Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 04:12 am
Thumper: Pocket Edition – Music Game Review
Thumper: Pocket Edition is a Music/Action game from Drool LLC, first launched in 24th January 2018.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 663+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Thumper: Pocket Edition Stand Out
Winner of Apple Design Award 2019
Thumper is rhythm violence: classic action, blistering speed, and brutal physicality. You are a space beetle. Brave the void and confront a maniacal giant head.
With this special pocket edition, you can play all nine epic levels with one hand.
Hurtle forward, master new moves, and survive terrifying boss battles. Propelled by a pounding original soundtrack, you'll feel every crushing impact. To reach synesthetic bliss, you must conquer rhythm hell.
■ Features ■
・ Nine epic levels
・ Adrenalizing boss battles
・ Psychedelic visuals and original soundtrack
・ Smooth 60 FPS in portrait and landscape (and up to 120 FPS on supported devices)
・ PLAY + mode (increased challenge and speed)
・ Full screen display on iPhone X
・ iCloud Sync
■ Please Note ■
Wireless headphones can add significant audio latency. For the best experience, wired headphones or integrated speakers are strongly recommended.
This Music game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Thumper: Pocket Edition is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 8th January 2024
Recent improvements include:
Changed default lane control setting to touch controls.
Download & Availability
Thumper: Pocket Edition is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Thumper: Pocket Edition on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
The visuals, the music, the synchronization, the tension.. Amazing work.
Very well made rhythm game. We beat all the levels when it was on Apple Arcade and only got around to buying this version now. Looking forward to beating it again.
Ive loved playing this game on the PlayStation (with and without the vr) and we didnt even realize there was a pocket edition. When we searched it in the App Store we cannot express how excited we were to see it. We were curious how the controls would carry over but we think the developers did an excellent job with it! Im so excited to be able to play more often especially when Im not at home with our PlayStation. 10/10 would recommend if youre looking for a rhythm game, with extra points added for having enemies to face off against.
The PS4 edition hooked us when we first played it an in VR the game is like 2 different worlds. Amazing game and incredibly well done. Simple concept no doubt but the rhythm violence is so intense. Im sure with headphones and this version, there is a good amount of immersion.we love this game and hope to see some more games from this developer as they definitely knocked it our of the park with this one. One thing we have to ask for for this version though is to reverse the controls! It keeps messing with our head when we see to turn but its opposite than the right side. So to be able to switch controls would be awesome!! :).
We love this game. Played it a TON on Switch, and when it hit Apple Arcade, it was a no-brainer to play with a Backbone controller. However, with no warning, Apple delisted the game. We cant re-download Thumper+. So we bought this, which is essentially the same. Im docking it 1-star, because when played on our Macbook, the screen is locked at 4:3, and cant be scaled to widescreen. This is ridiculous, because the iPhone version is 16:9. All Im asking for is screen ratio parity across platforms. Fix that, and you have a 5-star review from us, as we LOVE this game.
Love to finally see this game ported to IOS! We feel like they've nailed the controls and it's very faithful to the original. Glad the developers keep giving love to this community.
We love the idea of this game and the mechanics such a different game from the others Perfect.
This is definetly one of, if not the BEST rhythm games out there, the graphics are EXTREMELY GOOD and the soundtrack is HOT FIRE! The levels are extremely fun and provide a great challenge! There are even amazing boss fights for you to defeat in some parts of each level! Its extremely fun and we 100% recommend downloading this! Definetly worth the 5 dollars! 10/10.
It is bad for your thumb for sure. So hard, so stressing. Yet so amazing.
Add 120hz support for iPhone 13 and Ill update to 5 stars!!! Update: 120hz is now available!!! 5 STARS.
This is a must play for anyone who likes fast paced quick games. The controls are very well done for mobile. Ive come back to play this three or four times, and am now aiming for s tier on all levels. Quick side note, Ive noticed that after a few of the recent updates, Im not getting the achievements in game center for s tier on level 1, 2, 3, and 4. We just beat level 5 today and checked to see the achievement, and noticed the other achievements have not registered, only the level 5 one.
When we have to smash our thumb and drag it halfway across the screen to register a move theres an issue. At first we chalked it up to the game getting more intense and us just compensating but its really not possible. If the touch controls were more sensitive/responsive we would recommend this game for IOS.
So many people use AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones its just silly there is no sync option. An option to delay the audio about 220ms would be welcome.
Hands down the best game on iOS, we bought this game as soon as we saw it was available, and Im thrilled to see more people will get to enjoy it now that its on Apple Arcade. It looks incredible on Pro Motion displays, and the touch controls are pretty good, but use a controller if you have one. See you all on the leaderboards.
