Comparison

iChing roller vs Playapod

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

Head to head
About

iChing roller

This tool simplifies the process of consulting the I Ching by using your phone's shake function to generate hexagrams. It provides detailed information about each gua, including upper and lower trigrams and commentary.

Highlights
  • Shake to roll hexagrams
  • Displays pertinent gua information
  • Shows upper and lower trigrams
  • Includes Confucius' commentary
  • Simple and elegant interface
Features
Read full description

iChing roller is a tool to let you easily roll the iChing without flipping a single coin. iChing roller rolls hexagrams for you with a simple shake of your phone, gives you all the pertinent information about the gua, and with a simple tap on the hexagram, it will show you the upper and lower trigrams, as well as Confucius' commentary on the hexagram. It's simple, and elegant. Just like the original.

About

Playapod

Listen to podcasts with advanced features like cross-platform syncing, precise episode tracking, and offline playback. Bookmark favorite moments, enjoy video and text-to-speech content, and organize your listening with custom playlists and filters. It's a free, ad-free experience designed for dedicated podcast enthusiasts.

Highlights
  • Cross-platform device syncing
  • Second-by-second episode tracking
  • Time-coded bookmarking
  • Video and text-to-speech playback
  • Offline listening
  • Custom playlists and filters
  • CarPlay integration
Features
Read full description

Playapod is the best way to listen to your favorite podcasts and features cross-platform device syncing, episode tracking down to the second, remote media controls, offline listening, new episode notifications, bulk imports, fast performance, no ads, and more! • Multi-Device Sync Sync all your podcast subscriptions and episode progress between multiple devices and across all platforms! Just sign-in with your favorite social network or with e-mail. • Episode Tracking Tracks exactly the portions of episodes that you have listened down to the second. You'll never forget where you left off or what you skipped over! • Bookmarking Bookmark your favorite parts of any episode so you can quickly go back and listen again. Bookmarks are time-coded and synced across all your devices. • Video Playback (NEW v2 Feature) Video playback supported. Tapping on the video will toggle full-screen mode. • Text to Speech (NEW v2 Feature) Turn any text-based feed into an audio podcast with full progress bar support including scrubbing and bookmarking. Great for keeping up with the latest news and blogs. • Media Bar (NEW v2 Feature) Quickly access whatever is currently playing by tapping on the media bar at the bottom of the screen. It’s always on with quick access to play/pause. Tap the bar to bring up the full media player view. • Recommendations (NEW v2 Feature) Our recommendation engine will suggest new subscriptions you might enjoy. • Groups & Filters (NEW v2 Feature) Filter content by favorites, category, media flags, content type, and time. Save filters into Groups for quick one-touch access. • Media Files (NEW v2 Feature) Add media files such as audio, video, and text files to Playapod using iTunes File Sharing for local playback. • Car Play Driving with your iPhone puts your Playapod Now Playing queue right on your car's built-in display. • Custom Playlist Create a custom playlist of your podcast episodes. Drag and drop reordering makes it easy to listen to your favorite shows all day without device interaction. • Media Controls Toggle playback and skip forward and backwards quickly using lockscreen and bluetooth controls. • Listen Offline Download entire podcasts and listen on the go without a network connection or cellular data charges. • Free & No Ads Free download with no advertising! There are no bulky 3rd party ad networks that are known to kill battery life, slow performance, and consume network bandwidth. • Push Notifications Get new episode notifications so you stay on top of your favorite shows. Toggle notifications in the app settings. • Import Podcasts Quickly bulk import a list of podcasts with OPML files (Outline Processor Markup Language XML Files). • Advanced Configuration Lots of settings to customize and tweak the behavior of the Playapod app. Custom settings available for each subscription too! • Customer Support Our developers listen to your feedback and quickly fix all reported issues. Join our Facebook Page and start a discussion! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playapod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/playapod Website: https://playapod.com/

Screenshots

iChing roller4 screens
Playapod4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Playapod at 79% against iChing roller's 0%. Playapod also leads on price (Free vs $0.99) and rating (4.7 vs 3.0). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Playapod is free to download; iChing roller costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Playapod holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Playapod has 622 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of iChing roller's written reviews are positive against 79% of Playapod's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iChing roller ships an update every 13 months, Playapod every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
iChing roller versus Playapod: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriChing rollerPlayapod
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating3.0 (2 ratings)4.7 (622 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews79.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2622 — better
Update frequencyEvery 13 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB25 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDavid RalleyTMSOFT

Customer experience

iChing roller

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Playapod

All ratings620 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.7%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive79.2%
Neutral9.1%
Negative11.7%

Bugs and requests

iChing roller

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Playapod

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Podcast downloads failing or timing out
  • Playlist issues (not playing next episode, losing queue)
  • Episodes marked as played before finishing
  • Inconsistent behavior on different devices and platforms
  • Data loss when device is turned off

Requested features

6 requests
  • Volume boost and normalization
  • Silence skip feature
  • Ability to reorder individual playlists
  • Video podcast playback support
  • Diagnostics and troubleshooting tools
Show 1 more
  • Search by episode title

In-app purchases

None

iChing roller

No in-app purchases

None

Playapod

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iChing roller free?
iChing roller costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Playapod free?
Playapod is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iChing roller or Playapod?
Playapod is rated higher. iChing roller averages 3.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Playapod averages 4.7 from 622 ratings.
Do iChing roller or Playapod have ads?
Neither iChing roller nor Playapod shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iChing roller or Playapod?
iChing roller ships an update every 13 months, and Playapod every 3 months. Most recently, iChing roller was updated on October 19, 2026 and Playapod on October 21, 2026.

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