Soundwaves vs SubSonify
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Soundwaves
Connect your iOS device to your Subsonic music server for a simple and seamless audio and video streaming experience. Enjoy your media library at home or on the go, even with limited bandwidth. Supports various audio and video formats, and compatible with other Subsonic API servers.
- Subsonic music server client
- Audio and video streaming
- Bandwidth-limited connection support
- CarPlay compatibility
- FLAC, Opus, Ogg Vorbis playback
- Plays movies from server
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Soundwaves is a client for the Subsonic music server. Soundwaves focuses on simplicity, making it the ideal client to connect your iPad or iPhone to your home theater setup. Optionally setting a suitable max bit rate, enables Soundwaves to work well even over a bandwidth limited connection (e.g. a mobile connection). It will also play nicely with your car radio, connected via USB, Bluetooth or CarPlay. In addition to audio formats natively supported by iOS (e.g. mp3, AAC), Soundwaves can also play FLAC, Opus and Ogg Vorbis content. Soundwaves can also play movies from your Subsonic server, as long as they are in a supported format (.mov, .mp4, .mpv, .3gp) or a proper transcoding has been configured on the server. Soundwaves works with other media servers which implement the same Subsonic API's, such as Madsonic, Airsonic, Supysonic, LMS or Ampache. Note about privacy: tracking only happens when using the free, ad-supported version. Removing ads via the in-app purchase also stops tracking and data collection.
SubSonify
Access your self-hosted music library offline on iOS devices, including Apple Watch and CarPlay. Enjoy instant browsing, downloads, and Siri integration. A free tier offers limited daily playback, with a Pro version removing the cap.
- Offline library access
- Background syncing
- Download albums and playlists
- CarPlay integration
- Standalone Apple Watch playback
- Siri voice commands
- Adjustable crossfade and quality settings
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SubSonify is a native iOS client for self-hosted music servers: Navidrome, Airsonic, Ampache, gonic, LMS and anything else that speaks the Subsonic API. Your library, offline, in CarPlay, on Apple Watch, and one "Hey Siri" away. There is no tracking in it, and the only server the app talks to is yours. Free is the whole app at ten songs a day; Pro only removes the cap. WHAT IT DOES • Full offline library. The app keeps a local copy of your library, so browsing and search are instant and work with no signal. It syncs in the background; there is no offline mode to switch on. • Downloads. Keep albums, playlists or single songs on the device. They survive reboots and keep playing when your server is down. • Auto-download. Point it at your starred songs or any playlist and new additions download on their own. • CarPlay. Browse, search and play from the car screen, with artwork, queue, Up Next, shuffle and repeat. • Apple Watch. Standalone playback: stream over Wi-Fi or LTE, or sync tracks to the watch and leave the phone at home. • Siri. "Hey Siri, play [artist] on SubSonify" plays from your server. Artists, albums, songs, playlists, or "play something" to shuffle the library. Shortcuts too. • Song Radio. Start a radio from any song, and save the result as a playlist. • Internet radio. If your server has stations configured, they show up. If not, the section stays hidden. • Crossfade and quality. Adjustable crossfade, plus separate stream quality for Wi-Fi and cellular: FLAC at home, transcoded on mobile data. SERVERS AND LOGIN Tested against Navidrome, LMS, Ampache and gonic. On servers with OpenSubsonic API keys, SubSonify logs in with a key, so your password is never stored on the device. Everywhere else it uses the salted-token authentication every Subsonic server has supported for years. Credentials live in the iOS Keychain and go to your server and nowhere else. WHAT IT COLLECTS Nothing. There is no account to create, and the app ships without an analytics SDK or a crash reporter. Listening history, playlists, downloads and settings stay on your device and your server. The app makes two kinds of connections: to your server, and to Apple for purchases. The one exception is internet radio: stations stream straight from the broadcaster, who can see your IP address. FREE AND PRO Free means ten songs a day with every feature included: downloads, offline playback, CarPlay, the watch app, sync, search and playlists. Pro removes the cap and does nothing else. If ten songs a day is enough, the app costs nothing, ever. Pro is available monthly, yearly, or as a one-time lifetime purchase. The yearly plan starts with a free week. Prices are shown in the app in your local currency. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of that period. Manage your subscription and turn off auto-renew in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Privacy policy: https://subsonify.app/privacy Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ The music in the screenshots comes from the SubSonify demo server: Creative Commons tracks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and Broke For Free, used under CC BY. More at https://subsonify.app
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SubSonify at Free against Soundwaves's $3.99. SubSonify also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and review sentiment (100% vs 60%). Soundwaves's advantage is ratings volume (12 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.1). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
SubSonify is free to download; Soundwaves costs $3.99 up front. Soundwaves sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and SubSonify sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
SubSonify holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Soundwaves has 12 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Soundwaves's written reviews are positive against 100% of SubSonify's.
Soundwaves ships an update every 2 months, SubSonify every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Soundwaves | SubSonify |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (12 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simone Tellini | DoubleFau |
Customer experience
Soundwaves
SubSonify
In-app purchases
Soundwaves
- Ads-free Edition$3.99
SubSonify
- Monthly$2.991 Month
- Yearly7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Lifetime$44.99









