Spindle vs Wavecore
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Spindle
Rediscover your owned music with a dedicated player that prioritizes your curation and control. Enjoy a tactile jog wheel interface, support for all lossless formats, and seamless integration with your existing library. No algorithms, no accounts, just your music, your way.
- Tactile jog wheel for navigation
- Support for all lossless audio formats
- No algorithmic feed or account required
- Import music via Wi-Fi, AirDrop, or Files
- Gapless playback and AirPlay 2 support
- Customizable themes
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The dedicated music player you miss, rebuilt for iPhone — and it plays your own server. For those with a spot of nostalgia for click wheels and MiniDiscs: those little machines played the music you owned, in the order you chose. No feed. No account. No algorithm deciding what came next. Spindle brings that back. Your whole server, in your pocket. Run Navidrome, or any Subsonic-compatible server? Point Spindle at it and your entire collection is there — thousands of albums, browsable and playable, without filling up your phone. A library far bigger than your storage, on a device that fits in a pocket. It stays your server. There is no Spindle account and no cloud of ours in the middle: your phone talks to your machine, and nobody else is involved. If you don't run a server, none of this appears — Spindle is a local player first, and stays one. Take it offline. Download any album to keep it on the phone. Offline Mode then shows only music that plays with no connection at all — on a plane, on the subway, off-grid — and quietly collapses duplicates when you own a copy of something you also stream. A player you hold. A real jog wheel: drag to scroll, flick to coast, spin to scrub. Hold a scrub and it accelerates, the way a proper transport does. Eyes-up and thumb-driven. Not another screen of flat buttons. Your collection, one turn away. Albums, artists, songs, genres, and folders: on a shelf you can spin through. Loved and most-played stay close to hand. You bring the curation. The music you own, in the order you meant it. Spindle just plays it back. And it plays it properly. FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF and MP3, played through Spindle's own engine at the file's native sample rate. Gapless playback for albums that were meant to run together. A 10-band EQ if you want to shape it. CarPlay, AirPlay, and Last.fm scrobbling if you use it. Free for 7 days, then buy it once. The whole app for a week, nothing withheld. After that it's a one-time purchase — not a subscription. No account. No subscription to us. No feed. Your library, your order.
Wavecore
This premium Hi-Fi audio player offers a refined listening experience with advanced playback features, extensive audio customization, and a beautifully designed interface. It allows users to personalize their music collection, edit track metadata, and enjoy high-quality audio formats.
- Premium Hi-Fi audio playback
- Support for high-quality audio formats
- Powerful equalizer and audio effects
- Advanced audio customization
- Customizable themes
- Edit track metadata, artwork, and lyrics
- Organize and personalize music collection
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Rediscover your music with Wavecore — a premium Hi-Fi audio player designed for listeners who value sound quality, elegant design, and complete control over their music experience. Enjoy a refined listening experience with powerful playback features, advanced audio customization, and a beautifully crafted interface made for music enthusiasts. Wavecore brings your music library to life with: • Premium Hi-Fi audio playback • Support for high-quality audio formats • Powerful equalizer and audio effects • Advanced audio customization controls • Beautiful customizable themes • Edit track metadata, artwork, and lyrics • Organize and personalize your music collection Designed for those who appreciate every detail of their favorite tracks, Wavecore combines precision, simplicity, and a modern interface to deliver a premium listening experience. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Wavecore at daily against Spindle's fortnightly. On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Spindle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Wavecore sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Spindle against 5.0 for Wavecore. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 4 respectively.
Spindle ships an update fortnightly, Wavecore daily. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Spindle | Wavecore |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Raindog LLC | Valerii Lubenets |
Customer experience
Spindle
Wavecore
In-app purchases
Spindle
- Unlock Spindle$6.99
Wavecore
- Wavecore Pro Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Wavecore Pro$14.99









