Comparison

StationBox Radio vs Sortwave

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

Head to head
About

StationBox Radio

Create personalized radio stations using your Apple Music library. Control artist and playlist frequency for a custom listening experience. Enjoy unlimited skips and no ads with this music discovery tool.

Highlights
  • Build stations from artists and playlists
  • Control artist/playlist play frequency
  • Smart shuffle for variety
  • Discover related artists
  • Create unlimited stations
  • No ads or unlimited skips
Features
Read full description

Get more from your Apple Music subscription with custom radio stations built around the music you love. StationBox gives you the control of a playlist with the surprise of radio. Choose the artists and playlists that belong in your station. Decide which should play more often. Then hit Play and let StationBox create the mix. Unlike a playlist, you don't have to choose every song or put them in order. And unlike other music stations, StationBox won't wander off into artists you never asked for. You choose the music. StationBox keeps it fresh. That's why we say, "Your artists. Your radio." • Build custom stations from artists and playlists in your Apple Music library • Choose which artists and playlists should play more—or less—often • Smart Shuffle prevents songs and artists from repeating too soon • Discover related artists and add only the ones you want • Create unlimited stations for different genres, moods, and moments • Update your stations anytime as your tastes change • Enjoy unlimited skips and no ads Build a station in minutes, then stop managing it. Every song comes from music you've chosen—but you never know exactly what's coming next. That's StationBox: control without losing the surprise. StationBox requires an active Apple Music subscription.

About

Sortwave

Features
Read full description

Swipe music into place. Sortwave is a focused playlist-curation companion for Apple Music. Choose a playlist, listen to each full song, and decide what belongs without breaking your flow. Swipe right to keep a song. Route it up or down into playlists you already use. Mark favorites, shuffle your session, scrub through playback, undo a decision, or stop whenever you want. Sortwave queues your choices locally and applies them together when you choose Finish & Sync. Apple Music doesn’t allow third-party apps to directly delete arbitrary library songs. When you mark songs for removal, Sortwave places them in a clearly labeled Deleted Songs playlist and shows a short guide for completing deletion safely in Apple Music. Your original library stays under your control. Features: • Full-song Apple Music playback • Fast, gesture-first playlist decisions • Two configurable quick-route playlists • Favorite and unfavorite controls • Interactive playback scrubber • Shuffle, previous, next and undo controls • Batched sync with a clear summary • Session history and resilient local queueing • Secure connection restoration • No advertising or tracking An active Apple Music subscription may be required for full-song playback and library access. Sortwave is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.

Screenshots

StationBox Radio4 screens
Sortwave3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Sortwave at 17.0 against StationBox Radio's 26.0. On price, update cadence, 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

StationBox Radio ships an update every 10 days, Sortwave every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
StationBox Radio versus Sortwave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStationBox RadioSortwave
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB3 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperPhilip Gerard Mc TimoneySooraj Sambasivam

In-app purchases

None

StationBox Radio

No in-app purchases

None

Sortwave

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StationBox Radio free?
StationBox Radio is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sortwave free?
Sortwave is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do StationBox Radio or Sortwave have ads?
Neither StationBox Radio nor Sortwave shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StationBox Radio or Sortwave?
StationBox Radio ships an update every 10 days, and Sortwave every 5 days. Most recently, StationBox Radio was updated on October 23, 2026 and Sortwave on October 13, 2026.

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