Press kit

Everything for writing about TapeBox, and the pictures to go with it. Copy what you like; nothing here needs permission.

Coming soon to tvOS, iOS, iPadOS and macOS

In a few words

What TapeBox is.

Three lengths of the same description. The short one fits a listing; the long one is a paragraph for an article.

One sentence

TapeBox turns the films and series on a family’s own Jellyfin or Plex server into a calm shelf children can use by themselves, on Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Mac, with an age limit and screen time for each screen.

50 words

TapeBox is a children’s player for the family’s own Jellyfin or Plex media server, for Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Mac. One calm screen of big posters, no search, trailers or suggestions. Grown-ups set an age limit, a daily limit and a bedtime for each screen, from the screen or from their phone.

100 words

TapeBox is a player for a family’s own Jellyfin or Plex media server, made so that a five-year-old can manage it alone. Children get one calm screen of big posters with Keep watching at the top: no search, no trailers, no adverts and nothing that plays by itself. Grown-ups decide, room by room, which libraries each screen shows, the highest age rating it plays, how long it plays each day and when bedtime is, from the screen itself or from an iPhone anywhere in the house. There is no TapeBox account, no analytics and no tracking: the family’s settings live in their own iCloud. Free for a month, then a one-time purchase of £9.99 for the whole Apple family.

The facts

Names, numbers and dates.

Name
TapeBox, one word, capital T and capital B.
What it is
A children’s player for Jellyfin and Plex media servers. It doesn’t come with any films or series, and it isn’t a streaming service.
Devices
Apple TV (tvOS 18 or later), iPhone and iPad (iOS and iPadOS 18 or later), Mac (macOS 15 or later). One app, one purchase.
Servers
Jellyfin (any recent version; pictures while scrubbing need Trickplay turned on) and Plex.
Price
Free for a month, then a one-time purchase of £9.99, shared through Family Sharing. No subscription. Local App Store prices elsewhere.
Availability
Submitted to the App Store on 4 November 2026. The waitlist on the home page gets one email on the day it’s out.
Privacy
No account, no analytics, no tracking, no server of its own. App Store privacy label: Data Not Collected. Settings and children’s ratings are kept in the family’s own iCloud.
Made by
DB Five Ltd, a one-person company in the UK (Companies House 17480861), which also makes Kettle, a live train-times app.
Website
tapebox.tv, with every feature by device and the version history.

The story

Why it exists.

A box of video tapes was a good interface for a child. Every film in it was one the family had chosen, the pictures on the spines were big, and when the tape ended, it ended. Streaming apps are built to do the opposite: to keep a child watching, with trailers that play by themselves and the next episode counting down.

Families who run their own media server already have the box of tapes. What they didn’t have was a way to hand it to the children. Jellyfin and Plex’s own apps are made for grown-ups, with search, settings and suggestions on every screen. TapeBox is the children’s screen on top of the server the family already has, and the grown-ups’ controls for it, including from their phones.

Pictures

Screens and the icon.

Free to use in anything about TapeBox. Open a picture for the full size. The films shown are open films by Blender Studio, © Blender Foundation (Big Buck Bunny, Sintel and Tears of Steel under CC BY 3.0; Spring, Coffee Run, Sprite Fright, Charge and Wing It! under CC BY 4.0). Blender Studio doesn’t make or endorse TapeBox.

  • TapeBox Home on an Apple TV: Keep watching, Recently added, Films, Series and Stats tiles.
    Home on Apple TVKeep watching at the top, then the shelves. Full size
  • The Films shelf on an Apple TV, big posters A to Z, each with its age rating, two of them padlocked.
    Films, A to ZEvery poster wears its age rating; above this TV’s limit, a padlock. Full size
  • A film’s page on an Apple TV: the poster, what it’s about, how long it is, and a Carry on button.
    A film’s pageWhat it’s about, how long it is, and Carry on. Full size
  • TapeBox after bedtime on an Apple TV: the shelf says it’s bedtime and nothing new starts until the morning.
    BedtimeAfter the time you choose, nothing new starts until the morning. Full size
  • Grown-ups on an iPhone: the screens in the house, what each is playing and how long it has played today.
    Every screen, on your phoneThe house’s screens, what’s playing and how long today. Full size
  • One screen’s settings on an iPhone: libraries, age limit, screen time and bedtime.
    One screen’s settingsLibraries, the age limit, screen time and bedtime, changed from the sofa. Full size
  • The TapeBox icon: a teal video-tape box with a cream label.
    The icon512 × 512 PNG. Full size
  • TapeBox on an Apple TV beside the words The box of tapes is back.
    Banner1200 × 630 JPEG, for a link preview or a header. Full size

Getting it right

A few things worth saying precisely.

  • It plays the family’s own library.

    TapeBox has no films of its own and no catalogue. It plays what’s on the family’s Jellyfin or Plex server, and nothing else.

  • It isn’t a lock on the whole TV.

    TapeBox looks after what’s inside TapeBox. Apple’s own Restrictions and Guided Access look after the rest of the device; the website explains how to set them up.

  • The age limit is per screen.

    The living-room TV can show everything while the playroom iPad stops at PG. Films above a screen’s limit are left off, or shown with a padlock a grown-up’s PIN can open once.

  • Only playing time counts.

    The daily limit counts minutes of a film playing, not time with the app open or paused. When it’s up, the film finishes, then the shelf says that’s all for today.

  • It works with Jellyfin and Plex.

    Both. Jellyfin is free, open-source software made by volunteers; TapeBox is a small paid app on top of it, and doesn’t replace Jellyfin’s own apps.

Contact

Reach the maker.

Questions, interviews and review copies all go to the one address, and the person who made TapeBox replies. If you review apps, ask for an App Store offer code: it unlocks TapeBox for good on every device in your Apple family, so you can look past the free month.

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