A simpler Kodi alternative for Android TV

Yonto Player is a simpler way to watch your own Plex, Jellyfin or Emby library, or the videos on a NAS or a USB drive, on Android TV: the servers and shares are built in, with no add-ons to install, and you set them up from your phone. It plays Blu-ray and DVD ISOs, AVI and MKV files and DTS and TrueHD sound in its free app, and turns the files on a share into a library with posters.

Kodi is free, open source and very capable, and if it works for you, keep it. It plays almost anything, builds a library from your files, plays music and photos, and has live TV through PVR add-ons, skins and a large choice of other add-ons. Some people want much less than that: their own library on the TV, with little to set up and nothing to look after. Yonto Player is made for them.

Who Yonto Player suits

You have a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, and you want to watch it on Android TV in an app that connects to it directly.
Your videos are on a NAS or a USB drive, and you want to open them over SMB or WebDAV, or as Folder on this device, with no media server in between (Play video files from a NAS or USB drive on Android TV).
You would rather not manage add-ons, skins or settings menus to get there.
You also watch on an Android phone or tablet, and want to watch the same server or share there too.

Connecting a server, without add-ons

In Kodi, a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby library comes through an add-on. Jellyfin’s documentation describes two, Jellyfin for Kodi and JellyCon; Emby has Emby for Kodi; and for Plex there is PlexKodiConnect, among others. They work well for many people, and they are one more thing to install and set up.

In Yonto Player, Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, SMB, WebDAV and folders are built in. Choose Settings, Sources, Add source, pick the type, and fill in the form. On a TV, Set up from your phone shows a QR code, so you type the address and password on your phone instead of with the remote, and nothing is saved until you confirm it with the remote (Sources). Step by step: Play your Jellyfin library on Android TV, Set up Plex on a TV without typing a password and Add your Emby server on Android TV.

There is no account to create and nothing else to install. Yonto Player opens on a small demo library, so you can see how it works before you add anything.

Made for the remote, and for phones too

The Android TV app is built for the remote first. Back returns to the card you left, and when an episode from your server ends, the next one starts with a countdown. Home shows Continue playing and your server’s films and series, with the posters and descriptions the server holds. The Android phone and tablet app plays the same kinds of source, with touch controls; each device keeps its own sources and History (History on your TV and phone).

Yonto Player plays each file as it is stored, through your device’s own decoders, unless a Jellyfin, Plex or Emby server converts one the device cannot play, and decodes AC3, E-AC-3, DTS and TrueHD sound itself when the device cannot (DTS, TrueHD and Dolby audio on Android TV).

What it costs

Kodi is free, so here is what Yonto Player costs. Free is the whole player with one source of your own, such as your Plex server or one NAS share. Pro adds as many sources as you like, installing plugins, downloads to watch offline on a phone or tablet, and Sync of your history, Watch list and sources across your devices. On our website it is US$7.47 instead of US$14.95 while the offer runs, until December 31, 2026, one payment, not a subscription, and one licence works on up to 5 devices at a time. In the app on Android TV and Android phones and tablets, you can try Pro free for 7 days, once per device, with no payment details, and it ends on its own. Yonto Pro says how to buy it and turn it on.

What Kodi does that Yonto Player does not

If you rely on any of these, Kodi is the better choice.

Its online lookup for your files is simpler. A NAS share, a cloud drive, a USB drive or a folder is grouped into films and series from file names and shows the posters and .nfo descriptions kept beside the videos. What they leave out is looked up online for each film and series from TheTVDB, or from TMDB with your own key, with no other choice of scraper and no episode titles, pictures or descriptions. Posters, descriptions and episodes for a server come from your Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server.
No add-ons and no skins. Yonto Player looks the way it looks, and its plugins add sources, not features.
Films and TV series only. From Plex, Jellyfin and Emby, only film and TV series libraries appear: music, photos and the server’s live TV do not. A folder or share lists video files only.
No NFS, FTP or UPnP. Files come over SMB or WebDAV, from your own Dropbox or Box, or from a folder on the device.
No Trakt. Yonto Player reads your Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server’s watched marks and resume points, and tells the server what you watch unless you turn that off for the source, but it does not connect to Trakt. Continue playing also lists the server’s own continue-watching list, and History is kept on each device.
No subtitle downloads. Yonto Player does not fetch subtitles from the internet. Subtitles inside the video file, a subtitle file beside a video on an SMB or WebDAV share (Movie.srt or Movie.en.srt beside Movie.mkv), and on Android the subtitle files a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server keeps, are under Subtitles in the player on a TV and Audio and subtitles on a phone or tablet. One beside a video on a TV’s own storage, a USB drive or a cloud drive is not picked up yet.
Only a media server converts. A video your device cannot decode does not play unless a Jellyfin, Plex or Emby server converts it, and nothing makes a file smaller for a slow connection.

What Yonto Player does not do lists the rest.

Try both

Both can be installed on the same TV, and Yonto Player is free with one source, so you can try it on your own library before deciding.

Yonto Player provides no content. Kodi, Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Dropbox, Box, Dolby and DTS are trademarks of their owners, and Yonto Player is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.