Comparison

Show|Ready vs Pocket Bard

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

Head to head
About

Show|Ready

This app provides essential music rehearsal tools for musical theater productions. It offers playback features on iOS devices and director's editing on iPads. A license from a theatrical publisher is required to use the app.

Highlights
  • Music playback
  • Director's editing (iPad)
  • iOS compatibility
  • License integration
Features
Read full description

Show|Ready Mobile is the ultimate music rehearsal solution for musical theater. Show|Ready Mobile gives you all the playback features of the desktop Show|Ready on your iOS device. Additionally The director's editing features are available only on the iPad. A valid license of Show|Ready must be purchased first from Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Samuel French, Steele Spring or Plays for Young Audiences before you can use Show|Ready Mobile. Show|Ready Mobile only needs to be purchased once and then can be used with multiple Show|Ready licenses.

About

Pocket Bard

Enhance your tabletop RPG sessions with an immersive audio experience. Instantly change soundscapes to match the mood of your game, dynamically adjusting music and sound effects to perfectly complement your gameplay.

Highlights
  • Immersive audio experience
  • Dynamic soundscape changes
  • Match session tone
  • Alter music intensity
  • Adjust sound effects
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Pocket Bard is a fully immersive audio experience for your D&D or tabletop RPG session. With just a tap, change your entire soundscape to match the tone of your session. From moment to moment, alter the intensity of the music, ambience, and sound effects to pair perfectly with your gameplay. Free to download, no ads. The free library gives you 20+ complete scenes, including the full Fantasy Essentials collection (tavern, town, forest, cave, swamp, graveyard, dungeons, and more), enough to run an entire fantasy campaign without paying a thing. HOW IT WORKS More than a soundboard or a background playlist, every scene is a complete, layered soundscape you control live at the table. • Intensity slider (patented): one control reshapes the arrangement of the music in real time, from minor encounter to intense battle. • Music state controls: jump from exploration to combat with a single tap, and trigger a victory stinger when the fight ends. • Layered ambience: rain, wind, crowds, and creatures, each with its own intensity control. • Ambience variations: step indoors or out, into open fields or forest paths. • One-shot sound effects: a door slam, sword clash, thunderclap, or howl right on cue. • A mix that's already balanced: music, ambience, and effects are mastered to sit together at any volume. No mixing required. PREP LESS, PLAY MORE Built for game masters and dungeon masters, Pocket Bard runs on the phone, tablet, or desktop computer you already bring to the table. The controls stay out of your way, so you can shift the mood without breaking the flow of the story. When the party moves on, switch scenes with one tap, and the music and ambience automatically adapt. No more interrupting ads, juggling browser tabs, or clunky UI. No files to manage, no audio know-how needed. WORKS WITH ANY GAME Your weekly DnD group, a Pathfinder campaign, a Sci-fi one-shot, Blades in the Dark, Mothership, or your own homebrew. Scenes are built around places and moods, not rulebooks, so they fit any TTRPG and any setting. WORLDS TO EXPLORE Free with Fantasy Essentials: Tavern, Town, City, Village, Dark Streets, Mountains, Plains, Forest, Cave, Ancient Grove, Swamp, Graveyard, Dungeon Entrance, Dungeon Corridors, Dungeon Lair, Dwarven Kingdom, and more. Your free library also includes select scenes from other collections, like Deep Space and Shipwreck Cove. Open Worlds unlocks many more collections: Sci-Fi, Horror, Seafaring, Desert, Feywild, Northern, Cyberpunk, and Modern Urban. Think starships and derelict stations, haunted libraries and cursed lands, frozen harbors, buried tombs, enchanted glades, and high-speed chases. New scenes are added throughout the year. MADE BY HUMANS Every note, sound, and piece of art in Pocket Bard is thoughtfully crafted by real humans. Scenes are composed by professional musicians and mastered by our audio team. No AI-generated music or art. STREAM IT Pocket Bard owns the rights to its music, and you're welcome to use it in your streams and videos. A credit is always appreciated. OPEN WORLDS Open Worlds is our subscription: every collection, plus every new scene as it's released, billed monthly or yearly. One subscription, everything included. Immersive audio, made simple. With Pocket Bard, you can focus on what matters most: your story. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Service: https://www.pocketbard.app/terms-of-service.html Privacy Policy: https://www.pocketbard.app/privacy-policy.html Pocket Bard is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Chaosium, or any other game publisher. Dungeons & Dragons and D&D are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Screenshots

