Bionic Tape vs Pocket Disk
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bionic Tape
This app transforms your iPhone into a retro cassette player. Experience your music library with interactive physical controls, customizable skins, and unique folding gestures for playback. Enjoy your music offline with support for various file formats and streaming services.
- Interactive cassette deck simulation
- Physical controls with haptics
- Customizable skins and visual themes
- Folding gestures for playback control
- Support for Apple Music, local files, Plex, and Spotify
- Offline playback for personal music library
- Tent mode for display
Read full descriptionHide full description
Unfold, pick a tape, fold, listen. Bionic Tape turns your iPhone into a cassette deck. Unfolded, your playlists and albums sit on the shelf as cassettes, each in its case with cover art. Tap, and the tape slides into the deck. Fold the phone, and the tape rolls on the cover screen: reels spin, the tape hisses, the keys click. WHAT'S INSIDE • Fold instead of tap: the hinge decides whether you pick tapes or listen. Folding starts playback. • Keys you can press: real 3D keys with travel, click and haptics. PLAY latches while the tape is running. • Volume you can feel: a knob with an LED ring, a thumb wheel or a touch pad, depending on device and skin. 16 detents, each one clicks. • SHUFFLE: a slide switch plays your tapes in random order. • OUT: send the music to smart speakers, Bluetooth speakers or headphones. • Window: look through the window at the cassette with its handwritten label and the current song. The tape pack shows how much of the tape is left. • Tent mode: stand your iPhone up as a tent and the cassette becomes the show, with your playlist's cover art as the label. Tap to play/pause, swipe for the next track. • Full screen: tap the cassette and only the tape remains. • Seven skins: Translucent in see-through turquoise, 1983 in the style of 80s office computers, Sport in bold 80s yellow, Classic retro blue, Bionic OS, Cyberpunk and HMZ.swiss. • TAPE FX: hiss and clicks can be switched off. • Shelf: a tab per music source, RECENT for your latest tapes, search, and remove tapes you don't need. MUSIC • Apple Music: your playlists and albums as cassettes. Requires an Apple Music subscription. • Your own music: MP3, FLAC, AAC, ALAC, WAV and AIFF from the Files app, every album a cassette. Plays offline and in the background, with lock screen controls. • Plex: albums and playlists from your own Plex server, at home and on the go. • Demo tapes: work right away, no account needed. • Spotify: your playlists and albums as cassettes, played through the Spotify app (Premium required). You connect it with your own free Spotify developer app – Bionic Tape walks you through it. BUILT FOR THE IPHONE DUO Made for unfolding and folding. On iPhones without a hinge, a button switches between shelf and player. NO TRACKING No ads, no analytics, no account with us. Buy once, no subscription. A project from the HMZ workshop, Zurich. Feedback welcome: hmz.swiss/en/walkman
Pocket Disk
Experience your Apple Music library with the nostalgic feel of a portable CD player. Browse albums as jewel cases, select a disc, and enjoy a retro listening experience with tactile controls and a spinning disc animation. It adapts to various display sizes and accessibility features.
- Classic portable CD player interface
- Album artwork on jewel cases
- Spinning disc animation
- Tactile-style controls
- Cover-flow album browsing
- Background playback
- Adaptive layout for iPhone/iPad
Read full descriptionHide full description
Your music. A little more hands-on. Pocket Disk brings the feel of a classic portable CD player to your Apple Music library. Browse your albums as jewel cases, choose a favorite, and watch the case open as the disc moves into the player. Close the lid, press play, and enjoy the album. A PLAYER WITH PERSONALITY Metallic black finishes, an amber track display, tactile-style controls, and a spinning disc bring a little of the ’90s to your listening routine. YOUR LIBRARY, ON DISC Flip through your album collection in a cover-flow view. Album artwork stays on the jewel case, while the disc carries a clean album-and-artist label. Add albums to your library in Apple Music to browse them in Pocket Disk. THE SMALL DETAILS MATTER Open the player to change discs. Pick up browsing where you left off when you open it again. Play, pause, or skip tracks with familiar controls, and keep listening in the background. MADE TO FIT Enjoy room for the player and your album collection on larger displays. Browse with the disc above your library in portrait, or side by side in landscape. Pocket Disk adapts to iPhone and iPad displays, with VoiceOver, larger text layouts, and Reduce Motion support. APPLE MUSIC REQUIRED Pocket Disk connects to your Apple Music library and requires permission to access your music. An eligible Apple Music subscription is required for catalog playback. Pocket Disk does not include a music subscription or a collection of songs. No separate Pocket Disk account is required.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pocket Disk at Free against Bionic Tape's $4.99. Pocket Disk also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.0) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 27.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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
Pocket Disk is free to download; Bionic Tape costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pocket Disk holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
| Parameter | Bionic Tape | Pocket Disk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 2.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 27.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HMZ craftsmanship GmbH | Jozsef Ritter |
In-app purchases
Bionic Tape
No in-app purchases
Pocket Disk
No in-app purchases









