Bongos vs Pocket Drums
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
Read full descriptionHide full description
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!
Pocket Drums
Experience realistic drumming with a virtual drum kit that fits in your pocket. This app offers responsive touch controls, high-fidelity drum sets, and various beats to help you play along. Learn rudiments with included videos and customize your sound with adjustable pitch, volume, and effects.
- Realistic touch-sensitive drum response
- 15 high-fidelity recorded drum kits
- 16 PlayAlong Beats and 20 music/drum beats
- Basic drum rudiment videos
- Adjustable pitch, sensitivity, volume, reverb, and delay
- Multi-track recording and sharing capabilities
Read full descriptionHide full description
Pocket Drums is the most realistic sounding and looking drum app out there! Perfect for both beginners and pros alike, Pocket Drums utilizes the latest technology and decades of real drum experience to create the ideal drumming app for the iPhone or iPad. All of the features of the app combine to make you feel as if you are sitting down and playing a real drum set. The drums respond to your touch - the pitch changes slightly depending on where you hit the toms, just like a real kit. Playing realistic rolls is as easy as swirling your finger around, simply adjusting the roll speed by how fast or slow you swirl your finger. There is also 15 different professionally recorded high fidelity drum sets to choose from, and an amazing drum wrap, with more to come. Pocket Drums also features 16 PlayAlong Beats, 10 unique Drum Beats and 10 Music Beats to rock out with, as well as 10 different metronome sounds. A unique feature is the addition of 10 basic rudiment videos, so you can see firsthand how to play the drum rudiments. With the ability to adjust the pitch, sensitivity, individual drum volume, reverb, and delay, recording, ability to share and export your recordings (optional in-app purchase), and so much more, Pocket Drums is by far the most comprehensive and realistic drumming app available today! FEATURES: • 15 professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity kits, with more to come • Drum Pitch Sensitivity - the pitch changes depending on where you strike the toms, just like a real kit • Reverb and Delay Controls - slider adjustments allows limitless drum sounds • Pitch Control - lower or raise the pitch of the drums • Drum Volume - adjust volume of each individual drum • Snares - 11 more snares that you can mix and match to create your ideal sound (optional in-app purchase) • Videos of basic drum rudiments played on a real snare drum • Amazingly realistic drum wraps • Realistic visual effects - drums and cymbals look and respond like a real drum set, visually corresponding to your every touch • Retina Display for both iPad and iPhone for incredibly crisp graphics • PlayAlong Beats: 16 new loops with basic bass drum, hi-hat or snare beats, to play along for added rhythmic expression! • 10 Drum Beats and 10 Music Beats to play along to, with more to come! • Realistic Rolls - simply swirl your finger around to create slower or faster rolls • Double Bass drum feature with slider adjustment • 10 Metronome Sounds and 4 Time Signatures to choose from, with BPM adjustment • Recording - easily add or delete tracks, save and loop recordings • Multi-track recording functionality • Share your recordings through email, Facebook, and Twitter • Export your recordings to your computer (optional in-app purchase) • Lefty Mode - reverse the entire drum layout • Play along to the music on your iPod • Option to add bass drum when hitting crash cymbal IN-APP PURCHASES TO UPGRADE: • Additional kit pack • 11 more snares that you can mix and match to create your ideal sound • 3 more wraps: Turquoise, Black Oyster, and Dark Wood • Export recordings • Ads removed PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pocket Drums at 4.0 against Bongos's 3.3. Pocket Drums also leads on ratings volume (289 vs 24). Bongos's advantage is review sentiment (64% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Bongos sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pocket Drums sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Pocket Drums holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Drums has 289 ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Bongos's written reviews are positive against 50% of Pocket Drums's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bongos | Pocket Drums |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (24 ratings) | 4.0 (289 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 64.1% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24 | 289 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +9 |
| Developer | Skunk Brothers GmbH | Drum Starz |
Customer experience
Bongos
Pocket Drums
User reviews
Bongos
From 24 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Realistic bongo sounds
- 🎶 Encourages musical creativity
- 🤗 Fun for all ages
- 💻 Works well on mobile devices
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
- 🙄 Repetitive after a while
- 📢 Intrusive ads
- 🔊 Could use louder/better sound
Pocket Drums
From 289 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎵 Realistic drum sounds and quality audio
- 👍 Great for drum practice and learning
- 🎯 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 🎸 Multiple drum kits and sound options
- 💰 Free app with useful features
Room to improve
- 📢 Excessive and intrusive advertisements
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing
- 🔊 Occasional loud glitching sounds
- ⏱️ Timing issues and lag during fast playing
- 🎵 Poor drum sound quality in some kits
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
Pocket Drums
Reported bugs
9 issues- App crashes when playing drums rapidly
- Glitching audio that stutters and repeats loudly
- App freezes when recording multiple times
- Screen stretches and becomes unresponsive
- App fails to open after updates
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Video upload functionality broken
- Drums don't register input properly
- Incompatibility with recent iOS updates
- Ads freeze the app and prevent closing
Requested features
9 requests- Double bass pedal for metal songs
- Reggae drum tones
- Splash and china cymbals
- Mix and match custom drum sets
- Built-in drumming lessons
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Ability to modify and remove playlists
- Better disco beat drum sounds
- More instruments and variety
- Reduced ad frequency
In-app purchases
Bongos
- Bongos Ad-Free$1.99
Pocket Drums
- Remove ads$0.99
- Exporting$0.99
- Kit Pack$0.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Wraps$0.99
- Snares$0.99
- Full - Unlock everything$2.99









