Comparison

Circlo vs Scouter Synth

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

Head to head
About

Circlo

This app offers a unique ambient audiovisual experience with a pulsating circle display and a dynamic soundtrack that changes intensity throughout the day. Users can customize color schemes and control the music through a simple double-tap interface.

Highlights
  • Ambient audiovisual clock
  • Dynamic soundtrack
  • Pulsating circle display
  • Customizable color schemes
  • Music on/off toggle
  • Intuitive double-tap controls
Features
Read full description

Circlo is an ambient audiovisual clock. The ambient soundtrack by Hannu Kuosmanen changes depending on what time of day it is while the circles on the screen pulsate gently. The music is at its calmest around 1 am/pm, and gets more intense until the clock strikes 1 again. Double-tap anywhere to access the settings screen where you can change the color scheme and turn the music on or off. Design and programming by Johan Halin. Music by Hannu Kuosmanen. --- Johan Halin has also created Kontrol, an experimental techno composition that was shown in 2011 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of the "Talk to Me" exhibition, and Revolve, an ambient reaction game.

About

Scouter Synth

Create music with a retro handheld console interface. Compose melodies, add synth sounds or samples, and mix tracks with effects. Perform live with a touch-sensitive pad and punch-in effects.

Highlights
  • Eight-track music composition
  • Multiple synth voices and sample playback
  • On-board effects and mixing console
  • Performance pad for live parameter control
  • MIDI and Bluetooth controller support
  • Import and record audio samples
Features
Read full description

ScouterSynth is a music tracker built like a handheld console. Eight tracks, a D-pad, two buttons, and no menus — every operation is a chord you can play with your thumbs. WRITE Phrases of sixteen rows, chains of phrases, and a song made of chains. Write a bassline once and place it four times with different transposes; change it later and every one of those places changes with it. Phrases can be shorter than sixteen rows, so six-eight is as easy as four-four. SOUND A synth voice per track — saw, pulse with PWM, triangle and sine, through a resonant filter and an envelope — or a sample, played whole or sliced. Wavetables for the sounds a plain oscillator cannot make. Per-tick tables for automation that runs faster than a row. SAMPLE Import from anywhere on your phone, or record straight into a slot from the microphone. MP3, AAC, M4A, AIFF and WAV are all converted on the way in. Whatever you choose is copied into your project, so a saved song carries its audio with it. MIX Ten lanes on one screen — eight tracks and two send buses — with level, pan, mute and solo, and three effect slots on each: filter, bitcrush and a tempo-synced delay. Watch the desk as a set of numbers or as ten live traces. PLAY A performance pad wires any two parameters to an X and a Y axis and moves every track at once. A grid of twelve pads holds six punch-in effects — an octave down, tape slow, a stutter, a bitcrush, a high pass and a low pass — held rather than latched, so nothing can be left on by accident, and six one-shot samples to fire over the top. SEE A radar sweep that reads the mix by frequency, a scope on the output, and six palettes to put it all in. INTEGRATE MIDI in and out with clock. A Bluetooth game controller, mapped button by button to whatever pad you own. Export the whole arrangement to a WAV. Songs, samples and exports all sit in the Files app where you can reach them. No accounts. No subscriptions. No network. The manual is inside the app — press SELECT and B on any screen.

Screenshots

Circlo4 screens
Scouter Synth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Scouter Synth at every 4 weeks against Circlo's every 33 months. Circlo's advantage is ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Circlo against 5.0 for Scouter Synth. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Circlo has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Circlo ships an update every 33 months, Scouter Synth every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Circlo versus Scouter Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCircloScouter Synth
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 33 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAero DekoAndrew Scott

Customer experience

Circlo

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Scouter Synth

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Circlo

No in-app purchases

None

Scouter Synth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Circlo free?
Circlo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Scouter Synth free?
Scouter Synth is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Circlo or Scouter Synth?
Circlo and Scouter Synth are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Circlo or Scouter Synth have ads?
Neither Circlo nor Scouter Synth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Circlo or Scouter Synth?
Circlo ships an update every 33 months, and Scouter Synth every 4 weeks. Most recently, Circlo was updated on November 1, 2026 and Scouter Synth on October 31, 2026.

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