We loved playing this game on ps4 also.
We love this game, and we want a sequel. Also some stickers, and more merch. Maybe more pins.
Its a grand game and it is worth the five dollars!! We loved every moment of it.
This game is sick. We have completed the full game and we felt good after that. But we think that level 9 is a odd level to be the end, but that dose not matter we will still give the game a 5 star rating. We love it so much we really want a level 10 because we love it so much, and made with only to people holly cow.
This has good graphics, and great soundtracks, its very fun, we recommend this game.
This ha to be one of the best mobile games its very fun and wacky, and its also amazing for killing time and just having fun with the sick beats and songs, although if youre more a casual gamer we dont think you would like this as it gets pretty tough by level 3 and onward, but we totally still highly recommend it just based on the first 2 levels alone.
Those of you thinking about buying or hesitating on buying Thumper JUST DO IT! Graphics are insane, sounds are insane and the game is so satisfying overall to the point where it doesnt matter if you win or lose. Play It, youll see.
This game is so cool, when you try to describe it, it does the game no justice. You have to experience this for yourself. We love how the controls are so intuitive, and the sound effects. Dang. So cool. Some complaints we may have are maybe just the fact that our iPhone XR does a slight bit laggy whenever we encounter a rather heavy level which includes a lot of elements. Im also very happy to say we got S rank on ALL the levels! (excluding the + ones) this took perseverance, restarting sections of levels, and yes… Frustration. But was well worth it. The game is brilliant, such a fresh idea, and we applaud you developers.
Beautiful, trippy, rhythmic and satisfying.
We are absolutely awestruck by the graphics and everything else. Without a doubt this is one of the best games we have ever played and we are enjoying it A LOT! And one last thing, shoutout to the developers/developer because if you werent there we would never have had this amazing game to play.
This game is so fun and satisfying that its so addictive we it so much but when we put our thumb on the home button we then realized it was money and there was no going back but it was worth it.
This is one of the best apps we have played in a very long time and we are only on level one, we will definitely be getting this on PlayStation and am so excited to see this in VR, we feel to be getting more into rhythm on the IOS and we feel the console version will just be a lot more skill an button memory based but still a super fun experience.
Well worth the purchase, Ive sunk many hours in on our phone and even further the play+ mode completely changes the game and exponentially increases the difficulty for those who want to master their skills. Absolutely brutal game as one level in play+ can take up to 30 minutes and has to be almost flawless. Great for those who want a challenge. Also fantastic graphics for a mobile game.
Absolutely astonishing, its the one of the best rhythm games Ive played ever. It feels so good to play and master. Once you get the controls and get used to them you can feel the power behind every successful s rank. We love it.
This is so much more in: tense, teresting, volving, and engaging than any description can convey. The game immediately draws you in and before you know it, youre flooded with adrenaline. Definitely worth breaking out your (wired) headphones for as the soundtrack adds a whole new level to the experience.
Fantastic port of one of the best and most unique games of the past decade. This is the definitive version for us, the controls are perfect and it looks beautiful on an oled screen. This is an essential purchase for mobile gamers.
This game is amazing. We can't stop playing. Sort of miffed that we can't get S rank on level 4 though. We have S for every part and beat the boss with a perfect run slam hits and all and the best we can get is A class. Extremely annoying. Update: we did it!! 598,550 points on level 4 S rank! Thanks dev person! Your game is awesome. It's anxiety inducing and intense and visually stunning and it feels amazing and the music is perfect. We watched all of your GDC talks and follow the dev blog. It was really insightful and inspiring watching how your skills improved over the years, and how this game changed from the original rough demos. We've always wanted to develop games, but all the stories of actual game development jobs scared us away from pursuing it as a career. You two inspire us to learn more and just do it for ourselves. Unfortunately we'll have to do it in our spare time after work. We wish we could afford to live and focus on game development for seven years like you guys, but that just doesn't seem like it's in the cards for us. Anyway, thanks for the masterpiece.
We actually enjoy the game. Kinda reminds us of a game we used to play on our Zune back when those were a thing! This game is beautifully made. We would love to see some more levels, obviously ;) as well as our own in game music support. Maybe fight bosses to the beat of our own song Im listening to! :).
This game is a work of art. The phone controls work beautifully and in fact we prefer the touch controls. Please support this game.
So Im going to start out by saying we love the game, Its amazing. But we have an idea of a way to improve it. The first thing you could do to improve it is add in special events, like a special boss level for Halloween. Another way you could improve it is by adding in beetle skins, that you could earn or buy, this would improve the game a lot, Thanks.
