Comparison

Smart Shuffle vs Playlist Buddy

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

Head to head
About

Smart Shuffle

This music player brings back the classic album shuffle experience, playing songs in their intended order within randomly selected albums. It offers extensive customization for album selection and playback control, including CarPlay and Apple Watch integration.

Highlights
  • Album shuffle playback
  • CarPlay integration
  • Siri Shortcuts
  • Cloud album access
  • Enhanced album selection & filtering
  • Apple Watch interface
  • Sleep mode timer
Features
Read full description

Do you miss the old "Album Shuffle" on your Apple device? Here at Spudfish Software, we did, so we did something about it! Smart Shuffle: The Album-Centric Music Player Smart Shuffle brings album shuffle back to you, randomly shuffling your music and playing it back one album at a time with songs selected in the order that the artist intended. If you love albums, Smart Shuffle is the only music player you need! Version 4.0 also includes a host of new features to help you further take charge of your album collection! CARPLAY COMPATIBLE!!! - Tell Smart Shuffle to re-shuffle, play next album, play previous album, or view the next albums in your queue from our new CarPlay interface! SIRI SHORTCUTS - train Siri to tell Smart Shuffle to Shuffle Albums, Play Next Album or Play Previous Album PLAY ALBUMS FROM THE CLOUD - Smart Shuffle can now access your albums in the cloud, seamlessly adding them to your selection list. Have a bad data plan or spotty internet connectivity? Just turn off this feature from the Settings app for Smart Shuffle. ENHANCED ALBUM SELECTION - Sort your albums by Title, Artist, Genre, Composer, or Release Date - Filter the selection list to refine your selections. You can create an album playlist to match your mood by filtering on any combination of: - Artist - Genre - Grouping - Composer - Rating - Play Count - Date Added - Decade Released - Minimum Song Count - Inclusion in one of your Playlists - Cloud Availability - Filter by Selected to see only the albums you have currently selected for shuffling, or those that you haven't selected yet. - Start Album: Select the first album to play, then pick random albums thereafter. - Split Multi-Disc Albums: treat each volume of a multi-disc set individually APPLE WATCH INTERFACE - Control the playback of your album selections on your Apple Watch. Play or pause the current album, skip to the next album, or re-play the previous album. SLEEP MODE - Touch and hold the play/pause button for a second to request Sleep Mode - Smart Shuffle will automatically pause after 30 minutes, an hour, or after the current album. You'll get lulled to sleep listening to your favorite albums without missing a bunch of them while asleep! ANNOUNCEMENT AND DELAY - Smart Shuffle now comes with settings to announce each new album before it is played, and to delay for up to 30 seconds between albums to let you cleanse your musical palate. RESPONSIVE TO TOUCH EVENTS - Double tap the screen to play/pause music - Swipe left/right on the album art to skip to the next/previous album - Swipe left/right on the now playing information to skip to the next/previous song - Swipe down in the pull-tab to show your entire shuffled album queue. Swipe up to view the currently playing album art. - Touch the progress bar to change songs - Touch the time remaining to show the time of day that the currently playing album will end. Touch again to return to time remaining. - Touch and hold the progress bar to get a list of songs to choose from - From the Selection Screen, touch and hold an album to play it first in your shuffled list REMOTE CONTROL EVENTS - In addition to the usual remote control events (play/pause, next song, previous song), Smart Shuffle can now skip to the next/previous album using the "skimming" remote control events. Double-click and hold the remote control on headphones, or touch and hold the forward arrow on the remote control panel on your lock screen. If you quit the application, your music keeps playing. Open the Music app, and your Smart Shuffle mix is retained. Pop right back into Smart Shuffle to skip albums or select new albums to mix. Happy Shuffling! See our website for additional information, FAQ's and contact us to report bugs or request new features. http://spudfish.com/smartshuffle

About

Playlist Buddy

This app helps you manage and continue listening to large shuffled playlists. It remembers your playback position across multiple lists and offers AI-powered insights about your music.

Highlights
  • Resume shuffle playback
  • Manage multiple playlists
  • AI-powered music insights
  • On-device Apple Intelligence
  • Companion for Apple Music
Read full description

Tired of hearing the same songs every time you shuffle a big playlist? Playlist Buddy lets you pick up right where you left off — so your music keeps moving forward, not looping. Built for large playlists and long listening sessions, Playlist Buddy tracks your progress across multiple shuffled playlists and helps you discover more of the music you already own. Tap any track to get AI-powered insights — production notes, musicians, sound palette, and more. Generate any playlist you can imagine with a simple description. Get daily puzzles on the tracks found in your Apple Music playlists. All powered by Apple on device, cloud, or third-party models. Features: • Resume shuffle playback in large Apple Music playlists • Manage multiple shuffled playlists at once, each remembering its position • AI-powered "Learn More" insights powered by on-device Apple Intelligence • AI-powered daily puzzles • Create any playlist with playlist generation • Clean, lightweight companion built for Apple Music Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://sites.google.com/view/playlist-buddy-privacy/home

Screenshots

Smart Shuffle3 screens
Playlist Buddy3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Playlist Buddy at Free against Smart Shuffle's $1.99. Playlist Buddy also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months). Smart Shuffle's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (36 vs 1). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Playlist Buddy is free to download; Smart Shuffle costs $1.99 up front. Playlist Buddy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Smart Shuffle asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Playlist Buddy holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Smart Shuffle has 36 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Smart Shuffle ships an update every 2 months, Playlist Buddy every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Smart Shuffle versus Playlist Buddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmart ShufflePlaylist Buddy
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (36 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings36 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.6 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSpudfish SoftwareNicolas Le Gorrec

Customer experience

Smart Shuffle

All ratings36 ratings
Positive63.9%
Neutral16.7%
Negative19.4%
Written reviews115 reviews
Positive67.8%
Neutral12.2%
Negative20.0%

Playlist Buddy

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Smart Shuffle

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Playlist Buddy

Subscriptions1
  • Playlist Buddy Pro$4.991 Month
One-time1
  • Playlist Buddy Unlimited$4.99

Questions

Is Smart Shuffle free?
Smart Shuffle costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Playlist Buddy free?
Playlist Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Smart Shuffle or Playlist Buddy?
Playlist Buddy is rated higher. Smart Shuffle averages 3.8 out of 5 from 36 ratings, while Playlist Buddy averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Smart Shuffle or Playlist Buddy have ads?
Neither Smart Shuffle nor Playlist Buddy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Smart Shuffle or Playlist Buddy?
Smart Shuffle ships an update every 2 months, and Playlist Buddy every 4 days. Most recently, Smart Shuffle was updated on October 18, 2026 and Playlist Buddy on October 4, 2026.

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