What Yonto Player does not do

Yonto Player plays the films and series on your own Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server and in your own files, in one app with one search, and casting and every format it plays are in the free app (how it compares). This page lists what it leaves out, so you know before you rely on it.

It has no content

Apart from a demo library of open films and how-to clips, everything you watch comes from a source you add. It ships with no catalogs, it does not find anything for you, and Pro includes no content either.

It converts only through your own server

For a Jellyfin, Plex or Emby server, Yonto Player tells the server what this device can play, and the server converts a file the device cannot play as it is: a 4K or 8K file for a 1080p box, HDR tone-mapped for a screen without it, or a container the device does not take. The conversion is your own server’s work, done while you watch, and nothing passes through Yonto; whether HDR is tone-mapped is the server’s own setting (Jellyfin’s Enable tone mapping), and with it off the colours are left as they are. Emby tone-maps only with Emby Premiere and Plex only with Plex Pass; without it, an HDR file the screen cannot show plays as stored unless it needs converting anyway, such as 4K on a 1080p box, and then its colours are left as they are. A converted video carries only the file’s default audio track, and its subtitles are never burned in; a Plex conversion offers only the subtitle files beside the video. Let the server convert videos in the source’s editor is on by default, and turning it off always plays the file as stored.

Everything else plays the file as it is stored: a download, your own files and every other kind of source. What plays then depends on your device’s own decoders first: H.264 and H.265 video in MP4 is the safe choice everywhere, and a second player Yonto Player carries takes AVI, WMV, RMVB and, on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, MKV and FLV (Sources has the full list). On Android, Yonto Player decodes AC3, EAC3, DTS and TrueHD sound itself when your device cannot, but it never converts the video itself to play it; only a phone or tablet converts a picture, and only for a cast receiver that cannot play it. DTS, TrueHD and Dolby audio on Android TV says how.

So a video your device cannot decode, and no server converts, does not play, and says “This device couldn’t play this video. (code)”. Nothing makes a file smaller for a slow connection either: there is no quality setting. Where a Plex film has more than one version, each is offered, named by its resolution.

It keeps your history on the device, and your server keeps its own

For a Jellyfin, Plex or Emby server, Yonto Player reads the server’s watched marks and resume points and tells the server what you watch, unless you turn that off for the source. History is not the server’s: it stays on the device. Continue playing is the device’s own with the server’s list added when Home opens: Continue Watching from Jellyfin and Emby, On Deck from Plex. History on your TV and phone says what each device keeps.

It has no cloud account and no backup we can read

There is no Yonto Player account for your library. Your sources, History and settings stay on the device they were made on, left out of its backups and device transfers. On Free, nothing copies them to your other devices, and a new TV or phone starts empty: add your sources again, as the FAQ describes.

With Pro, Sync keeps your history, resume points, Watch list, recent searches and sources the same on every device you turn it on, and a new device that joins gets them all. What syncs is encrypted on your devices with a key only they hold, so our server keeps it without being able to read it. That also means we can’t restore it for you: lose every device without the recovery key, and the synced copy is gone.

Pro has an account page, but it holds your email address, your licence and its devices, never your sources or what you watched (Privacy policy).

It does not track you

The apps have no ads, and no analytics or crash reporting of their own (on iPhone and iPad the Cast button is Google’s software, which by its own App Store label collects diagnostics of its own: see the privacy policy).

It plays films and series, not music, photos or live TV

From Jellyfin, Plex and Emby, Yonto Player shows film and TV series libraries only, so a music or photo library does not appear, and neither does the server’s live TV. A folder, USB drive, SMB or WebDAV source lists video files only.

It downloads only a video that comes as one file, on a phone or tablet, and casts only from a phone or tablet

An Android phone or tablet, an iPhone or an iPad can download a film or an episode to watch offline with Pro, from any source whose videos come over the network, as long as the source gives the video as one file. A video that streams in pieces downloads on an Android phone or tablet, an iPhone or an iPad when it is an HLS playlist with open pieces; a DASH video, an HLS video with protected or byte-range pieces or a separate audio track, a live stream and a file in a share on a cloud drive do not download anywhere. An SMB share, a folder on the device, the Android TV app and the Mac app have no downloads: they play from their source, over the network or from the drive. The Android TV app does not cast to another screen; on an Android phone or tablet, the player’s Cast button sends the video to a Chromecast or Google TV, to an AirPlay screen that lets in anyone on your network (a Mac at its default setting refuses it), or to a TV that plays DLNA, and on iPhone and iPad, the player has one Cast button too: it opens a menu with Chromecast, for a Chromecast or Google TV, and AirPlay, for an Apple TV or an AirPlay screen.

Not yet

These are missing today:

A subtitle file beside a video is not picked up on a TV’s own storage or a USB drive, or on a cloud drive; from an SMB or WebDAV share, a folder on a phone or tablet, or a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, it is, under Subtitles in the player.
When a video you opened from Folders ends, the next one in the folder does not start by itself; in the library, the next episode does.
Episodes in your own files get no titles, pictures or descriptions of their own: neither an episode’s picture and .nfo beside it nor the online lookup, which fills in films and series, is read for them yet.

Play video files from a NAS or USB drive on Android TV says how the library and folders work today.

It is not free for every source

Free is the whole player with one source of your own. More sources, installing plugins, downloads to watch offline and Sync need Pro, which is one payment, not a subscription.

Is something missing that you need? Request a feature, or write to support@yonto.app.

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