Comparison

BlueNote2 vs Year One

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

Head to head
About

BlueNote2

This music app allows users to create sounds and chords by tapping on a visual representation of frequencies. It offers a unique way to explore musical intervals and scales with a simple, intuitive interface.

Highlights
  • Visual frequency expression
  • Tap to sound creation
  • Explore musical intervals
  • Major and minor chord generation
  • Simple sign wave timbre
Features
Read full description

BlueNote 2 is an instrument for the iPhone, born of the desire to listen to the sound between minor and major. The frequency of the chord is expressed visually. Tap two or more sounds, but the interval of the pressed point and the frequency of the sound are inversely proportional, so you can sound like the interval you pressed as the string of a string instrument. By the way, the timbre is a perfect sign wave. As everyone's reviews increase, we are going to make it evolve, so we appreciate your kind appreciation. *** How to use *** 1, tapping a certain place and tapping another place sounds. 2, It is not strict "C","D","E", but you can feel the scale by pushing the circumference from the outside in order. In the state of tapped 3 and 2 places the circle of the figure Tap on the intersection, a beautiful chord It will ring. The intersection of green and blue is major (major), red The intersection of blue and blue is minor. 4, tap the M mark on the top and tap two places in the figure, you will hear a major (big) sound. By the way, in the major code, the ratio of the sides of the triangle is 10: 12: 15

About

Year One

Experience music in a new dimension with augmented reality. Move around your space to uncover hidden sounds, build melodies, and create unique listening experiences by interacting with spatial audio arrangements.

Highlights
  • Spatial album listening
  • Augmented reality soundscapes
  • Interactive music exploration
  • Build melodies and chords
  • Dynamic audio effects
  • Create unique listening experiences
Read full description

Hear different lyrics in the corners of your room; build melodies as you walk around your couch; hear hidden parts and build your own chords just by walking through the space around you. Year One is the first spatial album, utilizing the possibilities of augmented reality technology, by D.C. group and label TCW. Upon launching the Year One app, the different sounds and instruments of the songs will populate and begin moving through the space around you. Your movement, tracked by your smartphone, will affect which sounds you hear and change how individual effects are applied to them, making for a different listening experience each time. This final release of the album contains all eight spatial arrangements from TCW, Wall of Trophies, and N.E. Hertzberg. TCW has released a how-to guide for any musician to build their own similar app independently. Alongside the guide, TCW has begun cataloging spatial composition techniques for other musicians to use and contribute to. This guide and techniques can all be found on tcwav.com. TCW released their first spatial album, Inauguration, in early 2017 using smartphone GPS positional tracking, and released a similar guide for building spatial applications. Contact the group at tcw@tcwav.com Headphones required for proper audio spatialization.

Screenshots

BlueNote22 screens
Year One4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Year One at 4.3 against BlueNote2's 3.7. BlueNote2's advantage is review sentiment (33% vs 0%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Year One holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 33% of BlueNote2's written reviews are positive against 0% of Year One's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BlueNote2 ships an update every 12 months, Year One every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
BlueNote2 versus Year One: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlueNote2Year One
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (3 ratings)4.3 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings33
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 7 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB407 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYaneurabeyaTCW

Customer experience

BlueNote2

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Year One

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

BlueNote2

No in-app purchases

None

Year One

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BlueNote2 free?
BlueNote2 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Year One free?
Year One is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, BlueNote2 or Year One?
Year One is rated higher. BlueNote2 averages 3.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Year One averages 4.3 from 3 ratings.
Do BlueNote2 or Year One have ads?
Neither BlueNote2 nor Year One shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BlueNote2 or Year One?
BlueNote2 ships an update every 12 months, and Year One every 7 months. Most recently, BlueNote2 was updated on October 9, 2026 and Year One on October 5, 2026.

Other comparisons