Comparison

StarTone vs PlayingAlbums

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

StarTone

This music player allows you to rate songs with stars and love statuses directly from your device's library or audio files. It offers convenient rating options via widgets and Apple Watch, with iCloud sync for your ratings.

Highlights
  • Rate music with stars and love statuses
  • iCloud sync for ratings across devices
  • Rating support on Today Extension and Apple Watch
  • Play and rate common audio formats including Flac and MIDI
  • Embed lyrics and support for .lrc files
  • Smart playlist creation
Features
Read full description

StarTone is a music player which can play songs in your "Music" library and audio files stored in your device, including common format like mp3 and lossless format of Flac, also it support MIDI playback and support customize sound bank. StarTone was came out for rating music with stars and "love" statues. The rating bar stands out in the main page, so it just need one touch to make the rating, no need to open many submenus. In addition,  StarTone provides Today Extension and Watch app, so you can also make music ratings on the Widget Screen and your Apple Watch. StarTone now also equips some handy features to make the music listening easy and happy. Please try to play with them. Features:  1. Quickly set star and love ratings for music on your local library, Apple Music or audio file. 2. Sync music ratings with other devices or iTunes via iCloud on the go. 3. With iCloud Sync enabled, love / dislike rating are available. 4. Support rating on today extension (widget). 5. Share music ratings with family and friends. 6. Support embed lyrics, .lrc lyrics file and online lyrics. 7. Support automatically play when launch the app. 8. Support star music rating on Apple Watch. 9. Play and rate audio files of general format and Flac lossless format. 10. Support MIDI playback. 11. Smart playlist for both Music Library and audio files. 12. Play audio files on Apple Watch. 13. Scheduled music playback.

About

PlayingAlbums

This app shuffles songs within playlists by album, allowing you to listen to entire albums sequentially. It integrates with Apple Music and iTunes Match, and playlists can be shared across devices. Users can choose to use the standard Music app player or a separate mode.

Highlights
  • Shuffle songs by album
  • Integrates with Apple Music/iTunes Match
  • Cross-device playlist sharing via iCloud
  • Option to use standard Music app player
  • Separate player mode available
  • Supports multi-disc albums
Read full description

If you love music albums, you will listen to an album, then another album, then another...... All your songs or songs in the selected playlist will be shuffled by album. Songs in the selected playlist will play on devices that use iTunes Match or Apple Music, even if they are not downloaded on the device, as long as they are online. Playlists shuffled by albums can be shared with your own devices via iCloud. If you do not use either iTunes Match or Apple Music, the order of songs will be synchronized as long as playlists are synchronized between your devices. If you are a user of PlayingAlbums for macOS, you will share its settings for PlayingAlbums for iPhone. You may not want to listen to songs serially of an album with multiple discs. Disc 2 is sometimes completely different from disc 1. By default, the playing information (playback counts, etc.) will be integrated since PlayingAlbums uses the same player as the standard “Music” app. If you would not like to integrate the information, a new mode has been implemented that does not use the same player as the standard “Music” app. The application does not include any songs or other content; you must first create a playlist, either by importing from a CD or by using a subscription such as Apple Music. The screen shots shows a playlist created by subscribing to an album from Apple Music.

Screenshots

StarTone4 screens
PlayingAlbums2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: StarTone at 67% against PlayingAlbums's 0%. StarTone also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 9 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

StarTone costs $0.99 and PlayingAlbums $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StarTone ships an update every 5 weeks, PlayingAlbums every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
StarTone versus PlayingAlbums: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarTonePlayingAlbums
Price$0.99$0.99
Rating4.1 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer乃波 黄Yuki Kuroki

Customer experience

StarTone

All ratings16 ratings
Positive81.3%
Neutral6.3%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

PlayingAlbums

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

StarTone

No in-app purchases

None

PlayingAlbums

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StarTone free?
StarTone costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PlayingAlbums free?
PlayingAlbums costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do StarTone or PlayingAlbums have ads?
Neither StarTone nor PlayingAlbums shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StarTone or PlayingAlbums?
StarTone ships an update every 5 weeks, and PlayingAlbums every 9 months. Most recently, StarTone was updated on September 13, 2026 and PlayingAlbums on September 14, 2026.

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