Comparison

Doumbek! vs Shiafy

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

Head to head
About

Doumbek!

Experience the authentic sound of the doumbek with this comprehensive drumming app. It offers multiple drum variations, realistic touch response, and advanced sound customization. Record, loop, and share your performances, or play along with built-in beats and your own music.

Highlights
  • 6 high-fidelity doumbek sounds
  • Realistic touch-sensitive volume and pitch
  • Multi-track recording and looping
  • Adjustable reverb, pitch, and delay
  • Play along to built-in beats or iPod music
  • Share and export recordings
Features
Read full description

Doumbek! is the most realistic and comprehensive drumming app for this popular and ancient Middle Eastern drum. Professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity sounds combine with the latest technology to produce the ultimate Doumbek app! Doumbek! features 6 different doumbeks to play, including an Egyptian Doumbek , a Doumbek with jingles, and small, medium and large Doumbeks.   There's even a unique Doumbek "jam" that allows anyone to easily sound like a pro!   With the ability to adjust reverb, pitch, and delay, and more, it's easy to create your ideal sound. Doumbek! also features record/playback/loop with multi-track capabilities; play along to dozens of unique drum beats, music loops and metronome sounds from within the app; or play to your favorite music on your iPod. You can also share your drumming via email, Facebook, and Twitter, or export to your computer via iTunes file sharing! Another great feature of Doumbek! is the ability to play the Doumbek with a variety of other drums and percussion, including Tabla, Pakharaj, and Tambourine. The Doumbek  responds  to your touch, and the  volume changes depending on how hard you tap the drum, just like a real Doumbek. The pitch also changes slightly depending on where you hit the drum. Playing realistic rolls is as easy as swirling your finger around; the roll speed corresponds to how fast or slow you swirl your finger. Beginner or pro, to save and to share.....now anyone can play Doumbek!.......anytime, anywhere! FEATURES: 
- 6 different professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity Doumbeks, in addition to Tabla, Pakharaj, Tambourine, and more - Slider control for infinite drum color choices - The harder you hit the drums, the louder they sound! - Drum Pitch Sensitivity - the pitch changes depending on where you strike the drum, just like real drums - Separate Reverb and Delay Controls - slider adjustments allows limitless drum sounds - Pitch Control - lower or raise the pitch of the drums - Realistic visual effects - drums look and respond like a real drum, visually corresponding to your every touch - Retina Display for both iPad and iPhone for incredibly crisp graphics - 22 Ethnic Drum Beats and 12 World Music Beats to play along to, with more to come! - Realistic Rolls - simply swirl your finger around to create slower or faster rolls - Double drum feature with slider adjustment - 17 Metronome Sounds and 4 Time Signatures to choose from, with BPM adjustment - Multi-track recording - easily add or delete tracks, save and loop recordings - Share your recordings through email, Facebook, and Twitter - Export your recordings to your computer via iTunes file sharing - Lefty Mode - reverse the entire drum layout - Play along to the music on your iPod PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html

About

Shiafy

This app offers an extensive audio library of Islamic Shia recitations, nasheeds, and spiritual content. Users can stream, discover new releases, create personalized playlists, and download content for offline listening. It provides a premium listening experience with high-quality audio and a modern interface designed for spiritual connection.

Highlights
  • Extensive audio library
  • Personalized playlists
  • Offline listening
  • High-quality audio streaming
  • Background playback
  • Artist and genre exploration
Features
Read full description

ShiaFy brings nohas, latmiyat, majalis, duas, nasheeds and Quran recitation together in one beautiful app, in Arabic and English. LISTEN YOUR WAY • A full-screen player that takes on the colours of each track's artwork • Lyrics, including synced lyrics that follow along as the reciter recites • Up Next: reorder, remove or play next, with Shuffle, Repeat and Autoplay • Sleep timer, playback speed, and 15-second skips for majalis and lectures • AirPlay and gapless playback FIND ANYTHING • Search as you type across tracks, reciters, albums and playlists • Arabic-aware search that handles diacritics, hamza and ta marbuta variants, and small typos • Recent searches, popular reciters and browse categories: Latmiyat, Duas & Ziyarat, Nasheeds, Mawalid, Quran, Majalis, Podcasts and more • Trending and latest releases YOUR LIBRARY • Favourites, your own playlists and your listening history in one place • Sign in with Apple or Google to keep your playlists, favourites and history in sync • Download tracks and listen offline, anywhere WHEREVER YOU ARE • CarPlay, with Home, Library and Browse • Home Screen widgets: Continue Listening and Trending • Siri and Shortcuts: "Resume ShiaFy", play trending, latest, favourites, a reciter or a playlist • Lock screen and Control Center controls • Light and dark mode, and full support for larger text sizes SHIAFY PREMIUM Enjoy ShiaFy for free, or go Premium for unlimited listening, unlimited downloads and unlimited favourites. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions are charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple ID account settings. Terms of Use: https://shiafy.com/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://shiafy.com/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Doumbek!4 screens
Shiafy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Shiafy at 79% against Doumbek!'s 25%. Shiafy also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.0) and ads (none vs shown). Doumbek!'s advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, 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. Doumbek! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Shiafy sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shiafy holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 28 and 56 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 25% of Doumbek!'s written reviews are positive against 79% of Shiafy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Doumbek! ships an update every 3 days, Shiafy every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Doumbek! versus Shiafy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDoumbek!Shiafy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (28 ratings)4.7 (56 ratings) — better
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews78.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2856 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
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
Size54 MB23 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperDrum StarzAbbas Yusuf

Customer experience

Doumbek!

All ratings28 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral7.1%
Negative21.4%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%

Shiafy

All ratings52 ratings
Positive88.5%
Neutral7.7%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive78.9%
Neutral15.8%
Negative5.3%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Doumbek!

One-time1
  • Remove ads$0.99
3 purchases

Shiafy

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Unlimited$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Unlimited$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlimited$129.99

Questions

Is Doumbek! free?
Doumbek! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shiafy free?
Shiafy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Doumbek! or Shiafy?
Shiafy is rated higher. Doumbek! averages 4.0 out of 5 from 28 ratings, while Shiafy averages 4.7 from 56 ratings.
Do Doumbek! or Shiafy have ads?
Doumbek! shows ads; Shiafy does not.
Which is updated more often, Doumbek! or Shiafy?
Doumbek! ships an update every 3 days, and Shiafy every 3 weeks. Most recently, Doumbek! was updated on November 1, 2026 and Shiafy on November 5, 2026.

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