Infuse • Video Player Reviews

by YowillH

Worked fairly well for about 3 days. Then started shuddering and stumbling. Pausing a video caused InfuseVideoPlayer to quit . I uninstalled InfuseVideoPlayer and reinstalled it and now it just doesn’t work. Can find the videos but just cannot play them. “There was a problem playing videos” is the only message i get. Just doesn’t work. I store my videos on an external hard drive and plays fine using PLEX and I movie on my MacBook. Was hoping to find something to play movies on my new iPad Air. It appears the developer has much work to do in order to make this a useable product. I have many apps that i have used over the years in order to play music and movies. This is by far the most frustrating program i have ever used. I use a wired network and wireless. So it is not a problem with the network. I would not recommend this product to anyone.

by Delta Echo 5

Used to be bullet proof. Now iOS app works, then with the next update of InfuseVideoPlayer , breaks...wish I could go back two years ago, nothing since that release has Improved performance or ability. AppleTV app is worse with every update. Looking at alternative players...I'll give up what they call "functionality" to get back reliability. -Metadata wipes with every update...2021 data overwrites 1998 data for a movie. -Spinning wheel occurs more often...like it's rebuilding library data with every access. -Breaks on continuous play when it didn't before. Like all good things, this looks like it's coming to an end. Surely they will start with ads soon to justify all the work they don't need to be doing. Leave it alone, it used to work. Update: latest update now plays video .mp4 choppy...used to work fine.

by JoJo Pineau

I purchased InfuseVideoPlayer.. 1 many two years ago not paying attention to the fact that i would be charged a yearly fee. I bought it because of the reviews. In all this time it has never, ever worked at picking up my smb network when all other file managers and players I have tried pick up the network immediately. On InfuseVideoPlayer, the circle just sits there spinning and spinning. I just forgot about it hoping it would be fixed and I could see what was the hype? Then I find out I didn't make a one time purchase....not happy.

I have since cancelled my subscription and hope that it went through. The only thing keeping me from uninstall is to occasionally check my status. I don't ask for a refund (that would be nice) but having some use out of it for all the time and money I wasted would have been nice too. It looks like a nice app and I don't see how others are having success with the SMB connections. Just not me. Nplayer is my go to media player because it always connects and never fails. To the authors... Please make sure you cancel me immediately.

by Trevorflynn

I absolutely love InfuseVideoPlayer! Using shared folder from external hard drive on my iMac. InfuseVideoPlayer on Apple TV 4K gen4 running tvOS 13.2 works flawlessly. InfuseVideoPlayer on my iPhone 10 XS Max running iOS 13.2.3, not so much. I was having to restart my phone every time I used InfuseVideoPlayer just to get it to load a movie. Thought that maybe the latest iOS update broke it cause it was working fine till then. Saw that there was an update for infuse and thought it might address this. Updated and now when trying to watch anything on the iPhone app it starts to play for a few seconds and then gives a never ending spinner. I have tried restarting the iPhone and have deleted app and reinstalled to no avail. The latest update made the iPhone app completely useless. I would love to give this 5 stars but...

Please fix this and I will change my rating.

by Bauhsoj

I use an iPad Pro 99% of the time.

I download videos from various sources but they’re rarely ever major films or tv shows. I’d really like the ability to edit metadata myself so I can clean up my library. While there’s a button that says “edit metadata”, all it really is is a search field for check a database. If your file isn’t on there, well, you get to have crappy cover art and crappy filenames. I thought that with the addition of Files app support I could use the method for metadata that they recommend on their website, but that doesn’t work on an iPad for some reason. I really don’t see why it’s so difficult to allow me to edit all the data for the file including the cover art on my iPad Pro. Seems really silly. I paid for a subscription for 2 years now thinking they’re add it, but nope. Still looking at a messy library on my iPad.

As a player, I love it. Probably the best I’ve used. I’m just sick of waiting for a feature that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be added.

by Jamanjeval

Before saying anything about what the software doesn’t do, this software does what it does very well. If all your media is handbrake rips into single file, single stream video files, then infuse is just about perfect.

However, all my media is from optical disks that I have copied to a networked server. The problem I have is that menus are not supported. The player tries to guess what is the main title and if the disk has several titles on it, say episodes or two features, they’re not easily accessible. Mrmc does blu-ray/dvd menus, so it’s not a technical/legal limitation of the software/apple.

Secondly, the player does not recognize multiple episodes in file names, ie s1e1e2e3. Although this makes some sense since the player expects only one title per media file.

