Comparison

Field. vs GranSample

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

Head to head
About

Field.

Record, identify, and transcribe sounds with advanced AI. Automatically tag audio with environmental data and create searchable text from speech. Explore your sound library with unique acoustic fingerprints and route maps.

Highlights
  • On-device AI sound identification
  • Live speech transcription
  • Acoustic fingerprint analysis
  • Route mapping with event markers
  • High-resolution audio recording
  • Location and weather tagging
Features
Read full description

Field is a field recording app for the people who listen to places. It records in high resolution, then tells you what it heard: the birds, the weather, the character of the sound, and which recordings stand out from the rest. Open it, press record. Included free. No account, no subscription: Soundmark Field finds the recordings that stand out from the others at a place. Mark your own, or let Field suggest them. Similar Recordings Open any recording and find others that share its character. Sound ID On-device AI identifies sounds as you record: birdsong, wind, rain, traffic, voices, all tagged and timestamped. Auto-bookmarks Field marks high-confidence detections as you record, so you can find events in long captures without scrubbing. True Stereo Real stereo from the built-in mics, not dual mono. Field uses the rear array iOS reserves for video, which gives you a wider image. High-Resolution Audio Up to 96kHz, 32-bit in WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, or AAC. You choose the resolution. Acoustic Fingerprint Loudness, dynamic range, spectral character, and spaciousness, written as a plain phrase ("warm and expansive") or as BWF metadata. Import Bring in audio from Voice Memos, Files, or any share menu. Imports are tagged, fingerprinted, and transcribed like your own captures. Export to Freesound Send any recording to Freesound ready to upload, with tags, license, geotag, and description in the format Freesound expects. Live Transcription On-device speech recognition turns your words into searchable text as you speak. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, depending on your device. Location & Weather Every recording is geo-tagged with place, map, and the weather at the moment of capture. Route Maps Record while you walk, ride, or drive. Field draws your path full screen and marks the standout moments along it. Library Playback Play, scrub, and auto-play from the library. Sort by date, duration, size, or location. Live Monitoring Hear what the mic hears through your headphones while recording. Home & Lock Screen Widget Start recording with one tap from your Home or Lock Screen, without opening the app. Action Button Assign Toggle Recording and start a capture with one press. (iPhone 15 Pro and later.) Apple Watch Add a Field complication to any watch face. See whether a recording is running, and start one without taking out your phone. Control Center Start or stop a recording from anywhere in iOS. Live Activity A recording in progress shows elapsed time on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Time-of-Day Colors Recording cards reflect when they were captured: dawn, midday, golden hour, dusk, night. Field Pro is a one-time purchase, no subscription. It unlocks: Pre-roll Capture the moment before you tap record. Field keeps the last few seconds in memory so you never miss the start. Off, 3, 5, or 10 seconds. In memory only, never uploaded. Bird Species Identification Field names the birds it hears, species by species, entirely on-device with nothing uploaded. Available for recordings made in the San Francisco Bay Area. Smart Playlists Rules-based collections that update themselves. Filter by tag, place, soundmark, duration, or any combination. Reaper Project Export Share any recording as a Reaper .zip. Bookmarks become project markers and tags become regions, laid out ready to edit. Per-tag thresholds Tune how confident Field must be before adding each tag. Folders Organize recordings by project, trip, or session. iCloud Sync Your recordings, photos, and metadata sync across devices through your own iCloud. Audio downloads on demand. Trim & Crop Set in/out points, preview, save as new or replace. Bookmarks Drop timestamped markers during playback. Add labels, tap to jump. Video Export Share recordings as waveform videos in 16:9, 1:1, or 9:16, with an optional overlay. Field has no servers. Your data never leaves your device unless you turn on iCloud Sync, which uses your iCloud account.

About

GranSample

This app offers a 16-pad sampler with a powerful granular engine for sculpting unique audio textures and sequencing patterns. It functions as a standalone application and an AUv3 plugin for popular DAWs. Unlock advanced features with a one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • 16-pad granular sampler
  • AUv3 plugin support
  • Step sequencer
  • Modulation matrix
  • Sample chopping
  • Kit sharing
  • Per-pad effects
Features
Read full description

