FAQ

Short answers about price, requirements, formats, servers and what the app does not do.

What does it cost? A one-time purchase in the App Store, $11.99 in the US store, 12,99 € in Germany, £9.99 in the UK. No subscription, no in-app purchases.

What do I need? An Apple TV with tvOS 17 or later and an SMB 2 or 3 share on the same network with video files on it. The app itself is in English.

Is there a free trial? No. The app includes an offline demo with two sample clips so you can try the interface after buying, but the App Store does not offer trials for one-time purchases.

Which files play? MP4, MOV, MKV and AVI, depending on the codec inside. H.264, HEVC and ProRes are tested with real files; specific MKV and AVI combinations with generated clips. Details on the formats page.

Subtitles? No. There is no subtitle feature.

Does it work with Synology, QNAP, unRAID, TrueNAS, a Raspberry Pi, a Mac, a Windows PC? Anything that serves SMB 2 or 3 works. Guides exist for Synology, QNAP, Mac and Raspberry Pi.

Does it need a media server like Plex? No. It reads the files straight from the share.

Several servers? Yes. Found servers and manually added ones are saved. There is no combined library across servers; you browse each share.

Does it transcode? No. The Apple TV decodes. Files it cannot decode do not play.

Can I reach my NAS from outside my home? The app is designed for the local network. It connects to any address you enter, so a VPN into your home network may work, but this is not tested or supported.

Where are my passwords stored? In the Apple TV keychain. Nothing is sent to the developer. See the privacy policy.

Why was the app renamed? It launched as SMB Olek and became Samba Oelek with version 1.0.1. Say it out loud. Saved servers and passwords survived the rename.

How do I report a file that does not play? Use the support address on the press and contact page with the server type and, if possible, the codec details of the file.

Checked against: Samba Oelek App Store listing and README, 1.0.1. Last checked 2026-09-27.