Thirdly, I’ve had some issues with smb shares. They are sometimes accessible in infuse on the iPad but not on the Apple TV. Then, maybe the Apple TV can see them. All my devices are on the same network and the settings are the same (sync using iCloud included with the infuse pro subscription) infuse simply gives an error without any useful information as to what happened.

by Iriyatesse

**update** I recently discovered while playing some files from my iPhone to TV the audio slowly gets out of sync. Stopping the video and starting again resets it but it will slowly go out of sync again. I moved the problem files to VLC and it played them with no issues so it’s definitely an in app issue. Love InfuseVideoPlayer. Love the look the layout and the features. Especially the PiP support. Getting a large video library setup is a pain tho. And some metadata wasn’t updating properly. Some missing cover art as well. One complaint is I hate needing to pay a monthly subscription. Give me a one time purchase and InfuseVideoPlayer would be perfect. Additionally you’d better hope you don’t need to contact customer service. I sent them an email about the audio sync issues and it took nearly a month for them to reply. And it was basically a canned response saying I should update InfuseVideoPlayer and my iOS. Completely unhelpful 🙄

by Brad D.

Here is the thing. Infuse is a good media manager app. It is nowhere near as good as Plex for media management, but its fine. It’s costs too much if you are using this simply to manage media or performing playback on an iPhone or iPad and the nature of the fact that is direct plays everything means its not really good outside of a WiFi connected device.

What makes InfuseVideoPlayer great is its playback capabilities, especially on an Apple TV 4K. For playing back video, particularly high resolution video with advanced audio codex, there is no equal. The quality of the video is superb. The quality of the audio is superb. The fact that it will down convert 4K to 1080p AND do HDR to SDR tone mapping is unique only to Infuse. (To my knowledge.)

If you have a ATV4k and watch a lot of high quality content 4K HDR or otherwise and especially if you have a 4K TV, buy Infuse. Don’t bother with anything else. Just pay the money and be done with it.

by R4y_B

Love InfuseVideoPlayer ! I purchased Lifetime and use Infuse on everything…ATVs, iPad, iPhone and Mac. It’s definitely one of the flyest apps I’ve ever used. I’d like to request some features for better management of media type “Other”: Please allow users to create Collections of Other media. Please let users add searchable #tags to media, this would be so amazing. Please enable the greyed-out Select button, giving users the ability to multi-select Other media and add to playlists, collections, apply tags, etc. Thanks for all the finesse you’ve put into InfuseVideoPlayer, it really shows!

by Du_Voir

I will start by saying I wasn’t to thrilled about the subscription to enable certain features in InfuseVideoPlayer . I like to pay once and be done, plus I have tons of other subscriptions and now I have another. However, I must admit once I really dove into InfuseVideoPlayer and saw everything it can do I feeling like InfuseVideoPlayer will be worth every cent every time I pay the renewal. The user interface is THE BEST I have ever seen. The metadata fetch is 97% spot on. Please ad a way to rename embedded metadata. The way it groups the tv show episodes under one cover and numbers each episode is simply amazing. I just wish InfuseVideoPlayer had a built in web browser so I can access my sites to download files.

I can’t get the TV app version to work with the iPad app. It would be nice to just quickly access my content through there instead of the iPad. Not sure what the issue is at this time.

by America's App Advisor

I've owned this for quite some time and (after trying so many others) I’ve decided InfuseVideoPlayer really has no competitors. I hope this helps explain exactly why I love InfuseVideoPlayer and why I purchased Infuse Pro.

Infuse is my 'go to' for viewing video files. I don't know exactly HOW it all works, but it really does work!!

I use iCloud, Files, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive, my PC and an Über-TB Separate Hard Drive For Media Storage. I haven’t found A SINGLE THING I CANT ACCESS!

As for the player itself? BAM!! This is IT!!

The video display? OMG, it’s simply amazing! It's almost like the retina screen on my iPhone somehow doubled the number of micro-pixels. I dare you to compare the video quality of Infuse with any other media player.

The audio is also amazing because Infuse offers the ability to give the audio a boost! Choose to increase your gain anywhere from 100% all the way up to 400%. This feature alone has turned what could've been a poor viewing experience into pure enjoyment!

Highest Recommendation!!

by Supergrrover

This is the best player I have ever tried and I’ve tried a ton (and keep evaluating new ones as they come out.) I’ve been using Infuse since it came out and always come back to it as my main choice. The Pro will play absolutely everything and flawlessly.

The bad - I’ve been burned buying the previous pro stand alone version all of which have fallen by the wayside and left to rot. I am not a subscription fan. I understand innovation takes money and backing and I’ve sucked it up and do the subscription now. The added features have been awesome so I deal with it. (Although a bit cheaper would be nicer.)

What I would like added is having a library/share with dual addresses - with one public and one private address for the same share so I don’t double up my posters and metadata for my NAS at home that I can access via a public IP on the road.

All that being said, this is still the best player on the market and that warrants some props and some cash. Again, based on performance and features, you will not find one better.

by Maladii

First off, I love InfuseVideoPlayer and have been using it for forever. It’s my favorite media player by far. So thanks for the years of great product y’all.

