))
- Recent release improved the app (4 comments in the sample): "Swiftfin finally had a new release for tvOS this summer which is worth checking out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48988725)) "it's considerably better than the last app store release (quite a while ago" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48988298)) "their latest release is by far the best" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46530701))
- Strong on Apple TV (2 comments in the sample): "Swiftfin and InFuse are great for Apple TV." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49609749)) "for iOS and tvOS Swiftfin is a joy to use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48206827))
- Free and open source (1 comment in the sample): "For free (and open source!) options you can use the Swiftfin tvOS app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47283842))

## What people warn about

- Less polished than Infuse (4 comments in the sample): "the UI is no where near as polished as Infuse" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47710650)) "this immediately looks so much better UX-wise than Swiftfin!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49609918)) "The experience isn't as good though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49609390))
- Bugs and stability problems (3 comments in the sample): "Small bugs? May be. But there’s a lot of lack of functionality and stability." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46517667)) "I had many issues with playback on ATV using Swiftfin." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516280)) "it's just as buggy and unpolished as I remember" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46178473))

## Other music players people recommend

- [VLC media player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vlc-media-player/): 139 recommend, 31 mixed, 79 criticize
- [mpv media player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mpv/): 68 recommend, 11 mixed, 11 criticize
- [Infuse video player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/infuse/): 61 recommend, 14 mixed, 9 criticize
- [Winamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winamp/): 53 recommend, 6 mixed, 6 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Swiftfin", https://hackerapproved.com/p/swiftfin/ (11 recommend, 4 mixed, 7 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.