iKoto vs Sanshin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iKoto
Experience the traditional Japanese Koto (harp) on your iPhone. This app allows you to play oriental melodies, record your performances, and utilize features like tone scale changes and pitch bends. Enjoy a selection of sample music and export your recordings.
- Virtual Koto instrument
- Recording function
- Tone scale changes
- Pitch-bend function
- WAV file export via WiFi
- Preset tone scales
- Sample music included
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iKoto is an application for playing Koto（Japanese Harp） on iPhone. Koto is a Japanese traditional stringed musical instrument that can produce oriental tone. Recording, playing, and demonstration functions are installed. There are tone scale change and pitch-bend functions. If you like Harp, you will like Koto too. Enjoy Japanese traditional sound. The following three pieces of sample music are installed. -Sakura -Rokudan -Fur Elise Recording data can be stored up to three. iKoto has a function to output recording-data into PC as WAV-file via WiFi. The following eleven tones scale are preset. Hira,Kumoi,Hon-Kumoi,Han-Kumoi,Kata-Kumoi Nakazora,Iwato,Akebono,Nogi,Gaku,Hanagumo *Be sure your iPhone is not in silent mode*
Sanshin
Learn to play the traditional Okinawan Sanshin instrument with this app. It displays finger positions and corresponds to "Kun-Kun-Shi" musical scores in Kanji, making it accessible even for beginners.
- Learn Sanshin finger positions
- Kanji score display
- Beginner-friendly interface
- Okinawan music exploration
- Interactive learning tool
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The "Sanshin" (Sanxian,三線) is a traditional and very popular musical instrument in Okinawa. Okinawa is beautiful islands located on the end of the southwest of Japan. The Sanshin is indispensable to life of people in Okinawa with traditional "Shima-Uta" that means song of islands. The Sanshin looks like the shamisen that is the tradition musical instrument of Japan similarly. But, the performance method of the Sanshin is farther simpler than the Shamisen,and is friendly musical instrument. In this application, proper finger positions will be displayed on the screen with Kanji. These also correspond to scores that is called "Kun-Kun-Shi" written in Kanji. We hope you will enjoy playing the Sanshin even if you have not played a Sanshin. Please try and enjoy it!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: iKoto at 86% against Sanshin's 25%. iKoto also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 16 months) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). Sanshin's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and price ($1.99 vs $2.99). On ratings volume, 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
iKoto costs $2.99 and Sanshin $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sanshin holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 86% of iKoto's written reviews are positive against 25% of Sanshin's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
iKoto ships an update every 2 months, Sanshin every 16 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.
| Parameter | iKoto | Sanshin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.5 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.6% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 16 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | GClue, Inc. | CRIMSON TECHNOLOGY, Inc |
Customer experience
iKoto
Sanshin
Bugs and requests
iKoto
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes on startup or immediately after opening
- Sound output fails without clear cause
- Tuning selection screen displays blank/white text
- Unable to change tuning modes
- App crashes when entering settings or changing notes
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- Crashes when transferring songs
- Crashes during recorded music playback
- Display not optimized for newer screen sizes
- Crashes at low battery levels
- Incompatibility with latest iOS versions
Requested features
14 requests- Custom tuning/string adjustment capability
- Support for modern music scales and genres
- More pre-recorded demo songs
- Ability to save unlimited recordings
- MIDI file import/export functionality
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- Continuous loop playback for accompaniment
- Pitch bend control via accelerometer
- Additional Japanese instruments (Biwa, Shamisen, Shakuhachi)
- Ambient background sounds (water, wind, birds)
- Longer note sustain when holding strings
- Variable string plucking force control
- Auto-generated peaceful melodies
- Octave change controls
- Ability to save compositions with titles
Sanshin
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iKoto
No in-app purchases
Sanshin
No in-app purchases
