Comparison

GLYPHTONE vs Tonkro

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

Head to head
About

GLYPHTONE

Features
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GLYPHTONE is a pocket-sized step sequencer built around one simple idea: tap a grid, hear a pattern. โ€” 16ร—16 GRID โ€” Sixteen steps across, sixteen pitches down. Tap a cell to place a note, tap again to remove it. Watch the playhead sweep across as your pattern plays back. โ€” 9 TIMBRES โ€” Bell, Piano, Organ, Strings, Brass, Lead, Pad, Bass, and a dedicated Drum voice with nine distinct percussion sounds built in โ€” all synthesized live, no samples to download. โ€” SOLO OR ENSEMBLE โ€” Solo mode keeps one timbre per cell, so switching instruments recolors your whole pattern instead of stacking new sounds on top. Ensemble mode lets you layer multiple timbres in the same cell. โ€” GENERATE โ€” Stuck for ideas? Generate builds a fresh phrase in one of ten shapes โ€” Up, Down, Wave, Zigzag, Random, Drum, and more. Keep pressing Generate to reroll variations, or Undo up to five steps back. โ€” SCALES & OCTAVES โ€” Ten scales (Major, Minor, Dorian, Blues, In Sen, Ryukyu, and more) and a ยฑ2 octave range, so the same grid pattern can sound completely different. โ€” FOUR BARS โ€” Work across four separate bars, each auto-saving as you go. Chain any combination of them together for longer arrangements that loop in order. โ€” EXPORT โ€” Render your pattern to a WAV audio file, or save it as a Standard MIDI File to bring into your DAW. No account. No ads. No internet connection required. Everything happens on your device.

About

Tonkro

Features
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MAKE MUSIC BY TOUCHING THE MACHINE Tonkro is a playful music workstation for iPad: part synthesizer, sampler, drum machine, sequencer, recorder, editor, mixer, and DJ performance space. SHAPE ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTS Explore distinctive synth and drum engines through four expressive controls. Each workshop is built to feel immediate: touch the illustrated machinery, hear the result, and let the characters react to your performance. SAMPLE THE WORLD Record through the microphone or import audio. Play one sound chromatically, divide it into untransposed slices, or map multiple samples across keys and pads. Trim, crop, loop, reverse, fade, change speed, transpose, and preserve the original recording with non-destructive editing. FIND RHYTHMS YOUR WAY Seven sequencer personalities turn taps, held notes, patterns, gestures, and playful systems into musical motion. Tempo, transport, MIDI, and recording stay connected, so a sketch can become an arrangement without breaking the flow. RECORD AND ARRANGE Build with eight stereo tracks. Record audio or notes, edit clips and piano-roll performances, overdub, punch, loop, lift, drop, mix, export stems, and save portable project bundles. PERFORM WITH MONSTER DECKS Load two tracks, set beat grids, sync, use key lock, cue points, hot cues, quantized loops, EQ, filters, pitch bend, and the crossfader. Record the performance or print it directly into the tape arrangement. MADE FOR PLAY Tonkro keeps its creative tools visible, touchable, and full of character. It works without an account, advertising, or third-party analytics. Your projects, recordings, and imported samples remain on your iPad unless you choose to export or share them.

Screenshots

GLYPHTONE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tonkro at Free against GLYPHTONE's $9.99. GLYPHTONE's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Tonkro is free to download; GLYPHTONE costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GLYPHTONE ships an update every 2 days, Tonkro every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 2 level
GLYPHTONE versus Tonkro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGLYPHTONETonkro
Price$9.99Free โ€” better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days โ€” betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPad
Requires iOS15.6 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size3 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTakayoshi OgiharaBipasha Nayak

In-app purchases

None

GLYPHTONE

No in-app purchases

None

Tonkro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is GLYPHTONE free?
GLYPHTONE costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tonkro free?
Tonkro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do GLYPHTONE or Tonkro have ads?
Neither GLYPHTONE nor Tonkro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GLYPHTONE or Tonkro?
GLYPHTONE ships an update every 2 days, and Tonkro every 3 weeks. Most recently, GLYPHTONE was updated on October 26, 2026 and Tonkro on October 26, 2026.

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