Bongos vs Brass Up!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bongos
Experience realistic bongo drumming with professionally recorded sounds that change based on where you strike the drums. This app offers high-quality samples, additional percussion, and low latency for an immersive musical experience on your iPhone or iPad.
- 18 high-quality bongo samples
- Cowbell and sticks percussion
- Professionally recorded & mastered sounds
- No latency for precise playing
- Multitasking support for playing along with music
- Universal app for iPhone and iPad
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The ultimate Bongos for your iPhone and iPad 18 with professionally recorded and mastered sounds: Depending where you hit the bongos sounds varies! It doesn’t matter if you are a professional musician, want to become a bongocero or just want to drum for fun - you should get this app! Features: ⇒ 18 high quality bongo samples ⇒ More percussion: Cowbell and sticks ⇒ Professionally recorded & mastered sounds ⇒ No latency for fast and exact playing! ⇒ Optimized for iPhone / iPad speakers, headphones and external speakers ⇒ Supports multitasking: Play along with your own music ⇒ HD Retina Graphics for iPhone, iPod touch and the new iPad ⇒ 2 Apps in 1: Universal App for iPhone AND iPad To play along with your own music, start the music on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and start the app. Important: If you can't hear anything on your device, please make sure, you turned up the ringtone volume and enabled application sounds in the iPhone settings menu. --------- Make sure to leave a comment with ideas and wishes for future versions in your review!
Brass Up!
Practice valve brass instruments with this fingering simulator. Choose from 12 keys, random notes, scales, or Arban-style exercises. Features learning and drill modes, plus a reference lookup for all notes and alternate fingerings.
- Fingering simulation for valve brass instruments
- Support for 12 keys
- Random notes, scales, and Arban exercises
- Learn and drill modes
- Note reference lookup
- Alternate fingering support
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Simulate fingerings for true practice of most of the valve brass instruments, in any of 12 keys. Random notes are presented in the selected key, or select scales or Arban-style exercises. Learn mode (shows fingerings) and drill mode. Reference lookup of all notes in all 12 keys. Alternate fingerings included and accepted. Trumpet, euphonium, baritone, b-flat and e-flat tuba, french horn. 3-valve, 4-valve, and 3+1 valve configurations.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Bongos at 3.3 against Brass Up!'s 2.7. Bongos also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Brass Up!'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Bongos sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Brass Up! asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bongos holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 28 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 66% of Bongos's written reviews are positive against 70% of Brass Up!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Bongos ships an update every 2 months, Brass Up! every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bongos | Brass Up! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (24 ratings) — better | 2.7 (28 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 65.7% of reviews | 70.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 24 | 28 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Skunk Brothers GmbH | IdeateGames |
Customer experience
Bongos
Brass Up!
Bugs and requests
Bongos
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sound not working on some devices
- Rotation issues on certain phones
- Ads covering up playing area
Requested features
4 requests- Record and playback feature
- More instrument options
- Ability to tune/adjust bongos
- Integration with music apps
Brass Up!
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bongos
- Bongos Ad-Free$1.99
Brass Up!
No in-app purchases
