Comparison

Starlight Piano Keys vs Midiboard

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

Head to head
About

Starlight Piano Keys

Features
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Starlight Piano Keys is a simple, expressive piano app for quick practice, melody sketches, and tiny musical victories. Open the app and start playing on a wide starlight keyboard. Record short performances, replay them, rename them, and export audio when an idea feels worth keeping. The pet metronome helps practice feel warmer, while the Today card turns progress into visible minutes, streaks, top BPM, snacks, Practice Wall cards, and a 3-stamp Practice Passport. Features: Responsive multi-touch piano keyboard Built-in General MIDI SoundFont for reliable first-run playback Recording, playback, rename, delete, and export tools Pet Metronome with practice timers, BPM goals, and playful click sounds Today card with practice minutes, streak, top BPM, snacks, Practice Wall badge, and Practice Passport stamps Practice Wall cards that keep recent session recaps visible locally Three practice poster styles: Classic, Pet, and Minimal Moment export for turning recordings into shareable visual performance clips Import support for compatible sound packs and SF2 files Starlight Piano Keys is designed for people who want a light musical space instead of a heavy studio workflow: tap, play, practice, record, and keep the little moments that sound like something.

About

Midiboard

Features
Read full description

Your phone, as the controller you actually wanted. Midiboard turns an iPhone into a Bluetooth MIDI controller you lay out yourself. Drop a widget on the grid, drag it where your hand goes, size it to the reach you actually have. Save the screen, build the next one, and flip between them with one tap while the song is running. Every other phone controller hands you someone else's idea of a surface. This one hands you the grid. BUILD THE SURFACE • Pad grids of any size, tuned chromatically or in fourths, fifths, thirds or octaves — a grid in fourths keeps every chord shape the same wherever you move it • Keyboards of any span, starting on any note, with glissando between keys • Chord buttons you write note by note. C, E, G#, D is as valid as a minor triad • Pitch and mod wheels shaped like the ones beside your keyboard, plus 270° arcs and endless rotaries • Faders and two-axis XY pads, with relative pickup so grabbing one mid-song does not throw the sound • Step sequencers where every step names the note it plays, each with its own run button • Footswitch banks where exactly one lamp is lit — press a switch and the last one goes out, so a glance tells you which preset you are actually on • Transpose controls that move a group of widgets, so a bass bank and a lead move independently on the same page PLAY IT • Set a key per widget: notes outside it either step back but stay playable, or snap into the key • Poly, mono, legato and glide, per widget • A clock with tap tempo, MIDI clock out, note repeat and an arpeggiator — or follow your computer's tempo instead • Set the travel of any control, so a fader only ever moves between two settings that are useful on the other end • Panic always within reach, and haptics you can tune per control KEEP IT • As many saved layouts as you like. Export one to a file, send it to someone, import theirs • Two colour palettes, and note names that match whatever your software calls them CONNECTS TO WHATEVER YOU PLAY Two routes, and you pick the one your rig has. Over Bluetooth LE MIDI, Mac, iPad and iPhone connect directly and Windows pairs through a Bluetooth MIDI bridge. Over Wi-Fi it is an RTP-MIDI session — built into macOS, and on Windows through rtpMIDI — which is the one to reach for when Bluetooth is crowded or the computer has none. It can also open a MIDI port for other apps on this same phone or iPad. No cable, no dongle, no account, and nothing to sign into. Midiboard collects nothing: no analytics, no crash reporting, no accounts, no tracking. Over Wi-Fi it uses your local network to reach the computer you chose, and the only thing it ever puts on it is MIDI. PRO Midiboard is free, with pad grids, keyboards, faders and labels. Pro adds every other widget, and starts with a free trial; after it, a monthly subscription or a one-time purchase keeps it. The subscription renews monthly unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://midiboard.bulatapps.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Starlight Piano Keys4 screens
Midiboard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Starlight Piano Keys at none against Midiboard's 2. Midiboard's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Midiboard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Starlight Piano Keys asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starlight Piano Keys ships an update monthly, Midiboard every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Starlight Piano Keys versus Midiboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarlight Piano KeysMidiboard
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size119 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYUE CHENG WUMAHMUT SAFA BULAT

In-app purchases

None

Starlight Piano Keys

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Midiboard

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly7 Days trial$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • Midiboard Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is Starlight Piano Keys free?
Starlight Piano Keys is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Midiboard free?
Midiboard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Starlight Piano Keys or Midiboard have ads?
Neither Starlight Piano Keys nor Midiboard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starlight Piano Keys or Midiboard?
Starlight Piano Keys ships an update monthly, and Midiboard every 4 days. Most recently, Starlight Piano Keys was updated on October 31, 2026 and Midiboard on November 10, 2026.

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