Comparison

SmartPlaylist vs ClassicalPlayer

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

Head to head
About

SmartPlaylist

Generate custom music playlists using extensive filtering and sorting rules. Organize your music library by text, numerical, date, and property criteria. Seamlessly integrate with your device's music player for playback.

Highlights
  • 26 customizable smart playlists
  • Over 20 search rules per playlist
  • Text, numerical, and date filtering
  • Logical operators for rule combination
  • iCloud backup and restore for rules
  • Hierarchical music library browsing
  • Playback queue integration
Features
Read full description

SmartPlaylist is the most advanced playlist generator for iPod/iPhone/iPad with many unique features. SmartPlaylist uses the titles stored in your Music library on your device. There are 26 smart playlists (SmartPlaylist A-Z) which you can use and name as you wish. In each SmartPlaylist you can combine more than 20 search rules to filter and sort your iTunes music library. These rules can be saved in iCloud. Available search criteria: ● Text search: Genre, Grouping, Composer, Artist, Album-Artist, Album, Title, Comments, Lyrics and/or iTunes-Playlist Search for exact matches („is equal to“), for any partial matches („contains“) or use wildcards („is like“ ?/*). Use logical operators to unite (" OR “), intersect (" AND “) or exclude (“ NOT “) certain songs Example: The rule "Genre contains blu OR zz" will give you all your blues and jazz songs in 1 playlist. ● Numerical search: Rating, Play Count, Skip Count, Duration, Track Number, BPM and/or Year. ● Date search: Added, Last Played, Last Skipped, Released (how many days, weeks, months or years ago) You can search for values less than, equal to / from-to (=) or more than the limit you set ● Property search: is in compilation, is in iCloud, is music video (all/yes/no) The titles loaded in SmartPlaylist also become the playback queue of the Music app and the now playing title is also shown in the lock screen and the control center, where you can play/pause, fast-forward, skip, etc. There are many settings to configure, e.g. what search rules you want to use and what info you want to see in the list of titles. General procedure: 1. Select a smart playlist (a) 2. Set the search rules (a) 3. Tap „Load titles“ (a) 4. Scroll through the list of matching titles (b) 5. Press on a title in the list to play it or tap to see all its details (c). a) THE MAIN SCREEN: The search rules of a smart playlist (e.g. „SmartPlaylist A“) ● Use „Menu“ to open the settings and help, copy/paste rules and backup/restore with iCloud ● Use „(i)“ to open the details of a search rule (there, use „(+)“ to open the pick list for genre, artist, etc.) ● Use „All/Active“ to toggle between showing all search rules and showing only the active rules (yellow) ● Browse your music collection hierarchically by Genres > Composers > Artists > Albums > Titles ● Use list operations to add, subtract or intersect the results of SmartPlaylists ● Limit the number of titles per artist or per album, or limit the list to x minutes, hours or titles ● Sort with multiple criteria, e.g. 1. by Artist, 2. by Rating (per artist), 3. by playCount (per rating) ● With „Show only“ you can load another SmartPlaylist while the previous list is still playing in the background ● If you do not set any search rules „Load titles“ will load all titles in your music library b) THE LIST VIEW: The list of titles matching the search rules ● Long-press on a title to play/pause ● Pinch in/out to change the row height (S-M-L) and toggle the display of the artwork ● Use quick-search to search within the loaded list or mark certain titles ● Scroll to the now playing song in the list with „Now playing“ c) THE DETAIL VIEW: All the details/infos for the selected song ● If you have selected a song which is not being played, you can scroll up and down through the title list with „^“ / „v“ ● When you are in the „Now playing mode“, „^“ / „v“ will play the previous or next song, respectively. ● Enlarge the cover artwork up to full screen (tap/double-tap or pinch in/out) ● Tap on a line to open the values in a text view where you can copy the text or look up the definition of words, etc. (e.g. in the lyrics) ● Add the selected song to another smart playlist or remove it from the current one (i.e. make exceptions to the rules, which can also be edited in the corresponding search rule) ● Load all songs with the same genre, artist, year, etc. as the selected song

About

ClassicalPlayer

Organize and play your local music library by composer and piece. This app presents your music arranged by classical works, allowing you to select specific movements for playback. It offers alternative views by album, artist, songs, and playlists.

Highlights
  • Organize music by composer and piece
  • Play movements in order
  • View music by album, artist, songs, playlists
  • Extracts piece and movement names from track names
  • Works with device's music library
Features
Read full description

Is music more to you than just "songz"? When picking something to listen to, are you as likely to think of a composer and piece as an album? Is "shuffle play" on a symphony more than a little silly? ClassicalPlayer may be for you! ClassicalPlayer works with your device's music library. By contrast, Apple Classical and Apple Music are streaming services. They stream music from Apple's servers to your device; ClassicalPlayer organizes the library on your device. ClassicalPlayer presents your iPhone's or iPad's music library to you arranged by composer and pieces. Choose, for instance "Beethoven," and from the list of pieces of his that you have, choose "Symphony no. 5", and see the 4 movements ready to play in order. Push the play button, and ClassicalPlayer plays the movements (in order) and then pauses. You can also view your music by album or artist, and as songs and playlists. How does ClassicalPlayer find pieces, e.g., symphonies, in an album? By comparing the names of successive tracks. This isn't foolproof, but it works surprisingly well. ClassicalPlayer extracts piece and movement names from track names and presents your music organized by pieces. More details: https://www.tyndalesoft.com/classicalplayer/index.html Privacy policy: https://www.tyndalesoft.com/classicalplayer/privacy.html

Screenshots

SmartPlaylist4 screens
ClassicalPlayer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ClassicalPlayer at 5.0 against SmartPlaylist's 4.4. ClassicalPlayer also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and price ($0.99 vs $1.99). SmartPlaylist's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (53 vs 3). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

SmartPlaylist costs $1.99 and ClassicalPlayer $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ClassicalPlayer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SmartPlaylist has 53 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of SmartPlaylist's written reviews are positive against 100% of ClassicalPlayer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SmartPlaylist ships an update every 2 months, ClassicalPlayer every 9 months. Both last shipped on October 3, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SmartPlaylist versus ClassicalPlayer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmartPlaylistClassicalPlayer
Price$1.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.4 (53 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings53 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperdaenuFrederick Kuhl

Customer experience

SmartPlaylist

All ratings53 ratings
Positive81.1%
Neutral11.3%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive77.1%
Neutral8.6%
Negative14.3%

ClassicalPlayer

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

SmartPlaylist

No in-app purchases

None

ClassicalPlayer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SmartPlaylist free?
SmartPlaylist costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ClassicalPlayer free?
ClassicalPlayer costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SmartPlaylist or ClassicalPlayer?
ClassicalPlayer is rated higher. SmartPlaylist averages 4.4 out of 5 from 53 ratings, while ClassicalPlayer averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do SmartPlaylist or ClassicalPlayer have ads?
Neither SmartPlaylist nor ClassicalPlayer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SmartPlaylist or ClassicalPlayer?
SmartPlaylist ships an update every 2 months, and ClassicalPlayer every 9 months. Most recently, SmartPlaylist was updated on October 3, 2026 and ClassicalPlayer on October 3, 2026.

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