Show|Ready3 screens
Pocket Bard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pocket Bard at 86% against Show|Ready's 26%. Pocket Bard also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.7) and update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 4 months). Show|Ready's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.1). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pocket Bard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Show|Ready asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pocket Bard holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Bard has 1.8K ratings behind it against 84, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 26% of Show|Ready's written reviews are positive against 86% of Pocket Bard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Show|Ready ships an update every 4 months, Pocket Bard every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Show|Ready versus Pocket Bard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShow|ReadyPocket Bard
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.7 (84 ratings)4.8 (1.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews26.4% of reviews86.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings841.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#180 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.1
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB109 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperRight On Cue Services, LLCPocket Bard Inc.

Customer experience

Show|Ready

All ratings81 ratings
Positive37.0%
Neutral11.1%
Negative51.9%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive26.4%
Neutral15.3%
Negative58.3%

Pocket Bard

All ratings1,638 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews363 reviews
Positive86.0%
Neutral6.6%
Negative7.4%

User reviews

Show|Ready

From 84 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Handy tool for learning parts
  • 👍 Useful for theater kids
  • 👍 Good for practicing songs
  • 👍 Helpful for learning harmonies
  • 👍 Can layer voices in/out

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Constantly crashing
  • 🐛 Glitchy and buggy
  • 🐛 App freezes often
  • 🐛 Hard to play transition tracks
  • 🐛 Sound stops instead of restarting

Pocket Bard

From 1.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless transitions
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🎨 Great customization options
  • 🎶 High-quality music and sound effects
  • 💡 Versatile for various use cases (TTRPG, reading, writing, etc.)

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Unclear subscription model and pricing
  • 🐛 Bugs and crashes for some users
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 📦 Limited content in free version

Bugs and requests

Show|Ready

Reported bugs

31 issues
  • App crashes constantly
  • App freezes frequently
  • App glitches
  • App randomly kicks user out
  • Buttons not visible on iPhone screen
Show 26 more
  • Passcode entry crashes app
  • Settings do not save
  • App disappears from phone
  • App needs to be reloaded
  • Crashes when trying to repeat songs
  • Music stops playing, only click track
  • Tempo changes disappear after freeze
  • Glitches on vamps/repeats/cesuras
  • Needs complete reboot
  • UI issues on iPhone/iPad
  • No vocal tracks
  • App crashes on login
  • Tracks not loading
  • App closes immediately upon opening
  • Audio freezes
  • Tempo issues or song stops briefly
  • Song comes in/out at specific measures
  • Adjustments do not save
  • Parts not playing sometimes
  • Cannot play parts after repeat/fermata
  • Constantly crashing when opening app
  • Doesn't show music
  • Randomly mutes everything
  • New update hides song title
  • Instruments sound bad
  • Laggy performance

Requested features

10 requests
  • More musical sounds than synth
  • Minute/seconds counter for song length
  • Ability to move tab bar to bottom
  • Mobile view score
  • Ability to make notes on the score
Show 5 more
  • Option to mute metronome in mixer tab
  • Score in the app
  • Ability to loop sections
  • Dark mode option
  • Better quality instruments

Pocket Bard

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Downloading content causes crashes
  • Repeated terms of service pop-ups
  • One-shot sound effects not working
  • Inconsistent audio quality and balance

Requested features

6 requests
  • More sound effects (creature sounds, weather, etc.)
  • Ability to import custom music and sounds
  • AirPlay support for streaming to speakers
  • Offline mode or caching for downloaded content
  • Customizable scenes and soundscapes
Show 1 more
  • Shortcut integration for quick access

In-app purchases

None

Show|Ready

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Pocket Bard

Subscriptions2
  • Pocket Bard Open Worlds14 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Pocket Bard Open Worlds Yearly14 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Show|Ready free?
Show|Ready is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pocket Bard free?
Pocket Bard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Show|Ready or Pocket Bard?
Pocket Bard is rated higher. Show|Ready averages 2.7 out of 5 from 84 ratings, while Pocket Bard averages 4.8 from 1.8K ratings.
Do Show|Ready or Pocket Bard have ads?
Neither Show|Ready nor Pocket Bard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Show|Ready or Pocket Bard?
Show|Ready ships an update every 4 months, and Pocket Bard every 4 weeks. Most recently, Show|Ready was updated on November 6, 2026 and Pocket Bard on November 7, 2026.

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