Comparison

ChordBloom vs Harmonaut

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

Head to head
About

ChordBloom

Features
Read full description

ChordBloom turns music theory into a garden. Chords bloom as petals around the key you're in — tap to hear them, wander to neighboring keys, and watch harmony make sense visually. EXPLORE HARMONY BY TOUCH Diatonic chords, the circle of fifths, relative and parallel keys, tritone substitutions, modal interchange — each view lays the theory out as petals you can play. Long-press to cycle extensions (7ths, 9ths, 13ths), choose close, open, or spread voicings, and phrase chords as blocks, strums, or arpeggios. REAL SYNTHESIS, ON DEVICE A full SuperCollider synth engine runs right on your phone alongside classic synth voices — warm pads, plucks, bells, keys, and ambient textures. Every note is synthesized live, and it all works completely offline. AI IMPROVISATION Let the built-in improviser play melodies over your chord changes while you drive the harmony. SAVE YOUR PROGRESSIONS Collect chords into palettes and build progressions you can come back to. MIDI OUTPUT — OPTIONAL UNLOCK Turn ChordBloom into a chord controller for your whole studio: a one-time in-app purchase unlocks BLE MIDI to hardware synths and CoreMIDI to DAWs and other iOS music apps. No account. No ads. No data collected.

About

Harmonaut

Create music by feel without needing music theory. This app generates rich chords and smooth progressions, allowing you to shape the mood with intuitive controls. Save and reorder your musical ideas effortlessly.

Highlights
  • Play by feel, no theory required
  • Shape mood with tension and brightness faders
  • Smooth voice leading for flowing progressions
  • Chords named for musicians
  • Save and reorder progressions
  • Works on iPhone and iPad
Features
Read full description

Harmonaut™ is a chord instrument you play by feel. Press a key and hear a rich chord, voice-led smoothly from the last one, no theory needed. Build a progression, shape its mood, and export it as MIDI for your track. Two faders let you shape the mood as you play: more tension or less, brighter or darker, even major to minor. Chase a moody electronic progression, a warm lo-fi loop, a jazzy turn, a cinematic swell, or a simple pop hook. It all comes from your intent, not from naming chords. HOW IT PLAYS • Tension that actually resolves: chords that lean, pull home, and land, so your progression goes somewhere instead of just floating • Every one of the twelve keys is in play: reach past the obvious chords for richer, more surprising color, and it still sounds right • Build a whole progression, not just four chords: every chord you play lands in your trail, ready to reorder or duplicate to try new versions in seconds • Pick up right where you left off: your ideas are saved for you TAKE IT TO YOUR TRACK • Export any progression as a MIDI file and drop it into BandLab, GarageBand, or any DAW that opens MIDI, then play it through any instrument you like • Export to iReal Pro format to keep a chord chart or practice over the changes • Harmonaut Pro unlocks MIDI export, iReal Pro export, and unlimited saved progressions IT SOUNDS GOOD FOR A REASON Every chord is voice-led from the one before it, live, as you play: the notes move the shortest way, so a progression flows instead of jumping around. That's the finished feeling you hear in the songs you love. Push Intensity and the voicings open up: lush 9ths, bright 13ths, and altered dominants like G7#9b13, the colors session keyboard players reach for. And Harmonaut names every chord the way musicians actually write it, like Ebmaj7, so you can hand your progression to a session player, a bandmate, or a producer and they'll play it back exactly, first time. No box to buy, nothing to charge, no menus to dig through. It's already in your pocket. Whether it's your first progression or a sound you can hear but can't name, Harmonaut meets you where you are. See the end user license agreement at the following link: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ChordBloom3 screens
Harmonaut4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Harmonaut at none against ChordBloom's 1. ChordBloom's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 10 days). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. ChordBloom sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Harmonaut asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChordBloom ships an update every 4 days, Harmonaut every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
ChordBloom versus Harmonaut: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChordBloomHarmonaut
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—6 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB117 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJames HurlbutDistrict One Mobile, LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ChordBloom

One-time1
  • MIDI Output$4.99
None

Harmonaut

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ChordBloom free?
ChordBloom is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Harmonaut free?
Harmonaut is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ChordBloom or Harmonaut have ads?
Neither ChordBloom nor Harmonaut shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChordBloom or Harmonaut?
ChordBloom ships an update every 4 days, and Harmonaut every 10 days. Most recently, ChordBloom was updated on October 2, 2026 and Harmonaut on October 8, 2026.

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