“Music” on iOS is an excellent player, but it works with a small number of formats. We present to you higher quality and multifunctional analogues.

It is difficult to “throw a stone in the garden” of the developers of the “Music” audio player. Indeed, the built-in player for the iPhone is very convenient and has almost no flaws, so many owners of “apple” devices are used to doing only with it and do not think about “casting a fishing rod” in the AppStore in search of other music software.

Despite this, the store is full of audio players equipped with useful functions that “Music” cannot boast of – for example, displaying the lyrics of the song being played on the screen.

VLC FOR MOBILE

VLC for Mobile is an advanced tool that allows you to play not only audio but also video files on iOS and Android mobile devices. This means that with the help of this program you can not only listen to music and open audio files, but also, for example, watch movies and other content stored in the memory of your smartphone/tablet.

Already thanks to this possibility, the player can be called a favorite in our selection and without a doubt place it on the first line. VLC is a time-tested program for working with media files, which may be known to many due to the presence of a desktop version for Windows and macOS. Although it is not distinguished by some huge functionality, it works quite stably and without any problems.

Application features:

• Nice minimalistic design.
• Work with many formats.
• Completely free and without ads.
• Ability to play from cloud storage  (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, etc.).
• There are several subtitle formats.
• Support for even the oldest versions of iOS.

VOX MUSIC PLAYER

Audio player for iPhone Vox is considered one of the best and the main competitor of the Music application. The Mac version of this program led the AppStore free apps chart for several weeks in a row, so the “mobile” Vox was eagerly awaited.

Vox for mobile devices lived up to expectations: you can prefer this program to the “Music” player at least because of the original interface and ease of navigation – all commands are given by swipes, which makes it easier to use the player on the go. In terms of functionality, Vox will also give a head start to Music and other similar software.

Application features:

• Supports many formats:  AAC, MP3, FLAC, APE, CUE.
• Convenience and flexibility in use:  Vox easily connects to SoundCloud and Last.Fm accounts.
• Loop’s unlimited cloud storage.
• Good sound quality  thanks to its own Audio Engine system.

The main disadvantage of the Vox audio player is the lack of manual frequency adjustment. Although the equalizer includes more than 10 presets, among them there may not be such an option that would satisfy the individual tastes of music lovers.

LISTEN

According to popular history, the unique program Listen: the Gesture Music Player owes its appearance to a developer who was uncomfortable switching tracks on a standard player while driving a car. The uniqueness of Listen is that it is completely devoid of buttons and does not require the user to look at the screen for control – this music player works only with gestures.

The lack of controls and an almost empty screen after the first launch of Listen often cause surprise to users. Therefore, it is not recommended to neglect the training offered by the program before starting to use it. It is possible to learn gestures by experience, but it will take more time than viewing the instructions. Gestures are quite simple: for example, a single tap on the screen starts and stops playback, a swipe up adds a song to “Favorites”.

Application features:

• A developed social component –  the user can talk about the songs being listened to on Twitter and Facebook, as well as stream music via AirPlay.
• Bright design,  able to create a positive mood thanks to animation.
• Simple and affordable:   the program is downloaded from the AppStore absolutely free of charge.

The only downside of the Listen player is the small number of supported formats – the program will play tracks in .mp3, .wav and .aac, but it doesn’t like .flac and .ape.

FLAC PLAYER+

Playing FLAC music on the iPhone without pre-conversion is a real challenge: of all the listed iOS apps, only the expensive Vox copes with this task. However, there is also a free solution for audiophiles who want to enjoy warm tube sound – FLAC Player.

The indication of the format in the program name should not frighten users who are used to more traditional formats: FLAC Player also works with AAC, AIFF, MP3, WMA.

Features of the player:

• Flexible frequency regulation  . FLAC Player users have access to a ten-band EQ with manual adjustment.
• Playback in high quality   with 24-bit sound.
• Wide possibilities for organizing tracks.
• Bookmarks:   a simple, but at the same time unique function that allows you to mark certain moments in compositions.
• Additional ways to control the application  (using a headset or a Bluetooth device).

There are also enough negative aspects of the program. First, it will not be possible to download FLAC Player in Russian – only two languages ​​are available: English and Vietnamese, and the choice of the second one is due to the fact that the developers of the utility are from Vietnam. Secondly, the drawback is the program interface: it seems that the developers did not try to create something visually different from the Music player.

The third drawback becomes obvious when reading the comments of experienced users of FLAC Player: the program often crashes, and periodic updates do not help to correct this situation.

MUSIC PLAYER

Another music player in this rating with the simplest and most primitive name. However, you should not expect that the program itself, like its name, will not be able to surprise users. According to the developers, this is the first player, during the creation of which great attention was paid to the advice of professional musicians.

If you often listen to music or any other content in a different format, then Music Player will be very appropriate in this regard. Support for all modern audio file types is implemented here, thanks to which you can play almost anything.

Thanks to the high-quality and well-thought-out implementation of the interface, you will definitely not get confused in the abundance of buttons and controls. And if you have any wishes for the development team or comments, you can instantly contact technical support without closing the player.

Features of the program:

• User-friendly interface and simple navigation.
• Recognition of damaged files and their recovery.
• File manager functions:  working with archives, as well as other basic operations (sorting, searching, deleting, moving, copying, etc.).
• A powerful equalizer  with many installed add-ons.
• More intuitive control  implemented using a gesture system.

NOTA – MUSIC OFFLINE

Nota – Music Offline is one of the best apps for playing music on iOS devices. With it, you can play audio files from anywhere: directly from the smartphone’s internal memory or cloud storage (iCloud Drive, Yandex.Disc, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon Drive, Box or OneDrive).

In addition to the standard functions of the player, there is also the possibility of managing files. Music can be imported, exported, shared with other devices or combined into playlists. For those who like to play with the sound, there is a fairly advanced equalizer with a large number of settings. This will be useful for both amateurs and novice users who can use pre-configured presets.

To play several files, you can organize a queue in advance, which to some extent resembles the logic of playlists. Queued tracks will be played in order.

Application features:

• There is a sleep timer.
• Supports AirPlay streaming technology.
• Changing the playback speed (from 0.5X to 2X).
• The sound is never interrupted, even during messages.
• Intuitive control using the gesture system.

CLOUD MUSIC

Completing the selection is the Cloud Music program, which in many respects is similar in functionality to the previous player. Just like in Nota – Music Offline, you can download music from cloud storage or scan it directly from the device’s memory. In addition, you can download tracks from other devices, for example, using iTunes File Sharing or using regular Wi-Fi.

There is no advanced equalizer, a huge number of sound effects and other functions of advanced players. Cloud Music is only suitable for those who are looking for something convenient and simpler. It is worth noting that the program is completely free and does not contain in-built purchases.

Features of the program:

• Protect your eyes at night with a nice dark theme.
• All music from many sources in one place.
• Download and listen to your favorite tracks in Offline mode.
• Convenient organization of playlists.
• Support for a large number of formats.
• Without annoying advertising.

CONCLUSION

It is pointless to argue with the fact that “Music” is one of the best music players, but, unfortunately, it is not able to satisfy the requirements of modern music lovers. Most often, “Music” is criticized for the small number of supported formats – for example, compositions in FLAC format, that is, recorded without loss of quality, it will not read. This forces audiophiles to look for alternative options.

The best replacement for “Music” seems to be the new Vox player, which has a wide range of functions and is able to work with all popular audio formats. However, it will not be possible to download Vox for free – although its cost is quite average (about 6 dollars), it can still scare away the user.

Fans of free software should pay attention to FLAC Player, which will play FLAC without asking a cent for it, and to Listen as the most original player.