GyroSynth vs Pocket Jam
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GyroSynth
This app transforms your device into a gesture-controlled musical instrument. Use your device's gyroscope to manipulate sound parameters like pitch and volume, creating melodies and effects by moving your hand through the air. Explore various synthesizer types and built-in effects for a unique music creation experience.
- Gesture-driven sound manipulation
- Multiple synthesizer types
- Built-in effects (delay, boost)
- Musical scales for easy playing
- Recorder with overdub function
- Experimental FM modulation
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GyroSynth is a gesture driven music synthesizer, which takes full adventage of the gyroscope. You can play and modulate the sound by moving your hand through the air - just like the legendary Theremin instrument. GyroSynth makes use of the gyroscope to measure true roll, pitch, and yaw and translates them to sound parameters like pitch, volume, modulation or filter cutoff. Thanks to phenomenal accuracy (2000 degrees), you can play melodies perfectly in tune. A finalist in 'Most Innovative App' category at the 2010 Best App Ever Awards (148apps). GyroSynth has been used in numerous live jams and performances (e.g., Mindex) FEATURES - Synthesizers: vocal (formant synthesizer), sine wave , square (PWM modulation), saw, granular sample player with recording function and R2D2 - experimental FM modulation - Effects: delay and boost - Several control modes - Included musical scales allow you to effortlessly play in several styles - Built-in recorder and player with overdub function "There isn’t too much more to say about GyroSynth other than wow!" AppSafari Enjoy the new experience!
Pocket Jam
Practice and play along with your favorite songs by adjusting their pitch and tempo in real time. Loop specific song sections, gradually increase speed with a speed trainer, and mark important parts for quick access. Add songs from Apple Music or your device files.
- Change pitch in real time
- Adjust song tempo
- Loop specific song sections
- Speed trainer for gradual tempo increase
- Section markers for quick navigation
- Import songs from Apple Music and Files
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Pocket Jam is for musicians wanting to practice and play along with their favourite songs. Loop specific sections of songs, or change the pitch or tempo in real time. If you don't have a capo to hand — or worse, the song is in a lower tuning than you, Pocket Jam has you covered. You can change the pitch up and down — in real time — to any amount of semitones up to an octave. Looping lets you pick specific parts of the song you want to practise. Once enabled, drag the left and right handles on the play bar to set the start and end of the loop, and it'll loop between them. And when looping isn't enough, you can use the speed trainer. With a loop set up up, you can have it start each loop playing slowly, and gradually get faster after each loop. You can customise how slow it starts, and how many loops it takes to reach the full tempo. Mark specific times in a song with section markers. It'll let you jump to parts or set up loops quicker. You can add songs from your Apple Music library — streaming or downloads — or from your Files on device, and play them back in real time, or export them. Pitch adjustments and file exporting are not available when streaming from Apple Music. Terms & Conditions: https://pocketjam.app/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pocket Jam at Free against GyroSynth's $4.99. Pocket Jam also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 12 months). GyroSynth's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (73% vs 48%). On rating, ratings volume, ads 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 Jam is free to download; GyroSynth costs $4.99 up front. Pocket Jam sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. GyroSynth asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for GyroSynth against 4.4 for Pocket Jam. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 37 and 41 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of GyroSynth's written reviews are positive against 48% of Pocket Jam's.
GyroSynth ships an update every 12 months, Pocket Jam monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GyroSynth | Pocket Jam |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (37 ratings) — better | 4.4 (41 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.0% of reviews — better | 48.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 37 | 41 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BeepStreet | Martin Hoeller |
Customer experience
GyroSynth
Pocket Jam
Bugs and requests
GyroSynth
Reported bugs
7 issues- No sound no matter what I do
- Crashed on startup on iOS 8
- Crashes on launch since the iOS 8 update
- Stopped working with iOS 8
- Sampler doesn't work
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- Doesn't work on iOS 8.1
- Crashes as soon as I open it on iOS 8
Requested features
7 requests- Custom scales that can be saved
- Wireless midi out
- Ability to play iPod tracks in background
- More synth modules, more/selectable FX, sample import, the ability to assign parameters beyond waveform modification to the gyroscopic planes
- Recording and export feature
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- Labels for the notes
- More voices
Pocket Jam
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
GyroSynth
No in-app purchases
Pocket Jam
- Weekly Plan$2.997 Days
- Monthly Plan3 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Yearly Plan$29.991 Year









