Shruti Laya vs Indian Tuner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shruti Laya
This app provides a practice companion for Carnatic music, offering a tanpura drone, Mrudanga, and Manjira instruments. Users can customize pitch, tempo, and select from various talas and jaatis for an immersive practice experience.
- Customizable tanpura drone
- Realistic Mrudanga and Manjira rhythms
- Support for multiple talas and jaatis
- Adjustable tempo and pitch
- On-screen performance display
- Integrated tuner
- Lock screen controls
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Shruti Laya is a practice companion for Carnatic music. It gives you a tanpura drone, a Mrudanga and a Manjira that play together, locked to one beat, in the tala you choose. Turn on any of them, set your shruti and tempo, and practise. TANPURA • Set the shruti (Sa) to any standard pitch, or to a custom pitch. • Choose the first string: Pa, Ma, Ni or upper Sa. • Slow, Normal or Fast plucking. • Keeps playing when the screen locks. MRUDANGA • Plays a theka in Adi tala, built from real recorded strokes and traditional nadai patterns. • Tuned to your shruti automatically, so it always sits with the tanpura. • Accents on sam and on each anga, with a natural, human feel. • Other talas are kept with the Manjira and the tanpura. • Optional variation: the Mrudanga brings in variations of the theka across cycles instead of repeating one fixed phrase. MANJIRA • Strikes on every beat, on claps only, or on sam only. • In Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu, a soft tick marks the beats between the claps. Switch it off in Settings to hear only the claps. TALA • All seven Suladi Sapta talas: Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa (Adi), Ata and Eka. • Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu. • Jaati: Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna. • Gati (nadai): Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna. • Kalai: 1x or 2x. • Tempo from 40 to 150 BPM. Set it with the slider, or tap the beat with Tap Tempo. • Each tala remembers its own tempo. • A four-click count-in before the rhythm starts, always at sam, with a big 4, 3, 2, 1 on screen. ON STAGE A full-screen performance display shows the beat count, tala and tempo in large type, readable from across the room. It opens on its own a few seconds after the rhythm starts. MUKTHAYA • In Adi tala, tap Mukthaya on the performance display and the Mrudanga plays a mukthaya that fills the rest of the cycle and lands on sam, then goes back to the theka. • Tap End to finish the same way: the mukthaya lands on sam with Dhin and Thom, and the rhythm stops. • The mukthaya fits whatever is left of the cycle, from 2 to 8 beats, drawn from traditional lesson patterns. TUNER Check your voice or instrument against your shruti. The tuner shows the swara you're on and how many cents sharp or flat you are. ALSO • Five colour themes. • Play and pause from the Lock Screen and Control Center. It never starts on its own when you connect to a car or headset. • Works on iPhone and iPad, with a layout made for the larger iPad screen. PRIVATE The microphone is used only by the Tuner, and only while it's on. Sound is analysed on your device. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent anywhere. No accounts, no ads, no tracking.
Indian Tuner
This app provides a precision tuner specifically for Indian classical music. It maps pitch to the traditional 22-shruti system, allowing vocalists and instrumentalists to tune accurately according to Indian intonation. Choose your reference key and adjust your note until the pitch stabilizes.
- 22-shruti system mapping
- Reference key selection
- Pitch stabilization
- Accurate Indian intonation
- Vocal and instrumental tuning
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Indian Tuner is a precision tuner designed for Indian classical music. It maps pitch to the traditional 22-shruti system instead of Western chromatic notes, so you tune using intonation that actually matches Indian music. Unlike standard chromatic tuners, Indian Tuner uses the 22 shrutis used in Hindustani and Carnatic music, making it ideal for serious practice and performance. How it works: • Choose your reference key (Sa) • Sing or play a steady note • Adjust until the pitch stabilizes and locks in cleanly Indian Tuner helps vocalists and instrumentalists tune with accuracy that reflects real Indian intonation, not approximations.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Shruti Laya at 5.0 against Indian Tuner's 4.8. Shruti Laya also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly). Indian Tuner's advantage is ratings volume (21 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Shruti Laya holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Indian Tuner has 21 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Shruti Laya ships an update every 3 days, Indian Tuner weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shruti Laya | Indian Tuner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.8 (21 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 16.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 21 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ramachandra Mallappa | Kishore Kumar |
Customer experience
Shruti Laya
Indian Tuner
In-app purchases
Shruti Laya
No in-app purchases
Indian Tuner
No in-app purchases









