Documentation

ApexPlayer plays media from a server you run. Before you start, make sure your ApexFeeder, Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server is switched on and reachable from the same network as your device.

1. 1 Open ApexPlayer and go to Settings → Servers → Add Server.
2. 2 Wait a moment while ApexPlayer scans the network. Servers that answer appear in the list, labelled by type.
3. 3 Pick your server. If it did not appear, choose to enter an address manually and type the server URL.
4. 4 Sign in. Each server type has its own flow — see the table below.
5. 5 Your library syncs and you land on Home.

ApexFeeder is our own media server, and it is free. It works differently from Plex, Jellyfin and Emby: rather than asking you to build and curate a library, it serves connected folders. You tell it where your media is — including cloud storage — and it does the rest.

It is optional. ApexPlayer works exactly the same against Plex, Jellyfin or Emby, and you can run ApexFeeder alongside them. Full setup and configuration is documented on ApexFeeder's own pages; what follows is what matters from the player's side.

Connected folders

A folder on the machine ApexFeeder runs on — an internal drive, an external one, a mounted network share.

Connected cloud accounts

Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive. Link the account and ApexFeeder reads what is in it; your files stay where they are.

One merged library

Local and cloud sources are combined into a single catalogue. ApexPlayer sees one library, not a source per provider.

Metadata and artwork

ApexFeeder scrapes posters, backdrops, descriptions, cast and episode data for everything it finds, and holds it all in one place.

Identification works off your filenames, and the parser handles the conventions people actually use — plain titles, titles with a year, scene release names, Season folders and SxxExx numbering:

Movies/
    Pulp Fiction (1994).mkv
    The.Matrix.1999.1080p.BluRay.x264-GROUP.mkv

TV/
    The Wire/
        Season 01/
            S01E03.mkv

• Titles are looked up on TMDB, which is where the posters and descriptions come from.
• When ApexFeeder is unsure — two films share a title, or a year does not line up — the file lands in a Review tab with its best guess, and confirming is one click.
• A confirmed match is locked and no later scan second-guesses it, even if you rename the file.
• Nothing is ever written to your media folders.

• Pairing is approved locally. The app shows a four-digit code that has to be approved in ApexFeeder's own admin UI, on the machine ApexFeeder is running on. It cannot be approved remotely.
• It is discovered like everything else — a broadcast on port 27359, no Bonjour required.
• There is no ApexFeeder account. The only cloud accounts involved are the storage providers you choose to connect.

ApexPlayer keeps a local cache of your library so browsing is instant rather than a request per screen. The cache refreshes when the app syncs with your server. The library grid, shelves and detail screens are native UIKit, which is why focus and scrolling stay responsive on a large library.

Sort order

Recently Added, Alphabetical, or Release Date. Settings → General → Library Sort Order.

Filters

The sidebar filters narrow the grid to a library, genre or collection without leaving the screen.

Favorites and watched

Both write straight back to your server, so the state matches everywhere else you watch.

Detail layout

Modern is a collapsing cinematic hero, Minimal strips it back, and Premium keeps a fixed hero with cast and related shelves scrolling below. Settings → General → Content Detail.

Every playback request tells your server what this specific device can handle. When the server can send the file as-is, it does — that is direct play. When it cannot, it transcodes. Getting the device profile right is what keeps you on the fast path.

Detected automatically

Hardware HEVC and AV1 decode, the maximum channel count of your current audio route, and Dolby Vision / HDR10 output eligibility.

Advanced overrides

Settings → Playback → Advanced forces any of those on or off, for when a TV or receiver misreports what it supports.

Bitrate cap

Also under Advanced. Set a ceiling in Mbps for constrained connections; unlimited by default.

Scrub previews

Hold the scrub bar for a thumbnail of the frame you are heading to. Uses Jellyfin trickplay data; titles without it scrub normally.

Autoplay next episode

On by default, and it only fires when an episode reaches its real end — pausing never triggers it.

ApexPlayer renders text subtitles itself instead of handing them to the system player. That is what makes the timing adjustable — and it is why the appearance settings exist at all.

Preferred language

Settings → Playback → Subtitle Language picks a track automatically when one matches. Forced-only is a separate switch.

Sync tool

In the player drawer. The video keeps playing while you shift the track: 0.1-second fine steps, 1-second jumps. Save keeps the offset, Cancel puts it back.

Find Subtitles

Searches OpenSubtitles for what you are watching and loads a track into the current session. No setup needed; sign in for your own download quota.

Appearance (Pro)

Text size, color, background style and screen position. Subtitles themselves work identically without Pro.

General

Appearance (Default, Light, Dark), background style, content detail layout, library sort order, and iCloud sync — on by default.

Playback

Audio, subtitle and metadata language, forced subtitles, autoplay next episode, subtitle appearance, OpenSubtitles sign-in, and the Advanced device-profile overrides.

Servers

Add, edit, re-authenticate or remove servers, and add one manually by address. Every server listed here is live at once; removing one takes its titles out of the merged library and leaves the rest untouched.

Storage & Data

Cache management, plus Share Diagnostics & Crash Reports — off unless you turn it on, and on-device even then.

ApexPlayer Pro

Purchase, restore, and what the unlock covers.

About & Support

Version, feedback, and links out.

ApexPlayer Pro is a one-time purchase of $9.99, not a subscription, and it covers your family through Family Sharing. The free version is a real, working player — the limit is how much of your library it caches, not what it can do.

ApexPlayer has no backend, no account system and no analytics. Server credentials live in your device Keychain. Settings sync through your own iCloud account. Diagnostics are off by default and stay on the device when enabled. The only outbound connections are to your own servers, to plex.tv when you sign in to Plex, and to OpenSubtitles when you search for subtitles.