Shaker Box vs Bongos
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shaker Box
This app transforms your iPhone into a musical instrument, offering a variety of shaker sounds. Explore different playing modes, including shake, tap, and loop, to create rhythms and beats.
- Playable music shakers
- Shake, tap, and loop modes
- Professionally recorded sounds
- Precise shaking recognition
- Support for 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures
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Shaker Box turns your iPhone into a playable music shaker! Shaker Box is a collection of high quality playable shakers for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Using high-precision accelerometer data, Shaker Box allows you to shake your phone just like a real shaker. Shaker Box features a range of professionally recorded shaker sounds and three playing modes. SHAKE MODE: Shake your device like a real shaker. TAP MODE: Tap the tap-pad and Shaker Box will play a shaker loop in time with your taps. LOOP MODE: Set a tempo, either manually, or by tapping the tap-tempo pad, and Shaker Box will play a Shaker Loop at the tempo you select. FEATURES: - Loads of shaker sounds to choose from - Three different playing modes - Professionally recorded shaker sounds - Precise shaking recognition - 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures A lot of hard work went into creating Shaker Box, so I hope you enjoy using it!
Bongos
This app provides a realistic finger bongo pad experience with high-quality sounds. Practice along to songs, customize bongo positions, and utilize built-in metronome and recording features for jam sessions and lessons.
- Realistic finger bongo pad
- High-quality sound selection
- Customizable bongo positions
- Built-in metronome (30-300 BPM)
- Recording and loop functions
- Practice along to songs
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***** This App is a Real Finger Bongo Pad. ***** You can practice according to the Song. ***** Ideal for Jam Sessions with other Instruments. ***** Suitable for Jam Sessions and Lessons. ***** Real High Quality Sound. [Simple Bongos] * Simple Bongo Pads with No Delay. [Sound Selection & Custom Bongo Positions] * Long Press to Select and set Sound. (After selecting the sound, push the selected Bongo again, it will be changed) * Available in All Bongo Positions. [Color] * Abundant Color Variations. [Metronome] * BPM(30〜300) [Rec] * Includes Recording, Loop and Metronome functions. * Suitable for Jam Sessions and Lessons. [List of Bongo Sounds] * Real High Quality Sound. [Bongo 1,Bongo 2,Bongo 3,Bongo 4,Bongo 5,Bongo 6,Bongo 7,Bongo 8,Bongo 9,Bongo 10,Bongo 11,Bongo 12,Bongo 13,Bongo 14,Bongo 15,Bongo 16,Bongo 17,Bongo 18,Bongo 19,Bongo 20,Bongo 21,Bongo 22,Bongo 23,Bongo 24,Bongo 25,Bongo 26,Bongo 27,Bongo 28,Bongo 29,Bongo 30,Bongo 31,Bongo 32,Bongo 33,Bongo 34,Bongo 35,Bongo 36,Bongo 37,Bongo 38,Bongo 39,Bongo 40,Bongo 41,Bongo 42,Bongo 43,Bongo 44,Bongo 45,Bongo 46,Bongo 47,Bongo 48,Bongo 49,Bongo 50,Bongo 51,Bongo 52,Bongo 53,Bongo 54,Bongo 55,Bongo 56,Bongo 57,Bongo 58,Bongo 59,Bongo 60,Bongo 61,Bongo 62,Bongo 63,WoodStick,Dog]
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Bongos at 4.1 against Shaker Box's 2.5. Bongos also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 18 months). Shaker Box's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (23% vs 0%). On price 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. Shaker Box sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Bongos asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bongos holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bongos has 36 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 23% of Shaker Box's written reviews are positive against 0% of Bongos's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Shaker Box ships an update every 18 months, Bongos fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shaker Box | Bongos |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (2 ratings) | 4.1 (36 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 22.7% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 36 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 18 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 577 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Steven Barnegren | Satomi Uchida |
Customer experience
Shaker Box
Bongos
In-app purchases
Shaker Box
- Unlock All Shakers$1.99
Bongos
No in-app purchases









