Comparison

Backpack Studio vs LitPads

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

Head to head
About

Backpack Studio

Record, mix, and master professional-sounding podcasts and radio shows directly from your mobile device. This app automates post-production, allowing you to focus on creativity with live sound triggering and advanced audio processing.

Highlights
  • Live sound triggering with automatic volume adjustment
  • Unlimited soundboard pages with customizable pads
  • Import sounds from various cloud services and apps
  • Optional subscription for remote guest recording and live streaming
  • Create video versions of podcasts with animations
  • Automatic studio-quality audio mastering and EQ
  • Customizable shortcuts for recording and sound triggering
Features
Read full description

Backpack Studio turns your iPhone or iPad into a live soundboard and a complete mobile podcast studio. It’s easy to get started, but there’s plenty here for professionals too. Under the hood is a studio-quality sound engine built for recording and live mixing. Need a soundboard? Load your music, sound effects, cues, intros, voice clips, or anything else you want to play. Arrange everything across multiple pages, then trigger sounds instantly during a podcast, performance, event, class, or stream. We think it’s the most powerful soundboard you can put on an iPhone or iPad. Making a podcast? Record in high quality, mix microphones and sound pads live, invite remote guests, edit the recording, stream your show, and export the finished episode—all from one app. When the recording is finished, Backpack’s optional AI tools can create a transcript, show notes, chapters, and highlight clips. You can even generate original sound effects and music for your show or soundboard. People use Backpack Studio for: Podcasts and radio shows Live events and streams Theatre productions Church services Workshops and classes Voice presentations Weddings and dance recitals Stage management Magic and puppet shows With Backpack Studio you can: Import multiple sounds from iCloud Drive, your device, Google Drive, Dropbox, our free sound library, or your AI generations Arrange pads quickly across multiple soundboard pages Play music, effects, intros, outros, cues, and clips while recording Keep separate soundboards for different shows, clients, and events Record high-quality audio anywhere Mix microphones and sound pads live Bring remote guests into interviews and podcasts Edit and export MP3, M4A, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, or Apple Lossless Live stream your show Create transcripts, show notes, chapters, and highlight clips with AI Generate original sound effects and music Back up and sync recordings and soundboards Backpack Pro unlocks Batch Import, Pad Arranger, transcripts, show notes, chapters, highlight clips, cloud backup and syncing, guest rooms, live streaming, uncompressed recording, lossless exports, and sound generation. Backpack Studio is designed to work well with VoiceOver and has won awards from the AppleVis community. Visit backpackstudioapp.com for more info Send feedback to backpackstudioapp@gmail.com Privacy Policy: https://backpackstudioapp.com/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

LitPads

Create custom soundboards for live performances, podcasts, and content creation. Load your own audio, trigger sounds with low latency, and customize playback with advanced audio controls. Supports MIDI input and import from various sources.

Highlights
  • Custom soundboard creation
  • Load own audio files
  • Ultra low latency playback
  • Multiple playback modes
  • Per-pad audio controls
  • MIDI input support
  • Import from cloud storage
Read full description

