Aria vs Wavepocket
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Aria
Create, edit, and play back musical scores on your iPhone or iPad. This app supports MuseScore and MusicXML files, offering intuitive touch controls for note entry and playback. Organize your library, manage parts, and export your compositions in various formats.
- Edit MuseScore and MusicXML files
- Intuitive touch-based notation controls
- Score playback
- Library organization
- Part management
- Export in multiple formats (MSCZ, PDF, MusicXML, audio)
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Aria is a notation editor for iPhone and iPad that lets you create, edit, and play back MuseScore files on the go. Open existing MuseScore and MusicXML files, make changes with intuitive touch-based notation controls, play back your score, organize your library, manage individual parts, and export your music when you’re ready to share. Built for musicians who want a lightweight, mobile-friendly way to review, create, and revise scores wherever they are. Features: * Open MSCZ and MusicXML score files * Create new scores from templates * Edit and enter notes with touch controls, Apple Pencil, or a MIDI controller * Play back scores locally * View and manage individual parts * Export and share your work as MSCZ, PDF, MusicXML, audio, and more. Aria is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by MuseScore, Muse Group, or any related project. Aria is open-source software licensed under the GNU GPLv3. Source code, license notices, and build instructions are available here: https://github.com/hdi200/aria
Wavepocket
This pocket studio app combines a synthesizer, drum kit, sampler, and 4-track tape recorder for music creation on your device. It offers multi-touch controls, various sound engines, and a clip-based timeline for easy track arrangement. All your creations are saved locally, and the app works completely offline.
- Synthesizer with multiple sound engines
- 8-pad drum kit with adjustable parameters
- Sampler with chromatic playback and slicing
- 4-track tape recorder with clip timeline
- Versioned tweaks with undo/redo
- Offline functionality
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Wavepocket is a pocket studio: a synthesizer, drum kit, sampler and 4-track tape recorder that fit in your hand. Play it with your fingers: multi-touch chords, glissando slides across the keys, drum pads, and four color-coded encoders that always control what you're looking at. MAKE A SOUND: Analog (saw–square with sub), FM, and Cluster Engines • A sampler engine: play any recording chromatically across the keys • Slice samples on the waveform, name each slice, and flip between them • ADSR envelope, resonant filter, env→cutoff, LFO • Presets by category (bass, keys, strings, brass, lead, pad, pluck, bell). MAKE A BEAT: Synthesized 8-pad drum kit: kick, snare, hats, clap, tom, rim, bell • Kit-wide tune, decay, tone and level • Arpeggiator (up / down / up-down / random) and metronome MAKE A TRACK: 4-track tape with a clip timeline: record in any mode, then drag clips between lanes, trim their edges, and cut at the playhead • Everything shares one loop boundary, so your layers always line up • Mixer with per-track level, pan and mute • Filtered delay and spring-style reverb sends. KEEP EVERYTHING: Every tweak is versioned: undo, redo, or scrub the timeline of your session and annotate the versions worth keeping • Recordings and imports persist on your device between sessions • Save the whole project with settings, history, presets and audio as a single file, and render your mix to MP3 NO STRINGS: No account, no ads, no tracking • Works completely offline • Nothing leaves your device
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Wavepocket at none against Aria's 1. Aria's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (31 vs 2). On price, ads, monetization model and device support 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. Aria sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Wavepocket asks for nothing beyond the download.
Aria holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Aria has 31 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Aria | Wavepocket |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (31 ratings) — better | 4.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 279 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jack Gruber | MATTHEW RYAN SANDY |
Customer experience
Aria
Wavepocket
In-app purchases
Aria
- Aria Full Access$9.99
Wavepocket
No in-app purchases








