Pocket Drums vs RDM Playalongs
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pocket Drums
This app serves as a portable drum trainer, offering structured lessons and visual aids to help users learn drumming techniques and practice rhythms. It features tempo control, diverse music styles, and progress tracking for aspiring drummers.
- Structured drum lessons
- Visual drum kit maps
- Adjustable tempo control
- Premium drum tracks
- Progress tracking
- Practice anywhere
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Pocket Drums is your ultimate portable drum trainer and practice studio. Learn drums, master rudiments, and practice anywhere — no full kit required. Download Pocket Drums and start drumming now! LEARN & PRACTICE ANYWHERE - Structured Lessons: Master beginner grooves, essential rudiments, drum fills, and advanced techniques. - Visual Drum Maps: See every hit in real time with an interactive visual kit map. - Total Tempo Control: Adjust the BPM, loop difficult bars, and practice at your own pace. - All Music Styles: Explore premium drum tracks across rock, jazz, funk, metal, hip-hop, and latin. - Track Your Progress: Save lessons to your library and log your daily practice time. Whether you are practicing on a drum pad or a full drum set, build real skills today.
RDM Playalongs
This app offers three practice tools for drummers, including a metronome with advanced features, a sight-reading generator, and a library of exercises. It helps improve hand speed, accuracy, and reading skills with customizable tempos and rhythms. Track your practice time and engage with a community for support.
- 500+ practice exercises
- Customizable metronome with unique subdivisions
- Generates unique sight-reading exercises
- Tempo control with range and climbing options
- Practice time tracking and streaks
- Community support from developer
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Three practice tools for rudimental drummers, built to get your hands clean and fast. PLAYALONGS 500+ exercises. Press play and it loops until you stop it. Set the tempo to bounce around inside a range so you can't settle in, or have it climb every few reps until you find where you break. Twelve ready-made playlists too, or build your own. METRONOME Any time signature. Any subdivision, including the ones normal metronome apps don't have: 7-lets, 9-lets, ratio rhythms. Accent, diddle, buzz or mute any beat, any partial. Chain different rhythms into a sequence and save it. SIGHT-READING LAB Hit generate, get a page you've never seen. Set the tempo, the rests, the stickings, the syncopation, the time signature. Set the difficulty to your level. Notation on screen while it plays, so you're reading and hearing at the same time. Practice time tracked. Streaks. Leaderboard. Stuck on something? Post it in the community and I'll answer it myself. Built by Anthony Steller, a gigging drummer and snare instructor, for marching snare drummers and drumlines. Start free. You get all three tools with limits, no card needed. RDM Playalongs Monthly is an auto-renewing subscription, $12.99 per month. It unlocks all 500+ exercises and every control in all three tools. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://rudimentaldrummingmastery.com/privacy-policy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pocket Drums at none against RDM Playalongs's 1. RDM Playalongs's advantage is ratings volume (10 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. RDM Playalongs sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $12.99 per month. Pocket Drums asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Pocket Drums against 5.0 for RDM Playalongs. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RDM Playalongs has 10 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Pocket Drums | RDM Playalongs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Smark Ai | Anthony Steller |
Customer experience
Pocket Drums
RDM Playalongs
In-app purchases
Pocket Drums
No in-app purchases
RDM Playalongs
- RDM Playalongs$12.991 Month








