Loop vs Octal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Loop
Create melodies and drum patterns on a simple grid. Explore free samples or build your own sounds with various synthesis options. Save your creations and make music offline.
- Tap grid to create melodies
- Build drum patterns
- Multiple synthesis options
- Shape sound with effects
- Save and export loops
- Offline music creation
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Turn taps into melodies and beats. Loop is your handheld music studio for sketching ideas, building drum patterns, and creating original loops on a simple grid. Start with five free sample loops or make something of your own. CREATE WITH A TAP • Tap the grid to add notes and hear your melody take shape. • Add kick, snare, and hi-hat patterns. • Build longer phrases across multiple pages. • Follow your music with a moving playback highlight. • Give each loop its own name and color. EXPLORE FIVE FREE SAMPLES From mellow grooves to bright arpeggios, each sample combines a distinct melody, rhythm, and sound. Play them for inspiration, view their sound settings, and restore deleted samples from Settings. Samples do not count toward your free saved-loop limit. SHAPE YOUR SOUND WITH PREMIUM • Explore FM, AM, wavetable, subtractive, and membrane synthesis. • Choose sine, triangle, square, and sawtooth waveforms. • Adjust tempo, octave, and musical scale. • Shape notes with attack, decay, sustain, and release controls. • Add reverb, delay, tremolo, vibrato, and distortion. • Edit sample loops to make them your own. SAVE AND SHARE Create and save one personal loop for free, alongside the five sample loops. Premium unlocks unlimited saved loops and WAV export for sharing, other music apps, or creating a custom ringtone. MAKE MUSIC OFFLINE No account. No ads. No tracking. Your loops stay on your device, so you can make music whenever inspiration strikes. Premium is available through an optional monthly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Octal
This app transforms your phone into a musical instrument with eight intuitive buttons that always create harmonious chords or notes. Easily record loops, layer beats, and arrange them into full songs. Explore a variety of sounds and share your creations.
- Eight-button chord/note interface
- Loop recording and editing
- Song arrangement
- Diverse sound library
- Undo/history functionality
- Audio file sharing
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Octal turns your phone into an instrument. The eight buttons play chords or notes that always go together, so whatever you press sounds like music. The bead under your other thumb changes their mood or behavior as you play. MAKE A LOOP Press record and play a few bars. Open the wheel, pick drums or a bass, and play over the top. Swipe over to the Loop Deck to see your loop and change it bar by bar. TURN LOOPS INTO A SONG Pinch the Loop Deck and chain your loops into a song. SOUNDS Synths, keys, drum kits, textures and acoustic instruments, a tap away on the wheel. NEVER LOSE AN EDIT Every edit is kept. The history tool lets you wind back to any of them. SHARE IT Send the mix as an audio file, or send the loop or song itself to a friend who has Octal. Making music in Octal is free, with four saved loops and one song. THE FULL VERSION One purchase, no subscription. MIDI and stems to finish your song in a DAW, MIDI out to play other synths, the bead lab to make and keep sounds of your own, and as many loops and songs as you like. PRIVACY Octal collects no data. The microphone is only on while you record a sound or play a Vocoder.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Octal at 5.0 against Loop's 3.0. Octal also leads on update cadence (daily vs fortnightly) and review sentiment (100% vs 71%). Loop's advantage is iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Loop sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Octal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Octal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Loop's written reviews are positive against 100% of Octal's.
Loop ships an update fortnightly, Octal daily. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Loop | Octal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ANCREATIVE INC. | RYAN JAMES,GALANG ELLIS |
Customer experience
Loop
Octal
In-app purchases
Loop
- Loop Monthly$1.991 Month
- Loop Premium Lifetime$9.99
Octal
- Octal, the full version$9.99









