Drillbook Next Reader vs SonoPhone for Sonos
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drillbook Next Reader
This app allows marching band members and instructors to visualize and follow marching show drills. It displays coordinates for each performer at every count, enabling users to understand their position and contribution to the overall show. Features include playback, zoom, and personalized set books for marchers.
- View coordinates for every set and count
- Navigate show by counts and sets
- Pinch and zoom functionality
- Jump to any set or song
- Play show with creator-entered tempos
- Personalized set book for each marcher
- Print set cards
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Marching band and drum corps drill at your fingertips. See how every count and every set fits into your marching show. Follow shows created on DrillbookNext.com or Drillbook Next: Directors. Drillbook Next Reader does not create shows, only follows them "Game Changer - This app is one of the most amazing tools I have used in my years of teaching marching band. So much you can do with it, no more carrying around paper charts trying to explain what a move should look like, students can watch, step-by-step, and see their coordinates the entire way. A total game changer for my band!" - SHS Drumline "Simply the best drillbook app on the App Store - As a band director, I've fallen victim to carrying around the "large binder of charts" that the profession demands. Not any more!! Upon seeing what this app can offer, it's well worth the price, both for students and directors. Seeing every dot on the field in motion and, at any time, having the ability to click on a member and see their dot book coordinate is a massive timesaver and makes rehearsals infinitely more efficient." - NBRFWooo! "Wonderful tool for drill - Beautiful, well polished, feature rich, prefect for quickly knowing what the drill should look like and the exact coordinates for any student." - Wooky "This is the best app for reading drill - I seriously can't say enough about how well this app works. Uploading a show is simple, it updates easily, it's excellent and the developer is very responsive to issues." - Roskoski Marchers Follow your dot as your marching show develops. See how you contribute to the big picture for every count. Know your show forwards and backwards. Use a set book for any marcher in the show. Instructors Pinpoint each marcher for every count. View marcher names and color coded drill. Help students get up to speed faster. Features: Coordinates for every set and count of your marching show. Move forward and backward by counts and sets. Pinch and zoom in and out. Jump to any set or song. Play the show with tempos entered by the show creator. Marcher View flips the field. Personalized set book for each marcher. Print set cards for each marcher through Set Book Mode. Custom notes for each marcher.
SonoPhone for Sonos
This app offers a streamlined and faster way to control your Sonos system, featuring a cleaner interface and backward compatibility with S1 firmware. It simplifies common tasks, allowing for quicker navigation and management of zones and music sources.
- Faster common task completion
- Cleaner, stable, and fast interface
- Supports Sonos S1 firmware
- Manage zones and music sources
- Intuitive drag-and-drop zone grouping
- Volume and progress popups
- Touch To Play functionality
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Yes. There's a better way to control your Sonos system. - Speeds up most common tasks (less taps) - Cleaner, more stable and fast interface. - Backward compatibility is king (we support Sonos S1 firmware and also iOS15 devices) - Manage zones and music sources. You control your Sonos. Not the other way around. See the features in action on YouTube (https://youtu.be/aMEuaZPUH58) or read more below. This application is a third party app and not endorsed by or associated with Sonos, Inc. (which is why it is not free) ◆◆◆ A new, intuitive and concise user interface ◆◆◆ SonoPhone is designed to leverage the latest iOS design principles: - Tap or drag the player on the top and you'll find the players view to select a new player and with volume controls for all players. From here you can also enter Zone Management, where you can group and ungroup players with drag and drop. - Tap or drag the Track infos on the bottom and you'll be at the big covers screen - Drag the main menu from any place to the left or right to have instant access to playlist or shortcuts - volume + progress popups: when changing volume or progress of a song, you get popups telling you the actual values. Stop guessing your desired values today! ◆◆◆ less taps for common tasks ◆◆◆ SonoPad tries to optimize most often used tasks to have the least taps needed. In the end you are able to navigate and control your players much more fluently. - Touch To Play: are you sick of always beeing asked what to do when you tap a track or album? SonoPhone defaults to just starting an album or song. A long press still gives you access to all options - you can also change the tap default in the settings menu. Want to build a playlist fast? Just set the default to 'always add to end' and off you go ... - tap an album cover image and the whole album starts to play immediately - aggregated search: search results are collapsed into one view, so you see immediately in what category you have the best results, without switching back and forth - shortcuts to most used functions: drag the main menu to the right to get shortcut buttons for artist, albums, radio and musicservices. - you can control the volume of every player directly from the player selection screen. No need to switch players anymore. ◆◆◆ S1 and S2 devices in one app ◆◆◆◆ - If you still have old S1 devices, the time of always having to change apps is over. We simply display all existing players in the network in one list. Grouping is unfortunately not possible, this is prevented by Sonos. ◆◆◆ Limitations ◆◆◆ - all music services except YouTube Music are supported - no support for administrative features (adding/removing players, music service, ...). You need the official Apps for initial setup of your system, SonoPad will pick up all changes automatically. - no options to set alarms or sleep settings - no playing of music stored on iPhone - no support for discontinued WD100 dock ◆◆◆ Other stuff ◆◆◆ - Sonos is registered trademark of Sonos, Inc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SonoPhone for Sonos at 85% against Drillbook Next Reader's 54%. SonoPhone for Sonos also leads on rating (4.4 vs 4.1) and ratings volume (235 vs 29). Drillbook Next Reader's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $3.99) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Drillbook Next Reader costs $2.99 and SonoPhone for Sonos $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
SonoPhone for Sonos holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SonoPhone for Sonos has 235 ratings behind it against 29, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Drillbook Next Reader's written reviews are positive against 85% of SonoPhone for Sonos's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drillbook Next Reader | SonoPhone for Sonos |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (29 ratings) | 4.4 (235 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.8% of reviews | 84.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 29 | 235 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #198 | #143 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Scott Rundell | Stefan Hansel Solutions UG (haftungsbeschraenkt) |
Customer experience
Drillbook Next Reader
SonoPhone for Sonos
Bugs and requests
Drillbook Next Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
SonoPhone for Sonos
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional connectivity issues
- Playback problems with large music libraries
Requested features
4 requests- Sleep timer
- Graphic equalizer
- Ability to customize main menu
- Support for Sonos S2 devices
In-app purchases
Drillbook Next Reader
No in-app purchases
SonoPhone for Sonos
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Drillbook Next Reader free?
Is SonoPhone for Sonos free?
Which has better reviews, Drillbook Next Reader or SonoPhone for Sonos?
Do Drillbook Next Reader or SonoPhone for Sonos have ads?
Which is updated more often, Drillbook Next Reader or SonoPhone for Sonos?
Which is more popular, Drillbook Next Reader or SonoPhone for Sonos?
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