Comparison

Altered Player vs Tape Deck

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

Head to head
About

Altered Player

Experience your local music library without distractions. This app offers real-time audio adjustments like reverb and playback speed, organized by folders and playlists for a pure listening experience. Enjoy offline playback and lossless audio.

Highlights
  • Offline playback of local audio files
  • Real-time audio effects (reverb, speed)
  • Lossless audio support
  • Folder-based library navigation
  • Distraction-free interface
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Listen to music stored on the device, without distractions. No streaming, no accounts, no recommendations. Adjust audio in real time during playback. Subtle changes to space, clarity, and timing allow sound to be experienced differently, without interrupting the listening flow. Music is organised through folders and playlists, not algorithms. Nothing is suggested or reordered. What plays is what was chosen. - Offline playback of local audio files - Real-time audio effects: reverb, low-pass, playback speed - Lossless audio support - Folder-based library navigation - Distraction-free interface

About

Tape Deck

Features
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Tape Deck plays your own music as a cassette. Choose an album and it goes into the deck as a tape. The reels turn at the speeds a real cassette's would, one pack growing as the other shrinks. The counter runs, the leader passes before the music starts, and a side comes to its end. SIMPLE OR ADVANCED • Simple to start with: plain keys, one side, and only the settings that matter • Advanced when you want it: every setting, both sets of keys and the holds, kept as you left them THE DECK • Play, rewind, fast forward, stop and eject, each with the sound of the mechanism • Two sets of keys: a portable recorder's, with a Pause that holds the tape, or a modern player's, with skip keys that wind the tape while held • Sides and auto-reverse: fit an album to one side, or cut it to a C60 or a C90 and turn it over • Gapless playback from track to track • Over a hundred tapes, from plain shells to classic ones: pick one, flick the label for the next, let each album have its own, or take one from the pile at random • A clear shell, a cutaway and an exploded view of its parts, drawn to the standard's sizes • A handwritten label for each album, with its cover, in one of thirteen period label styles • Tape hiss, wow as the motor starts and stops, three tape types, noise reduction, and a tape condition from fresh to chewed • LED meters in the transport, if you want them • Each tape keeps its place: put an album back in and it plays on from where it came out YOUR LIBRARY • An opening screen that lists every source, what each needs and how it stands; tap one to set it up there • A demo tape to play until you have music of your own • The music on your iPhone or iPad, synced from a Mac, played as tapes • Copy album folders into iCloud Drive › Tape Deck › Music and they reach all your devices, or into the app's own folder through the Files app • Or play a folder where it is, on a NAS too • Or connect to a music server of your own, the free Tape Deck Server, a Plex Media Server, a Jellyfin server or a Subsonic server such as Navidrome, and keep albums on the device as you play them • Albums, artists and tracks, a Recent tab, search, and favourites that follow you through iCloud • Mixtapes: make one by hand, or from what you've played in the last hour • Audiobooks and podcasts from your own Audiobookshelf server, by chapter, with a reading speed, your place kept on that server, playing while they download APPLE MUSIC • With an Apple Music subscription, your Apple Music library plays as tapes too: albums, artists, songs and playlists, and a search that reaches the whole catalogue • The sound is Apple Music's own, so the tape's hiss, wear and wow step aside; the reels, the counter, the keys and the eject carry on EVERYWHERE YOU LISTEN • Turn it sideways for a bedside deck: the cassette full screen, keys on the shell, the screen kept on while it plays • Handoff: carry the tape on to your iPad or Mac from the same second • Send this tape as a link, or from Tape Deck in Messages beside eight animated cassette stickers • A Home Screen widget of the deck, its reels turning, with Previous, Play or Stop and Next, and on the Lock Screen and in StandBy • Apple Watch: the tape in your iPhone's deck on your wrist, the Digital Crown for the volume, your recent albums on a shelf, and a complication • CarPlay: Recent, Albums, Artists and Books on the car's screen • Siri and Shortcuts: "Carry on the tape in Tape Deck", "Play what's new in Tape Deck", "Stop Tape Deck" • Lock screen and Control Centre controls, and AirPlay • Named for VoiceOver throughout, and Reduce Motion is followed AND A SPECTRUM LOADER In Advanced, with the tape stopped, hold stop and eject for three seconds and the deck becomes a tape loader for a real ZX Spectrum: run a lead from the headphone socket to its EAR socket, type LOAD "" and play a game's .tap file from the Files app. Tape Deck has no account, no adverts and no tracking. It plays what's yours.

Screenshots

Altered Player3 screens
Tape Deck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tape Deck at every 2 days against Altered Player's every 6 weeks. Tape Deck also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Altered Player's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Altered Player ships an update every 6 weeks, Tape Deck every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Altered Player versus Tape Deck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAltered PlayerTape Deck
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRoman EmtsevAndrew Bateman

In-app purchases

None

Altered Player

No in-app purchases

None

Tape Deck

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Altered Player free?
Altered Player is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tape Deck free?
Tape Deck is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Altered Player or Tape Deck have ads?
Neither Altered Player nor Tape Deck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Altered Player or Tape Deck?
Altered Player ships an update every 6 weeks, and Tape Deck every 2 days. Most recently, Altered Player was updated on October 21, 2026 and Tape Deck on October 29, 2026.

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