Make your own soundboard in seconds. Add your own sounds or record them, tap a pad and it plays instantly. Then turn any sound into a monster, a robot or a chipmunk with one tap. LitPads is the custom soundboard for streamers, podcasters, theater and church sound, DJs, tabletop game masters, teachers and anyone who needs the right sound at the right moment. One app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. BUILD YOUR BOARD • Import audio from Files, iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive, or record right in the app • Trim sounds on a zoomable waveform and set a fade in and fade out for every pad • Name and color your pads, pick from seven skins like Neon Circuit, Vinyl and Cassette • Sort boards into folders and find any pad with search VOICE FX AND 240+ SOUNDS • Nine voice characters: Chipmunk, Helium, Monster, Giant, Robot, Glitch, Telephone, Radio and Alien • A built-in library of 240+ meme and reaction sounds in 23 categories, from air horns and Vine boom to sad trombone and drum rolls • Put animated videos and GIFs on your pads STUDIO SOUND ON EVERY PAD • 3-band EQ, pitch shift of up to 24 semitones and speed from 0.5x to 2x without changing the pitch • Reverb with six rooms from small room to cathedral, plus a delay for echoes PLAY IT LIVE • One Shot, Toggle and Hold pads that play through, loop or resume where they stopped • Solo pads, one-at-a-time boards and ducking that lowers other pads automatically • Pads that start the next pad when they end, and cue lists with a big GO button for shows • Fade out everything with one tap, run countdown timers from your pads • The lock screen shows what is playing MIDI AND REMOTE CONTROL • Play pads from any MIDI controller with MIDI Learn or map a whole board at once, velocity sensitive • Send MIDI from your pads to lighting desks and other gear • Use your iPhone or iPad as a remote for LitPads on your Mac SYNC AND SHARE • iCloud sync keeps your boards the same on iPhone, iPad and Mac • Share whole boards as .soundboard files ON YOUR MAC LitPads on Mac adds OBS control, a Stream Window with stinger videos and overlays, global hotkeys and Stream Deck support. Route your sounds into OBS, Discord or Zoom with LitLink, our companion audio driver. FREE TO START, PRO ONCE Free: 6 boards with 20 pads each, every play mode, recording, trimming, fades, solo and all seven skins. You can try every voice and effect before you buy. Pro is one purchase: unlimited boards with up to 32 pads each, Voice FX, the Sound Library, EQ, pitch and speed, reverb and delay, MIDI, cue lists, ducking, iCloud sync and every streaming tool. Buy once on any device and Pro unlocks on your iPhone, iPad and Mac with the same Apple Account. No subscription. No ads.

Screenshots

Backpack Studio4 screens
LitPads4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: LitPads at 5.0 against Backpack Studio's 4.6. LitPads also leads on monetization model (free vs freemium) and review sentiment (100% vs 79%). Backpack Studio's advantage is ratings volume (306 vs 5). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Backpack Studio sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and LitPads sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LitPads holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Backpack Studio has 306 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Backpack Studio's written reviews are positive against 100% of LitPads's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Backpack Studio ships an update weekly, LitPads every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Backpack Studio versus LitPads: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackpack StudioLitPads
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (306 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings306 — better5
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size133 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEd FilowatMarcel Iseli

Customer experience

Backpack Studio

All ratings306 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral2.6%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews141 reviews
Positive78.7%
Neutral4.3%
Negative17.0%

LitPads

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Backpack Studio

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text displayed in videos differs from original
  • Crashes when trying to load pads from Dropbox or Google Drive
  • Buttons not responsive, causing issues during live playback
  • Crashes when trying to add album art to saved audio files

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more audio effects (reverb, echo, etc.)
  • Implement Apple Watch integration for controls
  • Add video recording and editing capabilities
  • Improve multi-track output for further audio editing
  • Provide option to disable the dark pad after playing
Show 1 more
  • Add support for more audio interfaces and inputs

LitPads

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Backpack Studio

Subscriptions5
  • Backpack Live 10 Hours3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Pro Subscription3 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Backpack Live 25 Hours$19.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Backpack Live 60 Hours3 Days trial$29.991 Month
  • backpack pro annual$99.001 Year
One-time1
  • Live Streaming$9.99
1 purchases

LitPads

One-time1
  • LitPads Pro$29.99

Questions

Is Backpack Studio free?
Backpack Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LitPads free?
LitPads is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Backpack Studio or LitPads?
LitPads is rated higher. Backpack Studio averages 4.6 out of 5 from 306 ratings, while LitPads averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Backpack Studio or LitPads have ads?
Neither Backpack Studio nor LitPads shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Backpack Studio or LitPads?
Backpack Studio ships an update weekly, and LitPads every 5 days. Most recently, Backpack Studio was updated on October 24, 2026 and LitPads on October 24, 2026.

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