PunchKit vs TempoKey
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PunchKit
This app enhances your music production workflow with a compatible hardware device. It allows instant access to projects, sounds, and memory, plus recording, editing, and backup capabilities. Streamline your creative process and manage your music projects efficiently.
- Automatic device connection
- Browse projects, sounds, and memory
- Record USB audio and iOS input
- Signal-activated recording
- Bundle recordings for backup
- Add effects to recordings and samples
- Backup and restore projects
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PunchKit is a local-first companion for the Teenage Engineering EP-133 K.O. II, EP-1320 Medieval, and EP-40 Riddim. Build kits, manage samples, record and process audio, separate stems, perform live effects, and create dependable backups from your iPhone or iPad. MIDI PLAYGROUND - Layer independent Chords, Melody, and Bass machines beside a connected EP - Follow EP MIDI clock with retained-BPM fallback if pulses stop - Use Auto Key or choose key, scale, harmony, voicing, inversion, octave, and expression manually - Shape chord feel with strum order, groove, timing, humanization, velocity, and release - Build melody and bass phrases on 16-step note grids, with octave transposition while playing OFFLINE KIT BUILDER - Build and save 12-pad kits without connecting an EP - Browse and preview samples from Files, then assign them to pads - Trim or convert samples for EP limits - Import, export, duplicate, rename, and share kit archives - Connect later to upload a kit to a chosen project and group DEVICE AND SAMPLE MANAGEMENT - Automatically detect compatible EP devices over USB MIDI - Browse projects, groups, pads, assignments, sounds, and memory slots - Browse one shared local Sample Shelf across Library, Projects, and Kit Builder - Drag a complete folder, including nested folders, to a Library slot - Review each file's path, duration, source size, converted device size, and memory before upload - Remove or edit individual pending samples without changing shelf files - Choose free-slot or sequential placement and explicitly confirm overwrites RECORD, EDIT, AND PUNCH - Record from the microphone or compatible USB audio inputs in WAV or M4A - Use signal-activated recording, waveform trimming, playback controls, and original/rendered versions - Monitor processed USB audio live with adjustable level and latency - Capture beat-synced loops using MIDI, detected audio, or tap tempo, then scratch and perform them from the cassette - Apply stackable Color and tempo-synced Motion effects with Direct or XY controls - Build a custom 12-slot Punch It page PIXEL BACKGROUND STUDIO - Turn short videos from Photos into pixel-art backgrounds - Trim, frame, process, and arrange clips locally - Available with Lifetime Pro LOCAL STEM SEPARATION - Separate a take into vocals, drums, bass, and other - Choose Fast, Balanced, or Best quality - Download the optional model once, then process locally - Mix, save, share, bounce, or upload stems BACKUP AND RESTORE - Back up a bank, project, or everything on your EP - Include assigned samples or create complete device archives - Restore PunchKit ZIP or user-supplied TE .pak backups with preflight MADE FOR IPHONE AND IPAD - Adaptive portrait and landscape layouts - System, Light, and Dark appearances FREE TO START, PRO FOR UNLIMITED WORKFLOWS PunchKit is free to download. Connecting, browsing, previewing, playing, sharing, renaming, deleting, restoring backups, and using existing files remain available without limits. The free tier includes three successful take creations, one local kit creation and one complete kit upload, three successful sample writes, one stem separation, and one bank, project, and complete-device backup. Allowances count only after an operation succeeds. One optional Lifetime Pro purchase removes these limits. There is no subscription, and Pro supports Apple Family Sharing. On iPhone and iPad, people who first downloaded PunchKit before version 1.3 receive Lifetime Pro automatically as founding users. LOCAL-FIRST BY DESIGN PunchKit has no account, advertising, third-party analytics, crash-reporting SDK, or tracking. Audio and EP content stay under your control. Issue reports are sent only when you choose. Optional diagnostics may include redacted app activity and Apple-provided crash information, but exclude audio, samples, project contents, and filenames. DISCLAIMER PunchKit is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Teenage Engineering.
TempoKey
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Know every song's tempo before you walk on stage. TempoKey analyzes an audio file you already own and returns its BPM in seconds — and it always shows two readings, the primary tempo and its half-time or double-time alternative, because that ambiguity is real in almost every library. You choose the one that matches how you count the song. From there it goes straight into a setlist you can reorder, annotate, and read from the stage. WHAT'S INSIDE • Automatic BPM analysis — Import a local audio file through the Files picker or drag and drop, and an on-device engine returns the tempo: Apple's Music Understanding framework on iOS 27, or the built-in DSP engine on earlier systems. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is copied, nothing leaves your phone. • Dual reading, by design — Every result shows a primary BPM next to its half-time or double-time alternative, for example "87 · or 174". One tap swaps them, and you can type a value in by hand when you disagree with both. • Song Map and auto key on iOS 27 — See the song's structure at a glance: sections, bar grid, where vocals, drums and bass enter, and overall loudness. The detected key is shown with an honest alternate reading; a key you type yourself always takes priority. On earlier systems the key field is typed in by you. • Tap tempo — Tap along four or more times and watch the tempo settle live. Made for rehearsal rooms, live counts, and anything you cannot import as a file. • Setlist library — Build ordered setlists with song title, BPM, a musical key, and your own notes. Drag to reorder until the running order is right. • Home screen widgets — An extra-large widget shows the next song in your setlist with tempo and key, readable from across the stage (iOS 27; medium size on earlier systems). • Performance Mode — A large-type card built for a dark stage: title, tempo and key readable at a glance, swipe left and right to move through the set, screen stays awake. • Transpose and tempo math — Capo and semitone transposition, BPM to milliseconds for delay and echo, and 75% / 50% practice-speed references. Pure arithmetic, no audio processing. • Spotlight and Siri — Your songs and setlists are searchable from the system search and openable by Siri (iOS 18.4 or later). • Completely offline — No account, no sign-in, no network requests, no cloud sync, no ads. WHAT TEMPOKEY IS NOT • Not a metronome. The app makes no sound at all. • Not a player. There is no playback, no now-playing screen, no media library browsing. • Not a tuner, not a notation app, not an audio editor. • No subscription, no advertising, no account. FILE SUPPORT Local, DRM-free audio only — MP3, WAV, M4A, AIFF and FLAC, imported from Files or dropped in. DRM-protected downloads cannot be analyzed, and the app says so plainly instead of failing quietly. Tempo detection covers 50–210 BPM; outside that range you get an explicit message rather than a wrong number. PRIVACY Your audio is decoded in memory for the length of the analysis and then released. TempoKey never copies, caches or uploads a file. Only the results — tempo, alternative reading, confidence, file name and duration — along with your setlists and notes are stored on the device. The app requests no microphone, no media library, no location, no contacts and no photos. PAY ONCE TempoKey opens and works without a purchase: tap tempo and every calculator are always free, and so are your first three analyses and one setlist of up to five songs. A single Lifetime unlock removes the limits — unlimited analyses, unlimited setlists and songs, and Performance Mode. One payment, no subscription. Built for the ten minutes before you go on.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: TempoKey at daily against PunchKit's weekly. PunchKit's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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. PunchKit sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and TempoKey sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PunchKit ships an update weekly, TempoKey daily. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PunchKit | TempoKey |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (51 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 95.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 51 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kristaps Dreija | Zcode |
In-app purchases
PunchKit
- Small Tip$2.99
- Generous Tip$5.99
- Huge Tip$12.99
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- PunchKit Pro Lifetime$14.99
TempoKey
- Lifetime Unlock$3.99