That said, I use PiP more than I thought I would but it doesn’t work very well. You can’t skip back and forward like you can with other apps’ PiP, it crashes a lot, and sometimes the button to initiate PiP mode just disappears on me and I have to force quit InfuseVideoPlayer multiple times to get it back. Also, other apps don’t even make you press a button, it just turns into PiP when you change windows.

Infuse has the best video controls of any video viewer by far. I often mention it as an example of excellent UX—I don’t understand why everyone hasn’t ripped you guys off. Netflix added the brightness slider recently, but y’all’s is still better. I just wish that same level of dedication were applied to this feature.

by Lhshepherd19

There a few little tiny UI details I wish were part of Infuse.
- When searching for metadata, there is no indication that a search is taking place until it shows the results.
- The ability to change the “sort by” option on the fly versus having to go into the main menu settings would be nice.
- On the iOS and iPadOS apps, the four soft buttons at the bottom aren’t very intuitive. Example: the magnifying glass makes me thing I’m searching my entire library, when in fact it’s the granular view of my library, with a search option. The file icon makes me think I’m going to my library, but I’m actually looking at the files I’ve pulled down locally on my device.
- I wish the main library page (left-most icon) would show the “Collections” or “Genres”. Better yet, make the page customizable.

All in all, I love InfuseVideoPlayer. I love the seamlessness when airplaying. I love the Apple TV app. I love the performance. I love the price. I love the GUI. I love how much it is modeled after the native Apple apps, yet still it’s own thing. Half the price of Plex lifetime, and just as good!

by Mediawolf

I always loved their user interface but it was only recently that they added my must-have feature: playback speed control. I consume a lot of educational content and it’s to where I don’t even have the patience to listen at “normal” speed. It’s too slow. So I’ve been stuck using another app.

Not anymore though. This immediately became my one and only video app. So many different options for how to get content into InfuseVideoPlayer . Very well designed.

And unlike a lot of apps that become buggy when you try to play back at higher speeds (looking at YOU VLC and every other app that uses the native iOS video engine for this, because that itself is buggy), the playback here is rock solid.

by TexasBear

We live in a rural area with metered data usage and streaming video takes a toll. I started a private download collection of movie files, shared from my computer, and was looking for a way to watch them on my Apple TV or iPad. Infuse to the rescue! Infuse automatically downloads movie thumbnails, cast, and description data based on the file name. Since I downloaded the movie files one time (most from an unmetered connection), they stream to my device without using internet data. Works even if my internet is down, and you can sync video files to your device to watch from hotels or on the go! Works with SMB sharing from Windows/Mac, or from a home media NAS, which I recently purchased so it would be more like an always-on appliance.

by Arkain33

Hands down the best media player on iOS, play pretty much any formats without any hiccups whatsoever! If you have server (ftp/smb) with all your media collections then infuse is the one for you. This is better client than Plex because InfuseVideoPlayer will direct play anything without transcoding it first.

My only problem with InfuseVideoPlayer is the paying system, if you paid the pro version then you will not receive anymore update once the new pro version is release. But if you paid for subscription you’ll get update for future update including the new pro version. why can i just paid one time and get update forever? i’m planning to buy this but after looking at the paying system, i changed my mind. i’ll wait for infuse pro 6. and please include music player (mp3, flac, alac, and aac) and macOS app on the new pro version.

by Dwenson

I was struggling to find the video player that can smoothly run 4K on my Apple TV 4K. I tried several free or cheaper video player but have no luck playing 4k video file smoothly from my NAS. I tried VLC, ABC, PlayerXtreme, FE but all of these failed at high-bitrate 4K videos(mkv). I thought it was my wifi speed at first but even on wired network I was still unsuccessful. That is until I decided to try this player. I benchmark this player with the same file I used on other media player and this able to run the video smoothly and in sync with the sound.
Also, it automatically download media arts for the files.
I do not usually review applications so this is a big deal for me to spend time spreading the word.
Consolation is when you buy lifetime license for InfuseVideoPlayer you also get the iOS version for free. I am not sure of they got a OSX app included as well?

by Ae.Katsumi

InfuseVideoPlayer is almost everything you could want for an iOS based device video player. It gives you a nice “streaming service” style interface with excellent metadata lookup capabilities. On mobile devices it features a pop-out player so you can watch while doing other things, and file download to play videos later. I love it. Totally worth what they ask for a lifetime license, and reasonable subscription license costs. One feature I wish they would add is the ability to update the actual file’s metadata (if the container type supports tags) for a show, season, or individual video. If you needed to reload your library or moved things it would make getting your metadata loaded much faster. Also, I just like having things complete. Maybe there is a way to do this and I haven’t found it yet.

by MRKP89

I was using two apps: ExtremePlayer (another 5-star iOS app) and AirParrot (a Windows app). The former I used to stream movies from my laptop to my iPhone. The latter I used to mirror movies from my laptop to my Apple TV.

