Tonic vs Bluetooth Midi Pads
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tonic
This app uses augmented reality to display over 130 chords directly on your piano. It guides you on finger placement, making it easier to learn and play chords, especially for those who don't read traditional sheet music. Ideal for musicians of all levels.
- Augmented reality chord display
- Over 130 chords
- Finger placement guidance
- Flat/sharp display modes
- Works with various piano sizes
- 3 octave options
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Tonic is the world's first AR chord dictionary. Chords are amazing. But for musicians who aren't jazz aficionados, finding a chord from a lead sheet is often frustrating and time consuming. And for the many talented musicians who don't read sheet music, chord dictionaries with music notation don't make things any easier. Tonic is the solution. Using AR, Tonic lets you easily view over 130 chords on your own piano. It tells you exactly where to place your fingers to play almost any chord. Great for students, professionals, or anyone interested in music. Features: - Over 130 chords with music notation - Flat/sharp display modes - Works with 88, 76, 61, 49, and 25 key pianos - 3 octaves to choose from - An adorable app icon
Bluetooth Midi Pads
Transform your iOS device into a wireless MIDI controller. Play your favorite DAWs and instruments on iOS, iPadOS, and desktop using Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI. Features a 16-pad matrix with selectable octaves.
- Wireless MIDI controller
- 16-pad matrix
- Selectable octave
- Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI
- iOS and iPadOS support
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Bluetooth Midi Pads turns your iOS and iPadOS devices in a wireless Midi pads controller. Play your favourites iOS, iPadOS and desktop Bluetooth LE Midi DAWs and instruments from your iPhone and iPad. -16 pads matrix. -Selectable octave. -Bluetooth Low Energy Midi. How does it works: Push connect button and in the opened view turn on the switch button. This will make your device discoverable by your Bluetooth MIDI Host, connect it from it and you will can play your MIDI Host from B.M.P.. If your MIDI Host don't support Bluetooth MIDI there are some free apps on the market that creates virtual Bluetooth Midi Ports. Demo video on developer's page.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Tonic at weekly against Bluetooth Midi Pads's every 66 months. Tonic also leads on ratings volume (204 vs 3) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 18.6). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.0 for Tonic against 4.0 for Bluetooth Midi Pads. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tonic has 204 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Tonic ships an update weekly, Bluetooth Midi Pads every 66 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tonic | Bluetooth Midi Pads |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (204 ratings) — better | 4.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 38.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 204 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 66 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Coda Labs Incorporated | pablo lopez |
Customer experience
Tonic
Bluetooth Midi Pads
Bugs and requests
Tonic
Reported bugs
26 issues- Calibration doesn't work
- Dots move perpendicular to what they should
- App thinks piano is rotated 90 degrees
- App won't pick up the piano
- Keys never show
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- Dots overlap and don't align for each key
- Dots slide around after calibration
- Target for placing a dot can become permanently rotated
- Second marker/target never appears
- Blue circle pops up floating around
- Target doesn't pop up for alignment
- Notes don't align perfectly
- G# is completely off
- Diminished triads and augmented triads switched in notation
- Highest key not detected
- Second target won't appear on screen
- Dots are not centered on the keys correctly
- Doesn't detect highest key on 61 key pianos
- First target aligns perfectly but second target doesn't show up
- Second dot will not appear during alignment
- No second target to align
- Can't calibrate, second target doesn't appear
- Calibration dot gets stuck in one place
- Second target doesn't appear for alignment
- Hard to calibrate properly
- AR is not perfect
Requested features
10 requests- Fix calibration tool
- Make YouTube video with instructions
- Add more chords (9ths, 11ths, 13ths, jazz chords)
- Add chord inversions
- Support for smaller keyboards
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- Display all key names
- Add basic music playing/ar tutorial
- Specify number of keys for unconventional keyboards
- Auto-calibrate by detecting keyboard
- Allow searching all chords and inversions
Bluetooth Midi Pads
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tonic
No in-app purchases
Bluetooth Midi Pads
No in-app purchases
