DJ apps have exploded in popularity, allowing anyone to mix music like a professional DJ right from their smartphone. With their intuitive interfaces, vast music libraries and array of features like pitch adjustment and audio effects, DJ apps make mixing on the go incredibly simple.
In this comprehensive guide, we evaluate the 10 best DJ apps for Android and iOS based on features, music libraries, sound quality and ease of use. Whether you‘re a beginner looking to learn or an experienced DJ wanting to practice on the move, these apps will suit your needs.
Key Features of DJ Apps
Before diving into the apps, let‘s overview some of the main features that enable DJ-style music mixing:
Virtual Decks – DJ apps mimic turntables digitally, allowing you to load songs from your library to each deck. You can scratch, adjust pitch/tempo and crossfade between them.
Tempo/Pitch Control – Sync tempos between tracks and change pitch to creatively blend songs. Advanced keylock keeps vocals/instruments in tune when adjusting tempo.
Effects – DJ staples like filters, flanger, reverb and echo allow you to add creativity to your mixes.
Mixer – Control channel levels, EQs and crossfader curve to polish mixes.
Recording – Capture your DJ sessions to share as standalone mixes or integrate with other projects.
Waveform Displays – Visual aid to help cue tracks and visualize blends. Some offer beat grids for precision.
Automixing – Build playlists and let the app DJ for you. Great for beginners focusing on song selection first.
Why Mix Music on Your Phone?
DJ apps offer many benefits over lugging DJ gear:
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Convenience – Your entire music library fits in your pocket ready to mix at a moment‘s notice.
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Affordability – Apps provide extensive mixing capabilities without the high costs of pro DJ gear.
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Learn New Skills – Intuitive interfaces lower barrier to exploring DJing for beginners.
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Practice Professionally – Hone your active repertoire during downtime. Apps keep skills fresh.
Of course, smartphone limitations like small screens, latency, and inferior audio do exist. For more advanced users, DJ apps complement but don‘t replace professional standalone gear. But as a creative musical outlet and practice tool, DJ apps shine for all levels.
Now let‘s explore some of the top options for iOS and Android devices.
Best Free DJ Apps
Here are 5 excellent DJ apps that won‘t cost you a dime to download.
1. Cross DJ (Android, iOS)
Cross DJ delivers full DJ software capability in a cleanly designed, easy-to-use interface. While fairly basic visually, it offers the key mixing tools beginning DJs need including sync, looping, EQs, effects and even sampler pads to trigger one-shot vocals and instrumentals.
The library integrates directly with your device music and supported streaming catalogs like SoundCloud Go+, Beatport LINK and more. Cue points help orient longer tracks, but the lack of waveform views is a limitation. Still for a free app, Cross DJ impresses.
- Crossfader, EQs & Levels
- Tempo Sync & Beat Matching
- Loops, Effects, Sampler Pads
- Line-in Audio Mixing
- Supports External Controllers
- No Recording Capability
Overall, Cross DJ delivers legitimate mixing functionality rivaling paid apps. Novices will appreciate its clarity while advanced users benefit from MIDI controller integration. The omission of recording and smaller maximum track counts per playlist do disappoint though.
2. Virtual DJ Mixer (Android)
As its name implies, Virtual DJ Mixer concentrates its efforts on mimicking turntables in virtual form. Each deck even has its own start/stop and scratch buttons to toy with sound effects. Dedicated knobs give you control over low/high pass filter, gain and pitch adjustment (up to 25%).
Built-in effects like echo, reverb and flanger add textural depth during song transitions driven by the crossfader. Four sample players allow you to layer loops, vocals and one-shots on the fly from other tracks or external packs. Unfortunately, recording or broadcasting functionality isn‘t included currently.