So, we love the game and was playing recently, and we have found a glitch, this glitch goes like this, we play the first boss like where you have a hole bunch of shine yellow pads, on that part we went on infinitely. We just play for about 1hour and it never stopped, we had to restart our device and then it was back to normal. We would like this fixed pleasee. With all of that sumed we give this game 4/5.
Probably just us but feels like game is really for younger folks with amazing reflexes. Ive tried the 2nd boss after level ten, a hundred times and no luck. We even know the pattern but way too fast for us. Would have been fun to try next level but we give up. Luckily it was only $3. Hats off to whomever can finish this one.
Its wonderful, but theres one issue with controls we cannot fix. After a turn, hitting a thump point is way too quick of a motion to handle. Tapping simply turns the beetle forward immediately after a turn, resulting in an unfairly missed point.
Anyway … We DID contact the Developer and he was totally cool and helpful, but we think theres a sensitivity issue with the touch screen hindering our movement. Its a bummer … Because it seems like it would be very challenging, plus the music and the artwork are dope. The Developer recommended a Bluetooth game controller saying, many have found it helpful … So well see if it changes our experience once we grab one. For now … We can give you hope it jumps to FIVE soon.
Crashes at launch on iphone7, just after the splash screen.
The swipe gesture takes longer to do than a tap (or button press on controller). Then, iOS has to recognize that what occurred was a swipe. As a result, any action that requires a swipe must be performed shortly before the beat, rather than on the beat. We played some turns with our eyes closed, aiming to swipe on the beat, and was late every single time. If youre an experienced player of rhythm games, this issue makes the game literally unplayable.
We recently downloaded this game, and it is not possible to play because when we launch the game it shows us the logo of the company and then crashes.
EVERY TIME we CLICK THE GAME IT WILL KICK ME OUT, we PAYED MONEY FOR THIS.
We are amazed at the quality of this port. The visuals look stunning on the iPhone X display, the audio is crisp (the sounds vibrate our earbuds so we have to turn them down), and the controls, while they seem odd after playing with a controller, are easier to pick up and feel more connected with the game. Now we feel more like the beetle, racing down this track. We have not completed the game yet, but we definitely will. However, we would like to request an option for graphics quality in order to decrease battery drain! Ive found ourselves at low power multiple times! Thank you.
Really fun, exhilarating, you can really feel the game pulsing as you play and nailing those turns feels visceral. Id love controller support for iOS 13, if thats a possibility, would make those later levels a bit more forgiving.
Unbelievably responsive and intuitive controls. Consistently fun and challenging. Very nice and helpful dev team that fixed a bug soon after we reported it. The only time we cursed the developers was for the change of pace on the last level, but you get used to it quickly and then its even more fun. No complaints about the music, but it keeps getting described (at least by Apple) as metal. We dont know what it is, but its not metal. We also love that theres no story or explanation. Youre just a space beetle on a Hot Wheels track fighting some sort of increasingly angry space demon with a series of precisely timed moves/gestures for no apparent reason. And if a mushroom-eating Italian plumber can be one of the most iconic characters in video game history, you dont need a reason. They boiled it down to just the pure fun bits. Great game across the board.
Thanks for making such an impressive game we love it.
Or you know, just add mfi controller support.
This is the third version of thumper that we've installed (we have it on our xbox and switch), and this game really just gets better for us every time we play it. Learning beat patterns in a level and pulling them off successfully feels very rewarding, and each level having some sort of distinct beat helps to set them apart (we especially love the beat that comes in at level 8-15, and the entirety of 1-13 along with the soundtrack gives us chills every time). This game is also absolutely gorgeous, visually and audibly. The pounding percussion with the gritty neon/metallic visuals perfectly set a sinister mood. We'll never forget the strange mix of dread and ecstasy we felt playing thumper for the first time. The later levels become unforgiving in their difficulty as obstacle after obstacle gets hurtled your way, but learning the level and finally completing a certain sequence of beats perfectly feels incredibly rewarding. We were a bit skeptic at first of using tilt controls for lane switching, but we found that enabling touch controls works perfectly for us. We find that this game resonates with us long after we play it, kind of like the tetris effect. The pounding soundtrack reverberating in our head, striking neon visuals clouding our vision everytime we close our eyes, and before we know it, we're playing thumper again. This game truly is an experience well worth your time and money. Just get it already.
This game is so fun it is challenging and fun.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.28
- Size: 471.21 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: Drool LLC
Last updated: 8th January 2024 | Genre: Music, Action | Developer: Drool LLC