Comparison

Records vs Sortwave

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

Head to head
About

Records

Rediscover music listening with a HiFi streaming player that emphasizes album artwork and visual navigation. Connects with Apple Music to present your library in a new, engaging way, inspired by the tactile experience of vinyl and CDs.

Highlights
  • Album-first visual navigation
  • Gesture-driven interface
  • Apple Music integration
  • HiFi and Hi-Res streaming
  • CD and Vinyl scanner
  • Personalized music collections
Features
Read full description

Your music should feel like a collection, not a feed or text list. Records turns your library into a wall of album covers. Browse with your eyes, pick what you like, and play one record at a time. Create crates, import music from Apple Music or Discogs, discover new records, and keep a Journal of what you listen to. Records Pro unlocks unlimited crates and compatible music imports from Files and iCloud Drive. Records requires Media & Apple Music permission. An Apple Music subscription is required for catalog playback, but not for playing your own files. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://visual-acoustic.com/privacy/

About

Sortwave

Features
Read full description

Swipe music into place. Sortwave is a focused playlist-curation companion for Apple Music. Choose a playlist, listen to each full song, and decide what belongs without breaking your flow. Swipe right to keep a song. Route it up or down into playlists you already use. Mark favorites, shuffle your session, scrub through playback, undo a decision, or stop whenever you want. Sortwave queues your choices locally and applies them together when you choose Finish & Sync. Apple Music doesn’t allow third-party apps to directly delete arbitrary library songs. When you mark songs for removal, Sortwave places them in a clearly labeled Deleted Songs playlist and shows a short guide for completing deletion safely in Apple Music. Your original library stays under your control. Features: • Full-song Apple Music playback • Fast, gesture-first playlist decisions • Two configurable quick-route playlists • Favorite and unfavorite controls • Interactive playback scrubber • Shuffle, previous, next and undo controls • Batched sync with a clear summary • Session history and resilient local queueing • Secure connection restoration • No advertising or tracking An active Apple Music subscription may be required for full-song playback and library access. Sortwave is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.

Screenshots

Records4 screens
Sortwave3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sortwave at none against Records's 3. Sortwave also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 weeks) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Records sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Sortwave asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Records ships an update every 5 weeks, Sortwave every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Records versus Sortwave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRecordsSortwave
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (17 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings17 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB3 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperVA Visual Acoustic Technologies GmbHSooraj Sambasivam

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Records

Subscriptions2
  • Library Superpowers 1 Month$4.991 Month
  • Library Superpowers 1 Year$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Library Superpowers Lifetime$79.99
None

Sortwave

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Records free?
Records is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sortwave free?
Sortwave is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Records or Sortwave have ads?
Neither Records nor Sortwave shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Records or Sortwave?
Records ships an update every 5 weeks, and Sortwave every 5 days. Most recently, Records was updated on October 24, 2026 and Sortwave on October 28, 2026.

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