Comparison

Longplay vs MusicSmart

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

Head to head
About

Longplay

Rediscover your music library with this app that beautifully displays your album artwork. Explore forgotten favorites and play music with smart sorting options like addiction, brightness, and recency. Organize albums into collections and enjoy infinite shuffle.

Highlights
  • Album artwork display
  • Smart sorting options
  • Album collections
  • Infinite album shuffle
  • Home screen widget
  • CarPlay and Siri support
  • Shortcuts integration
Features
Read full description

Do you have an album collection of dozens to thousands of albums? Does the next song of an album already start playing in your head when one finishes? Longplay is for you. Longplay presents a beautiful view of the album artworks of the (near) complete albums in your music collection. It let's you rediscover forgotten favorites or just play the music you love, and explore it with various smart sort options: - Orderliness: by artist, then by album - Addiction: by amount of time spent listening - Brightness: by the primary color of the album artwork - Negligence: by the time it’s been since you’ve last listened to the album, weighted by the rating - Recency: by date added - Memory: by last played - Stars: by the rating you’ve provided for each song - Random: a new order, every time you tap it You can organize your albums into collections, which sync across your devices. Infinite album shuffle let's you stay in the flow, with smart shuffle depending on your current collection or sort order. It comes with a home screen widget that displays the top albums by your nominated sort order. On the larger widget, tap an album to play it, on the smallest it doubles as a "Feeling lucky" button to start playback of one of them. It supports CarPlay, Siri, Shortcuts, and Spotlight.t supports CarPlay, Siri, and Shortcuts. It works well with Apple Music, music purchased from iTunes or synced manually. --- Important: Longplay does not ship with any music included, it is instead a player for your music library - be it from Apple Music, iTunes or your synced music. It provides a filtered view of just the albums of which you have all or most of the songs, as well as your playlists; thus focusing on your album collection without any singles or albums where you only have very few songs. --- Tap an item to play (or pause). Long tap for additional options, such as adding to your album queue or to a collection. It works with libraries big and small, and besides regular albums it also handles compilation albums and playlists. Comes with Shortcuts actions to play a random top album by a defined sort order, or a random album, optionally filtered by artist or genre. All of that with Longplay's logic that makes sure that it's an album for which you have all or most songs. It is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Fully VoiceOver accessible.

About

MusicSmart

Instantly discover detailed credits for any song, from songwriting and performance to marketing and visuals. This app acts as an IMDb for your music library, offering insights into the creation process and roles involved. Explore information about recordings, backstories, and even visual credits.

Highlights
  • Instant music credit discovery
  • Detailed songwriting and composition info
  • Performance and recording credits
  • Marketing, distribution, and business details
  • Visual and location credits
  • Instrument breakdowns
  • Integration with Apple Music, Spotify, and Shazam
Features
Read full description

Ever wonder who wrote that song? MusicSmart reveals every credit instantly. It’s like IMDb for music. Critically acclaimed by MacStories, 9to5Mac, MacMagazine, and more. MusicSmart aggregates music knowledge from various sources into a powerful and easy-to-use app. With features such as Smart Sections and Roles/Instruments Insights, you can gain a deeper understanding of the music creation process and the responsibilities of each role. Navigate the catalog from within the main app or share music from Apple Music or Spotify to read the details about any song. Shazam is also available, so you can access liner notes and learn more about songs playing around you. Here are some of the credits you can find with MusicSmart: • High-resolution album covers, booklets, disc art, inlays, and more. • Description: Information about the recording process, the backstory behind the song, artists, etc. • Songwriting and Composition: Composer, Arranger, Producer, and more. • Performance and Recording: Vocals, Performer, Programmer, Engineers, Editor, and more. • Marketing and Distribution: A&R, Publishers, Distributors, and more. • Business: Labels, Copyright, and more. • Visuals: Director, Cinematographer, Designer, Visualizer, and more. • Locations: Recorded At, Mixed At, Mastered At, and more. • Instruments: Drums, Shakers, Strings, Guitars, Keyboards, and more. Download MusicSmart today for free to unlock a wealth of knowledge about your favorite music, all in one convenient location! Note: No Apple Music or Spotify subscription is required to use MusicSmart. MusicSmart relies on multiple online sources and databases to find liner notes and credits. The number of details available may vary for each song. Privacy Policy: https://marcosatanaka.com/privacy/music-smart.html Terms of Use: https://marcosatanaka.com/terms/music-smart.html