- Dual Virtual Decks
- Scratch, Pitch Shift & Reverse
- Audio Effects Per Deck
- Sync & Beat Match
- Touch-based Crossfader
- Dedicated Filter Knobs
- No Recording Option
Virtual DJ Mixer absolutely nails the turntable aesthetic, making it more fun to manually transition between songs. Novices should favor its clarity while intermediate users gain more hands-on control. Expanding its effects library and adding recording/streaming would elevate its offering even further.
Download: Android
3. edjing Mix (Android, iOS)
edjing Mix keeps things simple but capable as a starter DJ app. Each deck includes standard playback controls plus pitch adjustment and bass/treble equalization. Beat matching helps smooth transitions between your internal music library, YouTube tracks and compatible streaming platforms.
Unfortunately edjing lacks advanced features like effects, sampler pads or recording directly in the app. However, the video mixing functionality alone ranks it among the more unique free options currently available. Use your device camera to blend reactive visuals into the mix.
- Music Video Mixing
- Sync & Beat Matching
- Key Lock Maintains Pitch
- Equalizers Per Deck
- External MIDI Controller Support
- No Internal Recording/Capture
As an entry-level solution, edjing Mix covers the basics on both mobile platforms. The focus stays on harmonically blending songs with clean equalization adjustment. Veterans will quickly find it limiting, but beginners just exploring DJing should download it.
4. YouDJ (Android, iOS)
YouDJ keeps things straightforward as a mixing utility that gets out of your way to focus on playing tracks. Each deck includes standard controls plus a one-button sampler for basic looping. While light on advanced capabilities, transition aids like quantization, beat sync and key detection assist smooth song mixing.
The app links directly with your personal music library for local playback. You also gain access to public domain recordings provided by the Free Music Archive to expand your mix catalogue. Unfortunately YouDJ lacks any effects or equalization to infuse sonic creativity.
- Automatic Beat Matching
- Key Lock Maintains Pitch
- Waveform Display
- 1-Button Sampler
- Free Public Domain Music
- No Effects or Equalization
Consider YouDJ a no-frills solution strictly for blending one track into the next on beat. Streamlining the interface has tradeoffs, namely the inability to polish mixes with EQing or effects. But its precision beat grid keeps transitions tight if you just want to play great songs.
5. Funky DJ Mixer Pad (Android)
Funky DJ Mixer Pad offers a unique hybrid mixer and pad controller optimized for phones and tablets. Its clear interface provides waveform visibility with basic transport controls for each deck including syncing. You can digitally scratch tracks for rhythmic effect using the platters.
Where Funky DJ shines is its array of 12 pads per deck mapped to cues, loops, effects and sampler triggers. Remix on the fly by creatively re-ordering or repeating song sections while layering additional textures. Unfortunately iOS users miss out on the fun currently.
- Waveform & Beat Sync
- 12 Performance Pads
- Scratch Platter w/ Visualization
- Key Lock Maintains Pitch
- Pad Mappings: Cues, Loops, Effects
- Android Only Currently
Funky DJ Mixer Pad brings legitimate remixing capability in a mobile format thanks to its extensive pad integration. Novices learn how to creatively alter tracks while veterans can use pads to improvise alternative versions of songs on the fly. Just make sure to buy an Android device to use its unique feature set.
Download: Android
Best Paid DJ Apps
Paid DJ apps remove restrictions like audio ads and maximum song limits while adding advanced capabilities. Here are the top options under $10.
1. djay Pro AI (iOS)
Pioneer DJ‘s djay Pro AI sets itself apart by augmenting human DJ technique with clever machine learning algorithms. Automix harmonically blends subsequent tracks to keep energy seamless for long-haul gigs. Match detects keys/BPM to create perfect mixes between songs of different genres.
Beyond AI assistance, djay Pro equips you with all standard mixing tools plus Spotify streaming integration, multi-channel audio, video mixes and hardware support. At $7.99 standalone or $9.99 yearly, the premium feature set justified djay‘s price of admission. Just wish Android users could get in on the fun too.
