Submitted by Frank Macey on
Now that the VideoLAN organization has resolved its licensing issues, development of VLC for iOS is in full swing. Arguably the most versatile free media player available, the VLC for Mobile iOS app received major updates this month. Notable changes include full iOS 9 support and a rewritten Apple Watch extension for watchOS 2.
The list goes on, with SMB file sharing support, Touch ID integration, and iOS 9 Split View mode making the cut. For anyone not familiar, VLC will automatically play most media files directly without conversion. This vastly simplifies the playback of almost all formats, even rare or older files making VLC a one-stop shop for viewing media of all types.
VLC supports streaming from SMB, FTP, UPnP/DLNA media servers and directly from web pages. The iOS app is also capable of synchronizing files with Box, Dropbox, GDrive, iCloud Drive, iTunes, OneDrive, Wi-Fi sharing and via direct downloads. The icing on the cake is full SSA compatibility, multi-track audio, and built-in playback speed controls. Version 2.7.1 added stability improvements and bug fixes, including better uPnP reliability with Kodi.
VLC for Mobile is free and open source, requiring iOS 7.0 or later and 54.2 MB of storage space to install. See a full list of VLC for iOS features at VideoLAN.