A 16-pad sampler with a granular engine underneath. Standalone app + AUv3 plugin for GarageBand / Logic / AUM / Drambo / Loopy Pro. Tap pads, sculpt textures, sequence patterns, chain songs. Same instrument either way. Free to try. One purchase unlocks GranSample Pro — everything listed at the bottom. No subscription, no ads, no telemetry. NEW IN 1.5 Swing, in the app and in your host. Choke groups: hi-hats that cut each other off. Resample (Pro): record your beat back onto a pad as a bar-locked loop. A rebuilt AUv3 plugin editor. PATTERN BANK & SONG MODE Eight patterns per project (A–H). Switch live — the change waits for the bar end so the groove never stumbles. Then chain them into a song: tap letters to build, set repeats per section, loop or play once (song mode is Pro). Patterns, song and BPM save with the project. MODULATION MATRIX (PRO) LFO + ADSR envelope on 8 destinations per pad: grain position / size / pitch / density, volume, pan, pitch, playback start. Drag the envelope chart, set depth per lane — host-automatable in AUv3. SAMPLE CHOP (PRO) Slice any sample across the pads — equal grid, transient detection, or manual markers you drag. Audition before you commit; the grid shows where every slice lands. KIT SHARING Export any kit as a single .gskit file — samples, settings, effects, patterns. Send it anywhere. Importing is free for everyone; exporting is Pro. PAD NAMES, COLORS & CHOKE GROUPS Name your pads, pick from 8 colors, set one of 8 choke groups. AUv3 PLUGIN Load "nono.audio: GranSample" under AU Instruments in any AUv3 host. Same grid, Kits and engine, with Sound, Grain and Sequence tabs. 900 host-automatable parameters. Load your own samples without leaving the host. Sequencer locks to host transport; everything persists in the host project. LIBRARY Factory Kits + your Projects in one place — load, tweak, save. GRANULAR ENGINE Eight knobs per pad. Position scans the sample; grain size + density set the texture from pebbles to glass. Pitch + jitter, spray + stereo spread, four window shapes, an ADSR cloud envelope, Freeze for infinite sustain. 128 grains per voice — and you can watch them fire. CHROMATIC MODE Any pad becomes the root; the grid plays chromatically. STEP SEQUENCER Per-pad patterns at 16/32/64 steps, per-step velocity, drag-to-paint, swing. SAMPLE EDITOR Waveform view — drag the grain region, trim playback range, loop, reverse, normalize per pad. LINEAR or GRAN preview. Works inside the plugin too. EFFECTS Per-pad AND master bus. Reverb, Delay, Distortion, EQ, Compressor, Chorus, Filter — up to 8 per chain, automatable from any DAW. Hand-tuned presets; save your own. IPAD Pads bigger than an MPC; recorder, properties and sequencer get their own column. MIDI USB, Bluetooth (built-in browser), or virtual MIDI. MIDI Learn on every knob standalone, per-pad channel routing. The plugin routes MIDI in through the host and emits MIDI out for pad taps. RECORDING 60 seconds from the mic straight into a pad with a live waveform. Resample the master onto a pad, free or locked to 1–8 bars (Pro). Master bounces to WAV/M4A (Pro). 10 FACTORY KITS, 16 SAMPLES Late Night Room, Outer Space, Neon City, Midnight Dub, Tape Machine, Crystal Cave, and more — each with bespoke granular settings. FREE TIER Pads 1–8 — drums and melody, enough to finish a track — with the full granular engine, effects, pattern bank, mixer, MIDI in/out. Same in standalone and AUv3. Kit import (.gskit) is free too. GRANSAMPLE PRO — ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION All 16 pads unlocked everywhere — standalone AND AUv3 plugin Song mode — chain patterns into an arrangement Modulation matrix — LFO + envelope on 8 destinations per pad Sample chop to pads Resample to pads Kit export (.gskit) Per-pad ADSR envelope editor Custom backgrounds — wallpapers or your own photo, with dim and pad-opacity WAV / M4A export Made by one person who wanted a granular beat pad that fit on a phone — and in their DAW.

Screenshots

Field.4 screens
GranSample4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Field. at 100% against GranSample's 40%. Field. also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). GranSample's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Field. sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and GranSample sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Field. holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Field.'s written reviews are positive against 40% of GranSample's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Field. ships an update every 8 days, GranSample every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Field. versus GranSample: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterField.GranSample
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (8 ratings) — better4.6 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings816 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size57 MB17 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperConsumer TherapyChih Han Lin

Customer experience

Field.

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

GranSample

All ratings16 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral6.3%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative40.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Field.

One-time1
  • Field. Pro$5.99
1 purchases

GranSample

One-time1
  • GranSample Pro$3.99

Questions

Is Field. free?
Field. is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is GranSample free?
GranSample is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Field. or GranSample?
Field. is rated higher. Field. averages 4.9 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while GranSample averages 4.6 from 16 ratings.
Do Field. or GranSample have ads?
Neither Field. nor GranSample shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Field. or GranSample?
Field. ships an update every 8 days, and GranSample every 5 days. Most recently, Field. was updated on October 20, 2026 and GranSample on October 14, 2026.

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