Comparison

Genius Plus vs LumiWave

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

Head to head
About

Genius Plus

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Genius Plus brings smart music discovery to your local library. It analyzes tempo (BPM), key & chroma, spectral centroid, and energy to create a compact feature vector for each track. Using a high‑performance approximate nearest neighbor index (HNSW), it finds sonically similar songs and builds seamless playlists and radio stations; on your device, privately. Tune the β€œfeel” of your playlists in Settings. Emphasize chroma/key, tempo, or energy; enable dimensionality reduction (PCA) and optional quantization to reduce storage. Batch‑process your library, browse song details, and start a radio stream from any seed track.

About

LumiWave

Features
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LumiWave is a music player that lets you see your music, no matter where it comes from. β–  One playlist across every source Files on iCloud Drive, Google Drive and other cloud services, local audio on your iPhone, and Apple Music (including tracks in your library imported from CDs) β€” LumiWave brings them together into a single playlist built around your mood, not around where each track came from. β–  Visualizers that react to sound The playback screen is more than artwork and a play button. Five visualizers move in real time with your music: - CG: reactive particles and waveforms - Bottle: liquid fills as playback progresses - Creature: little creatures gather when you tap - Slide: your chosen photos or playlist artwork slowly pan and zoom - Aquarium: a school of fish swims to the music and gathers when you tap to drop food Pinch out for full-screen mode: nothing but the visualizer and minimal controls, so you can sink into the music. For late-night listening, focus sessions, or just changing the mood of a room. β–  Honest about audio The more striking the visuals, the more the sound has to be trustworthy. LumiWave treats the audio path with care. - Supports WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, AAC and MP3 (up to 192kHz / 24-bit) - Plays imported files at their original quality - Lossless and Hi-Res tracks are clearly badged, with format, sample rate and bit depth shown - Playback comes first: under load, rendering quality drops automatically to protect the sound β–  Privacy No account, no servers. Imported audio, playlists, photos and settings stay on your device, and audio analysis runs locally. Nothing is collected. β–  Visualizer Pro (one-time purchase) All playback features, the CG and Slide visualizers, playlists and quality display are free. A one-time Pro purchase β€” not a subscription β€” unlocks the Bottle, Creature and Aquarium visualizers and any Pro features added later. You can preview the Pro visualizers for free before buying. Music, set free.

Screenshots

Genius Plus4 screens
LumiWave4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: LumiWave at every 4 days against Genius Plus's every 2 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Genius Plus sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per year and LumiWave sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Genius Plus ships an update every 2 weeks, LumiWave every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Genius Plus versus LumiWave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGenius PlusLumiWave
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size4 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDarryl ReedPAOSystem

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Genius Plus

Subscriptions1
  • Genius Plus Annual$1.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Purchase$4.99
1 purchases

LumiWave

One-time1
  • Visualizer Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Genius Plus free?
Genius Plus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LumiWave free?
LumiWave is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Genius Plus or LumiWave have ads?
Neither Genius Plus nor LumiWave shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Genius Plus or LumiWave?
Genius Plus ships an update every 2 weeks, and LumiWave every 4 days. Most recently, Genius Plus was updated on October 25, 2026 and LumiWave on October 31, 2026.

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