Chinese Instruments vs Harp Real
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chinese Instruments
Explore the rich history and diverse sounds of traditional Chinese musical instruments. Discover detailed information, high-resolution images, and representative music for 24 unique instruments, categorized by type.
- 24 Chinese instruments detailed
- High-resolution instrument images
- Descriptive text for each instrument
- Representative music samples
- Integrated music player
- YouTube video links
- Categorized instrument list
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Chinese musical instruments are very interesting and have a very long history. This app try to present these Chinese instruments to non-Chinese player. There is a Chinese Version for the Chinese people. Chinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122BC to 256 BC). Today, the music continues a rich traditional heritage in one aspect, while emerging into a more contemporary form at the same time. Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. The scale is pentatonic. Dizi and qin are among the oldest known musical instruments from China; instruments are traditionally divided into categories based on their material of composition: animal skins, gourd, bamboo, wood, silk, earth/clay, metal, and stone. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed strings, woodwinds, plucked strings and percussion. This app includes 24 Chinese instruments, which fall into four categories: Wind instruments include dizi, xiao, sheng, suona, guan and xun etc. Plucked instruments include pipa, zheng, ruan, liuqin, sanxian and qin etc. Bowed instruments include erhu, gaohu, banhu, zhonghu, gehu and matouqin etc. Percussion instruments include dagu, bangu, bo, lou, bianzhong and yangqin etc. Each instrument has a high resolution picture, a description text file and a famous representative music. There are total 25 pieces of Chinese music, total time play exceed two hours. There is also a Music Player to play the music, if you want to listen to the music only. Beside music, there are two YouTube Video links to each instrument. This free version is the same with the paid version, except iAd advertisements added.
Harp Real
This app simulates a 27-string lever harp, offering a realistic playing experience with a wide frequency range. Practice songs with adjustable speed and transposition, or play in real-time. Record and share your music.
- 27-string lever harp simulation
- Frequency range C3 to A6#
- Offline and online song practice
- Adjustable song speed and transposition
- Reverb effect
- Normal and RealTime play modes
- Autoplay option
- Record, playback, and share functionality
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The Harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps have been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3500 BC. The instrument had great popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, where it evolved into a wide range of variants with new technologies, and was disseminated to Europe's colonies, finding particular popularity in Latin America. Although some ancient members of the harp family died out in the Near East and South Asia, descendants of early harps are still played in Myanmar and parts of Africa, and other defunct variants in Europe and Asia have been utilized by musicians in the modern era. Harps vary globally in many ways. In terms of size, many smaller harps can be played on the lap, whereas larger harps are quite heavy and rest on the floor. Different harps may use strings of catgut, nylon, metal, or some combination. While all harps have a neck, resonator, and strings, frame harps have a pillar at their long end to support the strings, while open harps, such as arch harps and bow harps, do not. Modern harps also vary in techniques used to extend the range and chromaticism (e.g., adding sharps and flats) of the strings, such as adjusting a string's note mid-performance with levers or pedals which modify the pitch. The pedal harp is a standard instrument in the orchestra of the Romantic music era (ca. 1800–1910) and the contemporary music era. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp) The Harp Real is Lever Harp (Celtic Harp) 27 strings simulation app with lever feature. Frequency range: C3 -> A6#. More offline and online songs for practice (With the ability to change speed, transpose, reverb). Play with 2 modes: - Normal - RealTime You can choose autoplay for listening songs. Record feature: record, play back and share to your friends. ** Songs is updated regularly
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Harp Real at 4.7 against Chinese Instruments's 3.8. Harp Real also leads on ratings volume (635 vs 4) and update cadence (every 15 months vs every 32 months). Chinese Instruments's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and monetization model (ad-supported vs free with in-app purchases). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Harp Real holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Harp Real has 635 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Chinese Instruments's written reviews are positive against 68% of Harp Real's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Chinese Instruments ships an update every 32 months, Harp Real every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chinese Instruments | Harp Real |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (4 ratings) | 4.7 (635 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 67.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 635 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 32 months | Every 15 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 198 MB | 97 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hon Fai Yiu | Son Truong Ngoc |
Customer experience
Chinese Instruments
Harp Real
Bugs and requests
Chinese Instruments
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Harp Real
Reported bugs
4 issues- No sound output for some users
- Volume control not easily accessible
- Incorrect pitches in some instances
- App not functioning properly on some devices
Requested features
4 requests- Background play functionality
- Transpose button
- Second hand notes for all songs
- Better documentation/tutorial
In-app purchases
Chinese Instruments
No in-app purchases
Harp Real
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chinese Instruments free?
Is Harp Real free?
Which has better reviews, Chinese Instruments or Harp Real?
Do Chinese Instruments or Harp Real have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chinese Instruments or Harp Real?
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