Comparison

Albumen vs Things

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

Head to head
About

Albumen

This app offers a straightforward way to browse and play music from your device's library. It organizes your songs by albums and playlists, providing a simple interface for playback control. Enjoy your music with a clean, uncluttered experience.

Highlights
  • View music library
  • Organized by albums and playlists
  • Simple playback interface
  • Background playback support
  • Now playing track indicator
Features
Read full description

Albumen provides a simple interface for viewing and playing songs (tracks) in your device's music library, organized into albums and playlists. Back when Albumen was originally written, Apple's Music app truncated song title and artist information, whereas Albumen displayed that information in full. Apple's Music app no longer truncates, but Albumen remains useful for the sheer simplicity of its interface. Tap a song (track) to start playing it. The iPhone's music player is used, so you can then quit Albumen and playback will continue, and you can use the iPhone's standard music interface (including the Music app, the Control Center, and the lock screen) to pause and resume play and so forth. Albumen also includes a play/pause button and a track progress indicator. Albumen also tells you what track is currently playing: the Now button takes you to the currently playing track within its album, and the currently playing track has a note mark.

About

Things

This app transforms sounds into ambient soundscapes or adds drone vibes to tracks using granular reverb, pitch shifting, and mid/side processing. It's inspired by sound design techniques from an award-winning indie game.

Highlights
  • Granular reverb
  • Pitch shifting
  • Mid/side mode
  • AUv3 plugin
  • Standalone app
  • Soundscape creation
Features
Read full description

Texture is an easy to use granular reverb with pitch shifting and mid/side mode available as AUv3 and Standalone. Texture can transform any sound into an ambient soundscape, or add that drone vibe to your tracks. This plugin was inspired by the techniques used in the soundtrack and sound design of the award-winning indie game The Swapper.

Screenshots

Albumen1 screens
Things1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Albumen at Free against Things's $6.99. Albumen also leads on update cadence (every 14 months vs every 32 months). Things's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.5) and review sentiment (100% vs 75%). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Albumen is free to download; Things costs $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Things holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Things has 15 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Albumen's written reviews are positive against 100% of Things's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Albumen ships an update every 14 months, Things every 32 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Albumen versus Things: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAlbumenThings
PriceFree — better$6.99
Rating3.5 (2 ratings)5.0 (15 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings215 — better
Update frequencyEvery 14 months — betterEvery 32 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMatt NeuburgAudioThing Ltd.

Customer experience

Albumen

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%

Things

All ratings15 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Albumen

No in-app purchases

None

Things

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Albumen free?
Albumen is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Things free?
Things costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Albumen or Things?
Things is rated higher. Albumen averages 3.5 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Things averages 5.0 from 15 ratings.
Do Albumen or Things have ads?
Neither Albumen nor Things shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Albumen or Things?
Albumen ships an update every 14 months, and Things every 32 months. Most recently, Albumen was updated on October 23, 2026 and Things on October 15, 2026.

Other comparisons