Comparison

Things vs Retrocord

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

Head to head
About

Things

This app offers an experimental filter bank delay effect for creative sound design. It features up to 10 band pass filters with adjustable resonance and individual delay controls. Users can manipulate various parameters across bands to generate unique echoes, reverbs, and sequences.

Highlights
  • Up to 10 band pass filters
  • Controllable resonance per band
  • Dedicated delay with feedback per band
  • Parameter spread across bands
  • AUv3 and Standalone support
Features
Read full description

Bubbles is an unusual filter bank effect plugin (AUv3 and Standalone) aimed at experimental sound design. You can use up to 10 band pass filters, represented by bubbles in the UI, with controllable resonance. Each band can have a dedicated delay with feedback. You can spread the cutoff, resonance, delay time, and delay feedback across each band to get very creative effects, from odd-sounding echoes/reverbs to impossible sequences.

About

Retrocord

Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Retrocord is a retroactive multitrack audio recorder. It works like a tape that's always recording from your selected input, so when you play something worth keeping, you can save the last few minutes — after the fact. How it works Choose your audio input and a buffer length. Retrocord records silently in the background. When you want to keep what you just played, tap a duration to capture. The audio lands in your library as a recording you can play back, edit, organize, and export. Multitrack support Retrocord records every channel your audio input exposes, each as its own track. Connect a class-compliant multichannel USB audio interface — such as the Focusrite Scarlett series or similar — and capture individual inputs as separate stems. Mute and solo tracks during playback, then export them to your DAW to mix and arrange later. Edit before you export Retrocord lets you shape a capture without leaving the app: - Trim — set start and end points against a recording to keep only the part that matters - Split — cut a capture in two at the playhead to create separate recordings - Gain — adjust level in 3 dB steps, up to ±24 dB Your library, on every device Recordings live in an organized library — sessions hold captures, captures hold tracks — with waveforms, names, and durations at a glance. Your library syncs privately across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac through your own iCloud account. Lossless, and smaller Captures are stored as Apple Lossless (ALAC) — full 24-bit, 48 kHz quality at roughly half the size of uncompressed WAV. When it's time to move audio out, export individual tracks or a flattened mix as ALAC or 24-bit WAV, with your trim and gain applied. Use cases - Capturing jams and improvisations without arming a DAW - Recording stems from multichannel audio interfaces - Field recording, where the moment you want has already passed by the time you'd hit record - Interviews and spoken word, where restarting a conversation to get a clean take isn't an option - Practice sessions, rehearsals, and songwriting where good ideas surface unpredictably Details - Works with any class-compliant USB audio interface - Also supports the built-in microphone on iPhone and iPad - Stereo pairing toggle for interleaved L/R channels - Per-track mute and solo during playback - Non-destructive trim, split, and gain - Apple Lossless (ALAC) storage; export to ALAC or 24-bit/48 kHz WAV - Private iCloud sync across your devices, through your own iCloud account - No third-party account, no analytics — your recordings are yours

Screenshots

Things1 screens
Retrocord4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Things at $6.99 against Retrocord's $19.99. Things also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). Retrocord's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 32 months) and chart position (#197 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Things costs $6.99 and Retrocord $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Things ships an update every 32 months, Retrocord every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 31, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Things versus Retrocord: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThingsRetrocord
Price$6.99 — better$19.99
Rating5.0 (19 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings19 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 32 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank—#197 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAudioThing Ltd.Rocamr Labs, LLC

In-app purchases

None

Things

No in-app purchases

None

Retrocord

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Things free?
Things costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Retrocord free?
Retrocord costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Things or Retrocord have ads?
Neither Things nor Retrocord shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Things or Retrocord?
Things ships an update every 32 months, and Retrocord every 3 weeks. Most recently, Things was updated on August 31, 2026 and Retrocord on September 13, 2026.

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