Bloom vs Fractal Bits
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bloom
Create unique melodies and elaborate patterns by simply tapping the screen. This generative music player offers an infinite selection of compositions and accompanying visualizations, even when left idle. It's a musical instrument, composition, and artwork all in one.
- Create melodies by tapping
- Generative music player
- Visualizations
- 12 mood settings
- Adjustable delay
- Shake to clear
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Developed by ambient pioneer Brian Eno and musician / software designer Peter Chilvers, Bloom explores uncharted territory in the realm of applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Part instrument, part composition and part artwork, Bloom's innovative controls allow anyone to create elaborate patterns and unique melodies by simply tapping the screen. A generative music player takes over when Bloom is left idle, creating an infinite selection of compositions and their accompanying visualisations. "Bloom is an endless music machine, a music box for the 21st century. You can play it, and you can watch it play itself." - Brian Eno Features - 12 different mood settings - Random mood shuffle - Adjustable delay - Shake to clear - Evolve when idle - Sleep Timer Recommended for headphones or external speakers. “Bloom Raises the Bar for Musical iPhone Apps… if you're a fan of ambient music or music in general, you'll be wanting to get it right now” - Gizmodo “A relaxing alternative to just about anything else you can do with an iPhone” Wired “Hypnotic and ludicrously addictive” - Guardian
Fractal Bits
Generate an infinite variety of drum sounds using fractal algorithms. Save and share your unique sound sets via text codes. Perform live with multiple keyboard options and record your creations in real-time.
- Infinite unique drum sounds
- Save/share sound sets via text codes
- Multiple live drumming keyboards
- MIDI control and mapping
- Real-time WAV audio recording
- Wi-Fi export/import
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Fractal Bits is a drum synth with over four billion unique sounds created by fractal algorithms. Each set of 12 drums corresponds to a code of 8 characters (you can save/copy/paste it as plain text). Features: * Audio Unit Extension (AUv3), Audiobus; * search for new sounds with three buttons: next random set, edit code, previous set; * three types of keyboards for live drumming: on-screen buttons, PC keyboard, MIDI input; * several processing parameters + control via MIDI; * real-time audio recording to WAV (32-bit); * export to: WAV (one file or a set), SunVox (samples + effects in one file), text clipboard; * the LCK button freezes individual drums - they will not change during the search for new sets; * Wi-Fi export/import. Double clicking on a parameter opens a window for setting the exact value. If you enable the Hold option, the notes will play endlessly, without reacting to key release (noteOff) events; turning the note on again works like turning it off; there are two ways to enable this option: 1) using the Hold parameter in the "MIDI Mapping" window; 2) by pressing the HOLD button, which appears in place of LCK while playing the musical keyboard: press HOLD, release the desired notes - then the released notes will continue to play.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Bloom at #60 against Fractal Bits's unranked. Fractal Bits's advantage is update cadence (every 5 months vs every 11 months) and price ($1.99 vs $3.99). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
Bloom costs $3.99 and Fractal Bits $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Bloom against 4.9 for Fractal Bits. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 99 and 82 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Bloom's written reviews are positive against 91% of Fractal Bits's.
Bloom ships an update every 11 months, Fractal Bits every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bloom | Fractal Bits |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (99 ratings) | 4.9 (82 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.5% of reviews | 90.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 99 — better | 82 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 months | Every 5 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #60 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Opal Limited | Alexander Zolotov |
Customer experience
Bloom
Fractal Bits
Bugs and requests
Bloom
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on iOS 8/11 updates
- Stops working in background
- High notes cause issues for some users
Requested features
7 requests- Add more sound options/instruments
- Implement recording and export capabilities
- Add sleep timer and background playback
- Improve low-end sound quality
- Introduce MIDI support
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- Expand sound manipulation options (pitch bending, sustain, etc.)
- Add visual customization (blurred edges, etc.)
Fractal Bits
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bloom
No in-app purchases
Fractal Bits
No in-app purchases