- Automix & Match AI Assistance
- Spotify Integration
- Video Mixing & Effects
- Loops, Cues, Pad FX, Slicer
- External Hardware Support
- iOS Exclusive Currently
If you own an iPhone or iPad, djay Pro AI is the most feature-rich DJ solution available on mobile. Novices will appreciate automix training wheels while professionals can leverage Match suggestions to discover creative track combinations.
Download: iOS
2. edjing Mix Pro (Android, iOS)
Like its free counterpart, edjing Mix Pro sets itself apart by integrating video mixing tools alongside traditional audio capabilities. Use the app‘s camera view to blend YouTube, Facebook or Instagram streams alongside your music mix.
In addition to pro video features, edjing Mix Pro offers fair audio depth starting with streaming service access to SoundCloud. You also gain an expanded effects library plus the ability to record high-quality audio internally or output to external hardware. At $7.99, edjing satisfyingly rounds out deficiencies of its free offering for a reasonable price.
- Music Video Mixing
- Direct Streaming Service Access
- Built-in Audio Recording
*External Hardware Routing - Expanded FX Library
For mobile DJs desiring more than just a traditional soundtrack, edjing Mix Pro delivers a customizable visual element synchronized to the music mix. Blending multiple viewing angles keeps the party lively. Audio improvements like live recording and effects round out the app nicely at this price point.
3. Neural Mix Pro (Android, iOS)
Neural Mix Pro leverages AI to not only transition tracks smoothly but also recommend music selections tailored specifically to your taste. Upon first use, take an onboarding quiz to help the app‘s algorithm understand your preferences.
At mix time, Neural provides suggested songs from your library to play next that it believes you‘ll enjoy. Beyond intelligent recommendations, you gain standard professional mixing tools like waveform analysis, sync, loops, effects and recording to distill final creations.
At $3.99, Neural Mix Pro is an affordable way to simplify song selection while focusing creative attention on tightening transitions and sound. Let your personal AI DJ assistant sweat the details of playlist creation while you control the sonic polish.
- AI Music Recommendations
- Managed Playlists
- Audio Waveforms
- Sync, Loops, Effects
- Audio Recording
Neural Mix Pro is perfect for novices who feel overwhelmed deciding what song combinations work harmonically. Let the app handle sequencing based on your taste while developing beatmatching and blending skills without worrying about song choice fatigue kicking in.
Which is the Best Free DJ App?
While the paid versions understandably offer more advanced capabilities, the free DJ apps still provide extensive tools for blending music creatively.
For those just exploring DJ‘ing, Cross DJ strikes the best balance of features and simplicity across iOS and Android. Smooth beatmatching, EQs and effects give you plenty of mixing control without overwhelming menus. And streaming service access greatly expands your musical catalogue.
Intermediate users wanting to recreate classic vinyl feel should opt for Virtual DJ Mixer on Android. Its dual customizable turntables and multi-effects channels encourage playful experimentation when manually transitioning between songs. Just be sure to buy an outboard recorder to capture the mixes.
Finally music video DJ hopefuls will appreciate edjing Mix for its camera integration plus the basics. Blending reactive visuals alongside club tracks adds an engaging new performance element. You‘ll quickly outgrow its rudimentary audio editing, but even paid apps can‘t match edjing‘s interactive video capabilities.
Summing Up the Top DJ Apps
DJ apps place creative music mixing tools at your fingertips wherever inspiration strikes. Whether practicing professional technique or casual home experimentation, their vast libraries, beat analysis and audio effects liberate your inner DJ.
We covered a range of excellent free options as well as paid apps under $10 that unlock more advanced and exclusive capabilities. Finding the best DJ app depends on your experience level, target device ecosystem (Android vs. iOS) and ultimately budget.
But for nearly any mobile mixing context, this expert list provides a perfect starting point. Simply download a few favorites like Cross DJ, Virtual DJ Mixer or djay Pro to commence elevating amateur playlists into professional-sounding mixtapes.
