Comparison

Year One vs Retro Ringtone Composer

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

Head to head
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.

About

Retro Ringtone Composer

Features
Read full description

Bring back the magic of classic mobile phones and create your own retro ringtones. Retro Ringtone Composer lets you design nostalgic 8-bit melodies inspired by iconic tones from the past. Build loops, experiment with sounds, and turn your ideas into unique ringtones in seconds. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Year One4 screens
Retro Ringtone Composer2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Year One at none against Retro Ringtone Composer's 1. Year One also leads on ads (none vs shown). Retro Ringtone Composer's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Retro Ringtone Composer sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per year. Year One asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Year One ships an update every 7 months, Retro Ringtone Composer monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Year One versus Retro Ringtone Composer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterYear OneRetro Ringtone Composer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size407 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTCWKevser Erdem Alacan

In-app purchases

None

Year One

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Retro Ringtone Composer

Subscriptions1
  • Annual$2.991 Year

Questions

Is Year One free?
Year One is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Retro Ringtone Composer free?
Retro Ringtone Composer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Year One or Retro Ringtone Composer have ads?
Retro Ringtone Composer shows ads; Year One does not.
Which is updated more often, Year One or Retro Ringtone Composer?
Year One ships an update every 7 months, and Retro Ringtone Composer monthly. Most recently, Year One was updated on November 1, 2026 and Retro Ringtone Composer on October 31, 2026.

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