NinjamZap vs Midiboard
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
NinjamZap
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NinjamZap brings real-time online jamming to your iPhone and iPad ā now with live video. Connect to any NINJAM server, pick a username, and play music with people around the world. Free, no ads, no studio required. NINJAM is a proven protocol for internet music collaboration, used by musicians for over 15 years. Instead of fighting network latency, NINJAM embraces it: everyone plays along to a shared metronome, and you hear what others played in the previous interval. The result is a surprisingly natural and creative way to make music together. NinjamZap is the first native iOS NINJAM client, and the first NINJAM client of any kind to support live video. KEY FEATURES LIVE VIDEO (NinjamZap rooms only) - See every musician you're jamming with, frame-locked to the jam interval - HD support up to 1280x720 per tile - Auto-adapt quality follows room BPM/BPI - HDMI output and one-tap full-screen JAMMING & AUDIO - Connect to any public or private NINJAM room and start playing - Multi-channel local ā up to 4 separate input channels per session (guitar + bass + voice + drums) instead of a single stereo pair - Vorbis quality presets: Quick (64 kbps), Standard (128), High (192), Studio (256) - Session recording at 256 kbps AAC, optional metronome-free for DAW-ready files - USB audio interface support ā iRig, MOTU, Focusrite, and other Lightning/USB-C interfaces - Per-channel mixing ā volume, mute, solo for every musician - Audio FX per local channel ā Reverb (Room / Hall / Plate) + Compressor (Light / Medium / Heavy) - Configurable latency profiles ā Ultra Low (3 ms), Low (5 ms), Safe (10 ms) - Audio routing ā Apple's native picker for AirPods, HDMI, USB, Bluetooth - Echo cancellation ā play through your speaker without headphones - Transmit control ā decide exactly when your audio goes live MIDI & SYNC (iOS) - MIDI Clock Out ā sync external drum machines, synths, and DAWs to the room tempo - Tap tempo ā tap to detect BPM before proposing a change - BPM/BPI voting ā propose tempo and interval changes during the session SESSIONS & SOCIAL - Free, no ads, no in-app purchases ā fully featured forever - Guest mode ā no account needed, pick a username and you're in - Profile avatars ā image or animated GIF - Sign in with email + password, or SSO (Google, Apple) - Browse public rooms ā see active NINJAM servers and who's playing - Built-in metronome ā visual beat indicator + click track - Live chat ā text chat, country flags, tappable links - Now Playing artwork on the lock screen during a session - Live stream shortcut ā open the room's web stream from anywhere HOW IT WORKS 1. Open NinjamZap and choose a username (or sign in for a full profile) 2. Browse public rooms or enter a server address 3. Connect, enable your metronome, and listen to what others are playing 4. When you're ready, enable Transmit on your channel to join the jam 5. On NinjamZap rooms, tap the video icon to send your camera and see others 6. Adjust the mix ā volume, mute, and solo individual channels to taste WHO IS THIS FOR - Musicians who want to jam online without being in the same room - Guitarists, bassists, drummers, keyboardists, vocalists, and producers - Hardware musicians whose drum machines and synths need to follow the room tempo - Existing NINJAM users looking for a polished mobile client - Anyone curious about collaborative music-making over the internet ABOUT NINJAM NINJAM (Network Jam) was created by Cockos Inc. NinjamZap is an independent client ā not affiliated with Cockos or the official NINJAM project. Live video is a NinjamZap extension, only available on NinjamZap-hosted rooms (video.ninjamzap.com). Other NINJAM clients ignore video channels and audio still works for everyone. The core audio engine is open source under GPL v3 at github.com/jacinside/ninjamzap-core. Works with any standard NINJAM server. Free, no ads. Requires iOS 13 or later. iPhone and iPad.
Midiboard
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Your phone, as the controller you actually wanted. Midiboard turns an iPhone into a Bluetooth MIDI controller you lay out yourself. Drop a widget on the grid, drag it where your hand goes, size it to the reach you actually have. Save the screen, build the next one, and flip between them with one tap while the song is running. Every other phone controller hands you someone else's idea of a surface. This one hands you the grid. BUILD THE SURFACE ⢠Pad grids of any size, tuned chromatically or in fourths, fifths, thirds or octaves ā a grid in fourths keeps every chord shape the same wherever you move it ⢠Keyboards of any span, starting on any note, with glissando between keys ⢠Chord buttons you write note by note. C, E, G#, D is as valid as a minor triad ⢠Pitch and mod wheels shaped like the ones beside your keyboard, plus 270° arcs and endless rotaries ⢠Faders and two-axis XY pads, with relative pickup so grabbing one mid-song does not throw the sound ⢠Step sequencers where every step names the note it plays, each with its own run button ⢠Footswitch banks where exactly one lamp is lit ā press a switch and the last one goes out, so a glance tells you which preset you are actually on ⢠Transpose controls that move a group of widgets, so a bass bank and a lead move independently on the same page PLAY IT ⢠Set a key per widget: notes outside it either step back but stay playable, or snap into the key ⢠Poly, mono, legato and glide, per widget ⢠A clock with tap tempo, MIDI clock out, note repeat and an arpeggiator ā or follow your computer's tempo instead ⢠Set the travel of any control, so a fader only ever moves between two settings that are useful on the other end ⢠Panic always within reach, and haptics you can tune per control KEEP IT ⢠As many saved layouts as you like. Export one to a file, send it to someone, import theirs ⢠Two colour palettes, and note names that match whatever your software calls them CONNECTS TO WHATEVER YOU PLAY Two routes, and you pick the one your rig has. Over Bluetooth LE MIDI, Mac, iPad and iPhone connect directly and Windows pairs through a Bluetooth MIDI bridge. Over Wi-Fi it is an RTP-MIDI session ā built into macOS, and on Windows through rtpMIDI ā which is the one to reach for when Bluetooth is crowded or the computer has none. It can also open a MIDI port for other apps on this same phone or iPad. No cable, no dongle, no account, and nothing to sign into. Midiboard collects nothing: no analytics, no crash reporting, no accounts, no tracking. Over Wi-Fi it uses your local network to reach the computer you chose, and the only thing it ever puts on it is MIDI. PRO Midiboard is free, with pad grids, keyboards, faders and labels. Pro adds every other widget, and starts with a free trial; after it, a monthly subscription or a one-time purchase keeps it. The subscription renews monthly unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://safabulat.github.io/midiboard-site/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: NinjamZap at none against Midiboard's 1. NinjamZap also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Midiboard's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 10 days). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Midiboard sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. NinjamZap asks for nothing beyond the download.
NinjamZap ships an update every 10 days, Midiboard every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NinjamZap | Midiboard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 2 days ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No ā better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 ā better | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Javier Cordero | MAHMUT SAFA BULAT |
In-app purchases
NinjamZap
No in-app purchases
Midiboard
- Midiboard Editor$9.99
Questions
Is NinjamZap free?
Is Midiboard free?
Do NinjamZap or Midiboard have ads?
Which is updated more often, NinjamZap or Midiboard?
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