Sonic Compass vs Slate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sonic Compass
Develop an innate sense of direction with this app that uses cognitive science principles and spatial audio cues to teach you the direction of North. It offers modes for active learning, ambient awareness, and silent haptic guidance, even working in the background.
- Develop a sense of North
- Active inference learning mode
- Ambient spatial audio awareness
- Silent haptic vibration guidance
- High-precision spatial audio
- Pocket calibration for accuracy
- Background operation
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Ever wished you had a natural, built-in compass? Sonic Compass is a revolutionary tool designed to help you develop a sense of the direction of North. Based on principles of cognitive science and predictive processing, our app creates a new sense of cardinal directions. You'll find yourself more oriented and aware, even when the app is off. KEY FEATURES: • LEARNING MODE: The core of the experience. Predict the direction of North after hearing a cue and receive instant spatial audio feedback. This "active inference" method is designed to build and reinforce neural pathways. You won't need to do anything except listen! • SENSE MODE: Experience a continuous, subtle spatial sound that indicates the direction of North. It’s an ambient awareness tool that helps you have a sense of orientation without looking at a screen. • VIBRATION MODE: For silent guidance. Get a gentle haptic pulse whenever you (or your phone) are facing North. Perfect for quick checks or keeping your phone in a pocket. • HIGH-PRECISION SPATIAL AUDIO: We dynamically generate over 120 unique sound positions to give you an incredibly accurate and smooth sense of direction—far beyond simple stereo panning. • POCKET CALIBRATION: Our smart offset tool allows you to calibrate the app for how you carry your phone, ensuring accuracy even when it's not held flat in your hand. • BACKGROUND AWARENESS: Sonic Compass works just as well in the background and it's compatible with hearing music, navigational guidance, and other sounds while the app is running. WHO IS THIS FOR? • Hikers, campers, and outdoor enthusiasts who want to rely less on GPS. • People with accessibility needs. • Travelers and urban explorers navigating new cities. • Biohackers. Cyborgs. Superhumans? Everyone interested in using technology to develop a previously inaccessible sense. You won't just know where North is. You'll feel it.
Slate
Record your thoughts and receive on-device reflections and weekly summaries. This private voice journal keeps all your data on your phone, with optional encrypted iCloud backups. It offers a space for personal reflection without any external servers or analytics.
- Voice recording and transcription
- On-device reflection analysis
- Weekly summary of thoughts
- Encrypted iCloud backup option
- Offline functionality
- No server or network calls
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Speak your mind. Slate keeps it. Nothing leaves the phone. Slate is a private voice journal. Press record and say what's on your mind. The transcript is made on your phone, filler out, paragraphs in, your words untouched underneath. Every entry gets a title, the sentence that says what happened, and the line that mattered, in your own words. Tags for what it was about, who was in it, and where you were. Tap a tag and every entry that carries it lines up. Search your journal by word, person or place. It is all here and it is all yours. On Sunday the week comes back to you. What repeated, what shifted, in your own words. And when the journal knows something, it says so plainly: the first time you mention someone in weeks, or how often a thing has come up this month. All on device. It never leaves the phone. There is no server, no account, no analytics, no network calls. The privacy label reads "Data Not Collected" because there is nothing to collect. Turn on airplane mode; everything still works. It always will. If you want a backup, optional encrypted iCloud backup is there in Settings. Off until you say so, private to your own account either way. No streaks. No scores. No chatbot. A private place to think. Slate is a subscription, monthly or yearly, after a one month free trial. A one-time lifetime purchase is also available. Prices are shown in the app before you pay. Terms: https://hsla0001.com/terms/slate Privacy: https://hsla0001.com/privacy/slate
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sonic Compass at none against Slate's 2. Sonic Compass also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). Slate's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (5 vs 1). On price, rating, ads 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. Slate sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Sonic Compass asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Sonic Compass against 5.0 for Slate. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Slate has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Sonic Compass ships an update every 13 months, Slate every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sonic Compass | Slate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AudD, LLC | hsla0001 |
Customer experience
Sonic Compass
Slate
In-app purchases
Sonic Compass
No in-app purchases
Slate
- Monthly1 Month trial$7.991 Month
- Yearly1 Month trial$59.991 Year








