Comparison

Crankshaft vs Setto Studio

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

Head to head
About

Crankshaft

This music app learns your taste by analyzing how you listen, not through manual input. It creates personalized music stations based on your volume adjustments, skips, and playback duration, offering a unique way to explore your library and discover new music.

Highlights
  • Learns taste from listening behavior
  • Personalized music stations
  • Explores Apple Music catalog
  • Discovery dial for new music
  • On-demand album picks
  • Parent Mode for separate profiles
Features
Read full description

Crankshaft learns your taste from how you actually listen — how you move the volume, when you skip, what you let run to the end. Full CarPlay support, which is where it makes the most sense: hands busy, eyes on the road, so what you do to a song actually means something. Requires an active Apple Music subscription — Crankshaft plays through your existing Apple Music library. No separate account, no sign-up, and Crankshaft never sends your listening data anywhere. It stays on your device unless you choose to export it. Most music apps only know what you tell them. Crankshaft takes that too — crank a song you love, freeze one you never want to hear again — and then it reads everything else: the volume you reach for, the song you kill at four seconds, the one you let run all the way to the end. Those signals cost you nothing to give, and nearly every other app throws them away. Every session shapes a living profile of your taste that gets sharper over time. Give it real sessions and you'll feel the difference within a week. The app is free, you just bring your own Apple Music. The data is all yours, so there's no risk to you. HOW IT WORKS Crankshaft sits on top of your Apple Music library. Hit Ignite and it plays from your personal affinity ledger: a behavioral map of every song, scored by how you actually interacted with it. Crank the volume on a song you love and it learns. Skip something in the first ten seconds and it learns that too. Let a song play to the end and that quiet signal counts. Five behavioral zones, from instant skip to full completion, score every track on a curve. Buttons when you want them, physics the rest of the time. IT PLAYS LIKE A STATION YOU CAN STEER Crankshaft doesn't shuffle. It holds a mood — an era, a genre, an energy — the way a great radio station does, and keeps it there until you signal you want to move. Skip to steer: nudge it toward a different sound and it follows you down the rabbit hole; leave it alone and it holds the vibe. It's built to walk you around your own library, not loop your ten favorites. REACH BEYOND WHAT YOU OWN Declare the artists you love — even ones your library never captured — and Crankshaft opens their catalog and works them into your rotation. A single discovery dial sets how adventurous the engine gets, from comfortable and familiar to wide-open exploration. FEATURES The Crank — Turn up the volume with intent and Crankshaft feels it. That one gesture tells it more than a like ever could. Affinity Ledger — Every song earns a score from real listening behavior. Scores rise and fall with your habits, not just your clicks. CarPlay — Full CarPlay integration with Crank, Freeze, Up Next and Parent Mode controls on the dash. Station & Drift — Crank a song and Crankshaft builds a station around that vibe, holding it and drifting naturally through your library and the Apple Music catalog. Declared Artists — Name the artists you love and Crankshaft reaches their whole catalog, even music you don't own yet. Discovery Dial — Blend new and unfamiliar music into your rotation at exactly the level you choose. Pick an Album — On-demand album picks drawn from your affinity ledger, weighted toward what you love with a wildcard from deep in your library. Parent Mode — A completely separate universe with its own ledger, scoring, and visual theme. Your kids' listening never touches your profile. Road Trip Mode — A pre-cached 60-track queue built for long drives. Works offline. PRIVACY BY DESIGN Your data stays on your device. Crankshaft has no cloud sync, no ad targeting, no social graph, and no tracking pixels. Your affinity ledger lives in your app's local storage and never leaves your phone. Built on Apple MusicKit.

About

Setto Studio

This app enhances your music listening experience by creating dynamic, evolving "Sets" from your existing library. It intelligently curates personalized music collections based on your listening habits and preferences, offering a unique way to rediscover your favorite tunes.

Highlights
  • Build Sets from artists, genres, or playlists
  • Auto-curated personalized music Sets
  • Time-traveling Set creation
  • Supports Lossless, Hi-Res Lossless, Dolby Atmos
  • Full song playback, no previews
  • Export Sets as Apple Music playlists
  • iCloud sync across devices
Read full description

Want some great music? Setto is a very, very smart Apple Music player that builds Sets. A cooler and more epic version of a playlist that evolves and reacts as you listen. AN APPLE MUSIC SUBSCRIPTION IS REQUIRED. START WITH TASTE Build Sets from the music you already love. Artists, genres, playlists, or your entire Apple Music library. AUTO SETS Let Setto build Sets you didn't know you needed. Auto Sets are personalized Sets curated from your existing Apple Music habits, or new patterns from how you use Setto Studio. YOUR PERSONAL TIME MACHINE Auto Sets can also travel back in time and curate Sets from a long long time ago. BUILT FOR APPLE MUSIC • Quality Audio: Lossless, Hi-Res Lossless, Dolby Atmos, and Spatial Audio • Full songs: No 30 second previews • Export: Sets become real Apple Music playlists • Import: Your playlists become Sets • Library: Save songs directly to your library or a preexisting playlist • iCloud sync: Your Sets on Mac, iPad, and iPhone ON YOUR DEVICE All learning happens locally, meaning your music taste is yours and yours alone. Cross device sync is powered by YOUR iCloud account. CRAFTED BY DJ NAFÉ Setto is made by one music nerd who's an occasional Disc Jockey. Not a team. Not a startup. Just someone who wanted a better way to find music.

Screenshots

Crankshaft4 screens
Setto Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Crankshaft at none against Setto Studio's 1. Crankshaft also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1). Setto Studio's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 9 days). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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. Setto Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Crankshaft asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Crankshaft against 5.0 for Setto Studio. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crankshaft has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Crankshaft ships an update every 9 days, Setto Studio every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Crankshaft versus Setto Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCrankshaftSetto Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.5 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB39 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperCrankshaft LLCCarlos Mbendera

Customer experience

Crankshaft

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Setto Studio

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Crankshaft

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Setto Studio

One-time1
  • Super Setto - Lifetime Upgrade$24.99

Questions

Is Crankshaft free?
Crankshaft is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Setto Studio free?
Setto Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Crankshaft or Setto Studio?
Crankshaft and Setto Studio are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Crankshaft or Setto Studio have ads?
Neither Crankshaft nor Setto Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Crankshaft or Setto Studio?
Crankshaft ships an update every 9 days, and Setto Studio every 3 days. Most recently, Crankshaft was updated on October 31, 2026 and Setto Studio on November 5, 2026.

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