Comparison

Pocket Drums vs Real Drums!

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read 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

About

Real Drums!

Experience a realistic drumming environment with customizable drum kits and extensive sound options. Arrange components, edit layouts, and utilize features like auto-rolling and motion sensor integration for an immersive playing experience. Record your own beats or explore pre-recorded tracks.

Highlights
  • Customizable drum kit arrangement
  • Multiple drum kit sounds
  • Auto drum rolling
  • Motion sensor integration
  • Record and save beats
  • Pre-recorded beats library
  • 3-D sound positioning
Features
Read full description

Looking for a realistic drum playing application? Want to arrange drum components as you like? Want sliding and playing functions with great responsiveness? Meeting above needs all at the same time? Here is a perfect solution for your ideal drum. Real Drums will provide you with realistic drum playing environment at your fingertips. FEATURES: * 4 different drum kit sounds (rock, jazz, dance, electronic) * 10 basic drum components with 12 different sounds played simultaneously * 8 extra components (4 brushed, side-stick, 2 extra cymbals, and a cowbell) * Arrange drum components to make your fingers comfortable * Edit (Add / Remove / Resize) components * Auto drum rolling (4, 8, 12, 16, 32 beat) * Mixes high quality poly-phony sounds with no clipping at the end * 3-D Positioning sounds * A metronome with adjustable on/off, BPMs and beats * Open hihat features quick stop * Record and save your own beats * 40 pre-recorded beats (Rock, Hiphop, Jazz, Latin, Ballad, Dance, etc) * Slide and play * Activates motion sensor for playing bass drum and cymbals * Great responsiveness for double bass and fast beats * Animated visual effect * Velocity Control Turn on your favorate song and enjoy !!!

Screenshots

Pocket Drums4 screens
Real Drums!3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Real Drums! at 4.5 against Pocket Drums's 4.0. Real Drums! also leads on ads (none vs shown). Pocket Drums's advantage is ratings volume (290 vs 8) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Pocket Drums sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Real Drums! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Real Drums! holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Drums has 290 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Pocket Drums's written reviews are positive against 54% of Real Drums!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket Drums ships an update every 2 months, Real Drums! every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pocket Drums versus Real Drums!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket DrumsReal Drums!
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (290 ratings)4.5 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.4% of reviews53.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings290 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB35 MB
Age rating+94+
DeveloperDrum StarzMooseok Bahng

Customer experience

Pocket Drums

All ratings290 ratings
Positive73.4%
Neutral7.6%
Negative19.0%
Written reviews81 reviews
Positive49.4%
Neutral2.5%
Negative48.1%

Real Drums!

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive53.6%
Neutral3.6%
Negative42.9%

Bugs and requests

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 more
  • 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 more
  • Ability to modify and remove playlists
  • Better disco beat drum sounds
  • More instruments and variety
  • Reduced ad frequency

Real Drums!

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Pocket Drums

One-time6
  • Remove ads$0.99
  • Exporting$0.99
  • Kit Pack$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Wraps$0.99
  • Snares$0.99
  • Full - Unlock everything$2.99
1 purchases

Real Drums!

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99

Questions

Is Pocket Drums free?
Pocket Drums is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Real Drums! free?
Real Drums! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pocket Drums or Real Drums!?
Real Drums! is rated higher. Pocket Drums averages 4.0 out of 5 from 290 ratings, while Real Drums! averages 4.5 from 8 ratings.
Do Pocket Drums or Real Drums! have ads?
Pocket Drums shows ads; Real Drums! does not.
Which is updated more often, Pocket Drums or Real Drums!?
Pocket Drums ships an update every 2 months, and Real Drums! every 4 months. Most recently, Pocket Drums was updated on October 19, 2026 and Real Drums! on October 20, 2026.

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