SmartPlaylist vs Slowell
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Slowell
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Slowell is a modest home for the vinyl and CDs you collect—a place to track what you own, what you're still chasing, and everything in between. Built for people who put records on, not for the algorithm. No feeds, no scores, no reminders to open the app. Just your shelf, kept the way you'd keep it. What you can do: - Racks — organize your collection into custom shelves like Listened, Want to Listen, or whatever else you'd write on a real one. - Add albums — search by title or artist through the Discogs catalog, or scan a barcode with your camera. Both do the same thing: save you typing. - Details worth keeping — format (vinyl or CD), pressing and region, condition, date acquired, favorite track, ownership status. The record's story, next to the record. - Sign in with Apple, or don't — use Slowell as a guest, no account required. Your collection is yours either way. Made without noise: - No ads, no third-party trackers. - No streaming subscription required, no music-service login. - No engagement metrics, streaks, or badges chasing your attention. More is coming, in its own time. May you live with ease.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Slowell at Free against SmartPlaylist's $1.99. SmartPlaylist's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On ads and in-app purchases 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
Slowell is free to download; SmartPlaylist costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | SmartPlaylist | Slowell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (53 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 77.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 53 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | daenu | Benjamin Balderas |
In-app purchases
SmartPlaylist
No in-app purchases
Slowell
No in-app purchases