Screenshots

Longplay4 screens
MusicSmart4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: MusicSmart at Free against Longplay's $7.49. Longplay's advantage is review sentiment (78% vs 53%) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On ratings volume, 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

MusicSmart is free to download; Longplay costs $7.49 up front. Longplay sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and MusicSmart sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Longplay holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 166 and 274 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of Longplay's written reviews are positive against 53% of MusicSmart's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Longplay ships an update every 3 weeks, MusicSmart fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Longplay versus MusicSmart: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLongplayMusicSmart
Price$7.49Free — better
Rating4.6 (166 ratings) — better4.3 (274 ratings)
Positive reviews78.0% of reviews — better52.6% of reviews
Number of ratings166274 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Vision ProiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS17.617 — better
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB50 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdrian SchoenigLoop Apps LTDA

Customer experience

Longplay

All ratings166 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative6.6%
Written reviews100 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral9.0%
Negative13.0%

MusicSmart

All ratings274 ratings
Positive81.4%
Neutral5.1%
Negative13.5%
Written reviews116 reviews
Positive52.6%
Neutral8.6%
Negative38.8%

User reviews

Longplay

From 166 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎵 Excellent album-focused listening experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and minimalist user interface
  • 🎨 Beautiful visual presentation of album artwork
  • 🔍 Unique sorting options (Addiction, Negligence, Brightness)
  • 🚗 CarPlay support for album browsing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes with large music libraries
  • ❄️ UI freezing and performance issues
  • 🔥 Device overheating during operation
  • ⏱️ Slow album loading and updating process
  • 🚫 Doesn't display all albums in library

MusicSmart

From 274 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app for music credits lovers
  • 👍 Fantastic background information
  • 👍 Excellent depth of detail
  • 👍 Highly recommended
  • 👍 Essential for Apple Music users

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent information quality
  • 🐛 Limited data for classical/jazz albums
  • 🐛 Doesn't work with iTunes purchases
  • 🐛 Crashes when switching tabs
  • 🐛 Lacks search and sorting features

Bugs and requests

Longplay

Reported bugs

16 issues
  • App crashes on startup with large libraries
  • UI constantly freezes during album loading
  • Device becomes very hot during operation
  • Doesn't load entire music library
  • Gapless playback creates overlapping songs
Show 11 more
  • Purity option for gapless play doesn't work
  • Scrobbling incomplete (only first few tracks)
  • CarPlay support broken after updates
  • Vision Pro immersive view crashes
  • Settings window cannot be minimized
  • Allow selection toggle loses memory
  • Widget doesn't show album artwork
  • Sort by feature missing since iOS 26
  • Album library not syncing with Apple Music
  • Crashes when immersive view selected
  • Player window too large in panorama mode

Requested features

20 requests
  • Search functionality for albums and artists
  • Track listing display during playback
  • Skip/back track controls
  • Volume control in app
  • Sort by release year
Show 15 more
  • Sort by genre/categories
  • Show album information and metadata
  • Play Next/Play Later queue management
  • Open album in Apple Music link
  • Delete albums from library option
  • View only complete albums toggle
  • Exclude specific albums (e.g., Christmas albums)
  • macOS version of the app
  • tvOS app version
  • Higher resolution album artwork
  • Album cover size randomization in grid
  • Immersive listening room environments
  • Album liner notes viewing
  • Widget improvements for album display
  • Autocorrect toggle for search

MusicSmart

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Continuous crashes on certain devices
  • Incorrect release dates shown
  • Fails to recognize many albums in library

Requested features

5 requests
  • Integrate with YouTube Music
  • Add lyrics/Genius integration
  • Improve formatting for a more aesthetic look
  • Allow access to liner notes without adding to library
  • Provide musician credits for each track

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Longplay

One-time3
  • Small Tip$2.00
  • Medium Tip$5.00
  • Large Tip$10.00
3 purchases

MusicSmart

Subscriptions2
  • MusicSmart Premium$1.991 Month
  • MusicSmart Premium$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • MusicSmart Premium (Lifetime)$19.99

Questions

Is Longplay free?
Longplay costs $7.49, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is MusicSmart free?
MusicSmart is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Longplay or MusicSmart?
Longplay is rated higher. Longplay averages 4.6 out of 5 from 166 ratings, while MusicSmart averages 4.3 from 274 ratings.
Do Longplay or MusicSmart have ads?
Neither Longplay nor MusicSmart shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Longplay or MusicSmart?
Longplay ships an update every 3 weeks, and MusicSmart fortnightly. Most recently, Longplay was updated on September 22, 2026 and MusicSmart on September 24, 2026.

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