I came across Infuse by accident and it streamlined those two apps for me while exceeding performance. ExtremePlayer was having a hard time streaming large mkv files (>10gb) to my phone while Infuse has no problem. Subtitles are displayed more clearly too.

It’s the syndication with Apple TV that blows my mind. InfuseVideoPlayer looks polish and delivers a user experience similar to watching Netflix or Prime or any other streaming apps. All while streaming my own media files. Adding a folder on my laptop was so easy it’s incredible. InfuseVideoPlayer even has an option to pull in metadata automatically by file name or manually if the file name is funky. Now my movies are displayed with thumbnails, summary, and all other info like in a paid streaming app.

Just incredible for 99c/month or less for annual or lifetime subscription. Must have if you download movies and are in the Apple ecosystem ie having Apple TV/iPhone etc

by Otterman

So this company breaks Infuse 4 in iOS 11 and/or on the iPhone X - I have to assume they broke it intentionally because my other media players still work fine - then withdraws it, and the update I was notified about, from InfuseVideoPlayer Store, likely with the expectation that us lemmings will just pay up for pro features again in v5.

Not only is that not happening, but I’m deleting Refuse... uh, Infuse 4 and 5 and never looking at Firecore apps again. Building goodwill... you’re doing it wrong!

These developers that are now charging large fees in lieu of subscriptions think we don’t realize that the lifespan of these apps is only a few years, at most. So effectively we’re still paying subscriptions, assuming we keep buying the new versions. But with these slimy buggers I’m calling it one and done.

by Threeclaws

I love InfuseVideoPlayer and have it on my atv, it works well and 8s relatively trouble free.

Every few weeks InfuseVideoPlayer tells me I have upgrade to pro and locks me out, which would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that I already purchased the yearly service. The issue is my wife bought it on her account and the atv is connected to my account. So every few weeks I have to log into my wife’s account on the atv, open infuse, go back and log out of the wife’s account and then log back into mine.

This is a hassle and it’s an unnecessary one. What I don’t get is why don’t you link the authentication to trakt? Then it wouldn’t matter what account the device was logged into since I would be logged in through trakt. Or figure something else out.

by Consumerq

Infuse is the best alternative to iTunes Home Sharing. I've had a USB drive full of media connected to an Airport Express Basestation since IFPro arrived for the aTV. Populating the thousand files can be a little pokey in the beginning, but it's better than keeping a computer running all day (for iTunes or Plex).

Major downer for me is the limited metadata support. InfuseVideoPlayer defaults to - in a strong armed manner - pulling metadata information from the web. I prefer to use my own meticulously cultivated embedded metadata. Unfortunately, Infuse only recognizes a limited amount of this embedded information.

InfuseVideoPlayer does a good job with fetching, but it a) isn't always the best information, b) doesn't work with home movies, c) slows things down, and d) will use up some precious aTV/iDevice hard drive space.

I suspect the metadata fetching feature is really geared to people acquiring movies from less-than-legitimate sources.

All in all, I've been happy with what the developer has been able to do with InfuseVideoPlayer , but metadata handling is not quite there.

by Shagstah

First the good - point it to your multimedia directory and let it do its thing. It will find most everything and get the Metadata automatically. Streams with ease, downloads with ease.

The bad - the UI is terrible. Setting it up on your kids iPad you can only stop them from playing R rated movies, but you can’t stop them from seeing them. No easy way to mark a bunch of episodes as watched, no easy way to jump to a movie in the movies list. On and on the UI is irritating at best.

If Infuse had the UI and UX of Plex, it would be the best. If Plex had the file management and streaming and downloading of Infuse, it would be the best. Unfortunately, they don’t so they are both half useful.

by J.S.B.C

I am new to iPad with an iPad Air 3rd generation running iPadOS and I love it! However, I think the the default video player in the files app in iPadOS is lacking and limited. So, I have gone through many video players lately trying to find the best replacement. I have found that with infuse! It has all the features I need: iPadOS 13 dark mode support, folder sorting and local file system support, touchID locking support, good touch gestures for play/pause, and a nice modern UI all in the free version. And you can get more features in pro version!

by Blkshadow97

I was so skeptical about this software when I first purchased it, but reading what it offered, I immediately purchased the lifetime subscription option. What is the single most important thing to me is they continue to improve it. They add features, pretty regularly and stability improvements as well. I love it! I have four Apple TV’s, and two 10 terabyte media servers and it is the best thing for it. I cannot be without this software ever!

I check for updates like a religion! Keep ‘em coming. Love what they do!