Holon vs plugdata
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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™
plugdata
This app provides a visual programming environment for audio experimentation, prototyping, and education. It allows users to create and run audio patches on their mobile devices, enabling creative sound design on the go.
- Visual programming environment
- Audio experimentation
- Prototyping
- Educational tool
- Standalone application
- Audio plugins
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plugdata is visual programming environment for audio experimentation, prototyping and education. With plugdata for iOS, you can bring your plugdata patches with you everywhere you go. This app ships with a standalone application and audio plugins.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: plugdata at none against Holon's 2. Holon's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 67%). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Holon sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. plugdata asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Holon against 4.4 for plugdata. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 17 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of Holon's written reviews are positive against 67% of plugdata's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on August 5, 2026 and July 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Holon | plugdata |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (14 ratings) — better | 4.4 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 | 17 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 144 MB | 147 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Holonic Systems Oy | Timothy Schoen |
Customer experience
Holon
plugdata
In-app purchases
Holon
- Apple Watch supportFree
- Movesense SupportFree
plugdata
No in-app purchases









