Comparison

Holon vs Polly

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

Head to head
About

Holon

This app transforms your movement through cities into a dynamic, real-time musical score. It uses your physical location and activity to generate interactive synth music, encouraging outdoor exploration and turning listeners into performers.

Highlights
  • Human-powered music generation
  • Encourages outdoor activity
  • Zero UI for minimal distraction
  • Environmentally responsive music
  • Real-time synth music creation
  • Optional AirPods and Apple Watch integration
Features
Read full description

Holon makes the city your instrument. It turns your movement in the environment into a synthetic, interactive score that reflects your context, supports your activities and alerts you to changes in the surrounding area. Holon uses physical computing and a geospatial dataset to synthesize music on the iPhone in real time from your data - no streaming or AI involved, just pure DSP and logic. What Holon Does: * Human powered music. Every action generates dynamic, improvised synth music in real time. * Encourages outdoor activities. Holon doesn’t work in your apartment or by shaking your phone around. Move through streets, parks, and transit systems to make the music happen. * Stays out of your way. Zero UI means less screen time, no distractions. * Uses places and spaces to modify the music you make. The environment isn’t background - it’s the score. * The more and further you move, the more things happen in the music. Use your musical agency instead of skipping and swiping. Why Holon Exists:
 Music has been reduced to a commodity and a background activity for consumerism. Holon isn’t here to help you chill when you swipe, scroll and buy more stuff, or improve your focus when working for the Man. Holon is here to break away from the static, one-way relationship of streaming services and to put the human in the loop - yourself. Forget emoting celebrities with their false sincerity, throw overproduced passive soundscapes and statistical algorithms on the dung heap of history. Holon turns listeners into performers and unlocks the musical potential of places. How to Use: * Go outside - Holon needs space to function, just like you. Different districts, parks, bridges, shops, street furniture - all contribute to the musical output. Strolling around your apartment or shaking your phone won’t do. * Put the phone in your pocket or on your dashboard. * Walk, run, drive - the world is now the interface, space is the machine. * Use the big button in the middle to power Holon off when not in use - Auditory AR can be a battery-intensive process! * Optional Apple AirPods support for head-controlled musical interactions! * Optional Apple Watch support for heart rate-synced music (biofeedback) *the Watch app may take a moment to install* Requirements:
 * Available in over 1000 regions in more than 100 countries. * Check coverage or request a new area at holonic.systems/holon. * Best experienced with headphones. Ensure adequate battery level for extended use. * A data plan is required to access our geospatial engine but use of data is low. Holon: Become part of the circuit and… Become Sound™

About

Polly

Explore complex rhythms with a versatile metronome app. It offers five tracks for accents, subdivisions, polyrhythms, and hypertuplets, with options to mute tracks for customized assistance. Designed for accessibility, it supports VoiceOver and offers stereo or mono audio.

Highlights
  • Polyrhythm exploration
  • Five customizable tracks
  • Accent and subdivision support
  • VoiceOver compatibility
  • Background audio playback
  • MIDI output for DAWs
Features
Read full description

Polly is designed as a polyrhythm explorer, and also works great as a standard metronome! Use Polly's five tracks for: • Accents • Subdivisions • Polyrhythms • Hypertuplets Each track can be muted, so Polly can provide as much or as little help as you want. Polly is accessible, providing: • Voiceover support • Accessible color theme • Stereo or Mono audio Polly supports your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac with: • Background use • Light and Dark modes • Bluetooth Audio • Keyboard shortcuts • Multi-tasking support MIDI Support • Connect Polly on your iOS or iPadOS device to your computer to drive drum kits in your computer's digital audio workstation software • Use Polly on your Apple Silicon Mac to send General MIDI Percussion to your digital audio workstation drum kits • Use Polly to drive MIDI drum machines

Screenshots

Holon4 screens
Polly3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Holon at Free against Polly's $0.99. Holon also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (14 vs 2). Polly's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). On ads 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

Holon is free to download; Polly costs $0.99 up front. Holon sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Polly asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Polly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Holon has 14 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Holon's written reviews are positive against 100% of Polly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Holon ships an update every 3 months, Polly every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Holon versus Polly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHolonPolly
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.5 (14 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size144 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHolonic Systems Oy591 Group Ltd.

Customer experience

Holon

All ratings14 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral7.1%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral8.3%
Negative16.7%

Polly

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Holon

One-time2
  • Apple Watch supportFree
  • Movesense SupportFree
None

Polly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Holon free?
Holon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Polly free?
Polly costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Holon or Polly?
Polly is rated higher. Holon averages 4.5 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Polly averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Holon or Polly have ads?
Neither Holon nor Polly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Holon or Polly?
Holon ships an update every 3 months, and Polly every 9 months. Most recently, Holon was updated on October 19, 2026 and Polly on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons