Comparison

Smart Shuffle vs Listen Party

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

Listen Party

Share music with friends across different streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. Discover new music through a chronological feed and build collections of your favorite songs and playlists. Collaborate on playlists with friends and react to their musical discoveries.

Highlights
  • Share songs, albums, and playlists
  • Cross-platform sharing (Apple Music/Spotify)
  • Chronological music feed
  • Discover new music and people
  • React and comment on music
  • Build song and playlist collections
  • Collaborative playlist creation
Read full description

Listen Party is a social music app for you and your friends. Share and play songs, albums, and playlists in-app using Apple Music and Spotify, even if you and your friends use different services. It's free to use and there are no ads. How it works: • Create an account • Connect Apple Music or Spotify • Follow or invite friends • Tap to play any song, album, or playlist in the app • React, comment, save anything you love • Build collections of songs, artists, albums, and playlists • Make playlists together • Never miss when your friends share by adding a widget to your home screen Cross-platform sharing and playing in-app: A friend on Apple Music can share a song that plays for you even if you use Spotify, and vice versa. You use the subscription you already pay for. Even if you don't have a subscription you can still play 30 second clips of the music. Free! Listen Party is free to use. There's an optional Fan tier ($4.99/month or $49.99/year) to support development. It's entirely optional, and nothing is gated behind it. Questions? Visit listenparty.app or email info@listenparty.app — SUBSCRIPTION TERMS • Fan tier: $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year • Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase • Subscription auto-renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period • Manage or cancel subscriptions in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions on your iPhone Website: https://listenparty.app Terms of Use: https://listenparty.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://listenparty.app/privacy Support: https://listenparty.app/support

Screenshots

Smart Shuffle3 screens
Listen Party4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Listen Party at Free against Smart Shuffle's $1.99. Listen Party also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and review sentiment (100% vs 68%). Smart Shuffle's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and device support (3 vs 1). On ratings volume, ads and iOS requirement 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

Listen Party is free to download; Smart Shuffle costs $1.99 up front. Listen Party 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

Listen Party holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 36 and 13 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Smart Shuffle's written reviews are positive against 100% of Listen Party's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Smart Shuffle ships an update every 2 months, Listen Party every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Smart Shuffle versus Listen Party: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmart ShuffleListen Party
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (36 ratings)4.7 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings36 — better13
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB18 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSpudfish SoftwareNH Studios, LLC

Customer experience

Smart Shuffle

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

Listen Party

All ratings12 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Smart Shuffle

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Listen Party

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Fan$4.991 Month
  • Yearly Fan$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Smart Shuffle free?
Smart Shuffle costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Listen Party free?
Listen Party is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Smart Shuffle or Listen Party?
Listen Party is rated higher. Smart Shuffle averages 3.8 out of 5 from 36 ratings, while Listen Party averages 4.7 from 13 ratings.
Do Smart Shuffle or Listen Party have ads?
Neither Smart Shuffle nor Listen Party shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Smart Shuffle or Listen Party?
Smart Shuffle ships an update every 2 months, and Listen Party every 4 weeks. Most recently, Smart Shuffle was updated on October 23, 2026 and Listen Party on October 25, 2026.

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