TouchBells vs Pocket Swara
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TouchBells
This app is a virtual carillon instrument for iPad, offering xylophone, vibraphone, and tubular bell sounds. Users can play freely, record and share songs, and learn to play through a teach mode. It's designed for musical exploration and early childhood education.
- Virtual carillon instrument
- Xylophone, Vibraphone, Tubular Bells sounds
- Song recording and playback
- Song sharing with other users
- Teach mode for learning songs
- Adjustable stereo effect
- Tunable instrument pitch
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TouchBells is an easy and fun to use carillon music instrument (Glockenspiel) for the Apple iPad. The instrument covers a range of 1 1/2 octaves (from C3 to F#4). Classic Xylophone sounds, Vibraphone sounds and Tubular Bells sounds are available. With TouchBells, you can just freely play along or record and play back your songs. You can also share the songs you recorded with other TouchBells users. By using the TouchBells teach mode, you can learn how to play the songs other TouchBells users share with you. TouchBells is also great for kids early musical education. TouchBells has several unique features: - Xylophone or Vibraphone sounds. - Adjustable Stereo effect. - Its tunable, you can alter the instrument pitch. - Song recording and song management. - Share you songs with other TouchBells users by eMail. - Export your songs for iTunes. - Learn how to play using the Teach Mode. - Play dynamically using TouchBells touch-sensitivity feature. - Choose from four different bar captions (None, German-, American- and Solmisation-Style). Furthermore, TouchBells includes 25 demo songs: - Cradlesong (Wiegenlied) - Frere Jacques - Muss i denn, muss i denn zum Staedtele naus - Silent Night - My Bonny Is Over The Ocean - Ode to Joy - The moon as risen - Rondo all Turka (Turkish March) - When the Saints Go Marching In - Matilda - What shall we do with the trunken sailor? - Kojo no Tsuki - The Song of the Volga Boatmen - La Cucaracha - O Christmas Tree - Jingle Bells - Happy Birthday To You - Schneewalzer - Auld Lang Syne - Row, Row, Row Your Boat - Für Elise - Michael Row the Boat Ashore - She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain - Hänschen Klein - Old Mac Donald With the demo songs and the TouchBells Teach Mode, you can start directly with the learning how to play!
Pocket Swara
Practice Indian classical music with this app, offering a realistic tanpura drone, a digital shruti box, and a touch-screen harmonium. It includes a swara reference and a raga filter to guide your practice.
- Realistic tanpura drone
- Adjustable shruti box with individual swara control
- Touch-screen harmonium with multi-touch chords
- Swara reference with tone and frequency
- Raga filter for Hindustani ragas
- Offline functionality
- Background audio playback
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Master Indian classical music with Pocket Swara — your all-in-one practice companion for tanpura, shruti box, harmonium, and swara reference. TANPURA DRONE Practice with a realistic synthesized tanpura drone. Choose Sa-Pa or Sa-Ma mode, adjust the pluck rate, and set your base Sa to any pitch from C2 to C6. SHRUTI BOX Toggle individual swaras on and off for a continuous drone. Adjust the volume of each swara independently — just like a real shruti box. HARMONIUM Play a touch-screen harmonium with two full octaves. Multi-touch support lets you play chords. Every key is labeled with its swara name. SWARA REFERENCE Tap any of the 12 swaras to hear its tone and see its frequency. A quick way to check any note relative to your chosen Sa. RAGA FILTER Browse 50 common Hindustani ragas with aroh, avroh, vadi, and samvadi. Select a raga to filter swaras across every feature so you only see and hear the notes you need. BUILT FOR PRACTICE Set your base Sa to any pitch (C2–C6) All audio synthesized on-device — no large downloads Works offline — no internet required Background audio — keep your tanpura droning while you use other apps No ads, no accounts, no data collection
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pocket Swara at Free against TouchBells's $1.99. Pocket Swara also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.5) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). TouchBells's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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
Pocket Swara is free to download; TouchBells costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pocket Swara holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.
TouchBells ships an update every 5 months, Pocket Swara every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 8, 2026.
| Parameter | TouchBells | Pocket Swara |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 2.5 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 66 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Thomas Braun | John Walbolt |
Customer experience
TouchBells
Pocket Swara
In-app purchases
TouchBells
No in-app purchases
Pocket Swara
No in-app purchases









