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Murmur Review: On-Device AI Music Generator for iPhone

·6 min readBy Hans Kuepper · Founder of PromptQuorum · Discovery engine for open-weight & open-source AI

Murmur (version 2.2.5, updated on 22 October 2026) is an iPhone app that composes instrumental music for your photos, videos and games on the device. It is free to download and sells a one-time Pro unlock instead of a subscription. It produces no vocals, and every statement here comes from the App Store listing, the maker's site and its privacy policy.

Key Takeaways

  • Maintenance: version 2.2.5 was released on 22 October 2026 and the version history shows frequent releases since June, so no stale-project warning applies.
  • Engines: Orpheus for Score and standard tracks, Google's Magenta RT for Live mode, per the maker.
  • Cost: free tier with daily limits and a one-time Pro unlock; there is no subscription.
  • Output: instrumental only, with no vocals or lyrics.
  • Maker: an independent developer, with no published source code.

📍 In One Sentence

Murmur is a closed-source iPhone app that turns presets, text prompts or your own photos and videos into instrumental music generated on the phone.

💬 In Plain Terms

You pick a clip or a mood, the app writes an original instrumental track in seconds, and you save it as audio or as a video with the new soundtrack.

📌Note: This review is based on the App Store listing, the maker's website and privacy policy, checked on 24 October 2026. PromptQuorum has not installed, listened to or benchmarked the app, so sound quality is not assessed.

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Murmur is an iPhone app by the independent developer Konstantin Tabakov that composes instrumental music for photos, videos and games, and says it generates every track on the phone after a one-time model download. It is free to download, with a one-time Pro unlock. This review is based on the App Store listing, the maker's website and its privacy policy, checked on 24 October 2026; PromptQuorum has not tested the app hands-on.

Murmur Review: On-Device AI Music Generator for iPhone

What Is Murmur?

Murmur is an AI music generator for iPhone that composes original instrumental tracks from presets, written scene descriptions or a photo or video you choose. The App Store lists it as "Murmur: On-Device AI Music" in the Music category, from the seller Konstantin Tabakov, and the listing first appeared on 16 June 2026.

The maker says two engines do the work: Orpheus, described as powered by Stability AI, writes standard tracks and Score soundtracks, while Google's Magenta RT drives Live mode and stays selectable as a "Classic" engine. The App Store title varies by storefront, for example "Murmur: KI-Musik-Generator" in Germany and "Murmur: AI作曲・BGMメーカー" in Japan; all refer to the same app.

Get It

Murmur is an App Store download for iPhone; no Android, web or desktop-native version is listed.

Option
How to get it
iPhoneMurmur on the App Store, free download with an in-app purchase
Murmur ProOne-time "Lifetime Unlock", $17.99 on the US storefront; no subscription
Websitemurmurapps.com
Privacy policymurmurapps.com/privacy
Source codeNot published

Version reviewed: 2.2.5, released on 22 October 2026 per the App Store; the app is 75.9 MB before its model download. The listing also shows iPad, Mac with Apple silicon and Apple Vision compatibility, while the maker's site describes an iPhone app. Prices are from the US storefront and vary by country.

Requirements

The App Store lists iOS 26.0 as the minimum, and the first-run model download is 1.2 GB or 2.1 GB depending on the iPhone.

Operating system

What the sources say:
iOS or iPadOS 26.0 or later per the App Store; the maker's FAQ says the Orpheus engine needs iOS 18 or later

Model download

What the sources say:
About 2.1 GB for the full engine on iPhone 15 Pro and newer, about 1.2 GB (Orpheus Small) on older iPhones

Scene suggestions

What the sources say:
Need Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro or newer with iOS 27; Score still works with presets and prompts elsewhere

Internet

What the sources say:
Needed once to download the models, not for generating tracks afterwards

Live sessions

What the sources say:
Limited to a few minutes because of heat on the phone

The two operating-system figures differ between the listing and the site; the App Store entry is the one that decides whether the app installs, and the listing says nothing about RAM.

How to Get Started

The steps follow the maker's own "how it works" outline; PromptQuorum has not run them.

  1. 1
    Install and download the models
    Why it matters: Install Murmur from the App Store and let it download its models once, over a network connection.
  2. 2
    Start from a scene
    Why it matters: Pick a photo or video, choose a preset, Moment or Story World, or describe the scene in your own words.
  3. 3
    Let Murmur compose
    Why it matters: The app writes an original instrumental in seconds, as long as your clip; non-English prompts are translated on the device first.
  4. 4
    Export
    Why it matters: Save the video with its new music, share it, or export the track as a WAV file for an editor or game engine.

Features Confirmed by the Sources

Every item below comes from the App Store description or the maker's website; none has been independently tested.

  • Score (new in 2.2). Pick a photo or video, set a feeling such as epic or chill, and get a soundtrack that matches the clip length; you can keep or replace the original sound and retry without losing a take.
  • Presets, Moments and Story Worlds. More than 170 curated presets, 31 ready-made Moments such as birthdays and travel, and over 40 searchable cinematic moods.
  • Live mode. A continuous instrumental set composed second by second, which you steer by fading layers such as beat, bass, keys and strings in and out.
  • Prompts and languages. Custom scene prompts, with German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese prompts translated on the device; the App Store lists eleven interface languages.
  • Library and export. Saved tracks can be edited and exported as WAV files, and finished videos can be saved, shared or posted to Instagram in 9:16 or 1:1.

Data Flow and Privacy

The privacy policy, last updated on 16 October 2026, says prompts, style choices and saved tracks are processed and stored on the iPhone and are not uploaded. Photos and videos used in Score also stay on the phone, per the maker's FAQ. No account is required, and the policy states there is no advertising, no ad tracking and no location access.

The app does send some data: EU-hosted PostHog analytics (device model, iOS and app version, usage events), Sentry crash reports, and purchase data through Apple and RevenueCat. Model downloads use Apple App Attest and signed links, so the server sees your IP address but, per the policy, never prompts or audio. Analytics and crash reports can be switched off under Settings, Privacy. Voice dictation uses Apple's speech recognition, which may run on Apple's servers.

📌Note: These are the developer's declarations, not audit results, and the source code is not published. PromptQuorum has not inspected the app's network traffic. The developer is named as the data controller under the GDPR and can be reached at the address in the policy.

Who Should Use It

  • Short-video creators who need background music that fits a clip and do not want to browse a stock library.
  • Indie game developers and podcasters who want instrumental loops or WAV files for their own projects.
  • iPhone owners curious about on-device generation who accept a large first download and an unproven app.

What We Could Not Verify

  • Sound quality. PromptQuorum did not listen to full tracks, so musical quality, variety and loop behaviour are not assessed; the examples on the site are the maker's own.
  • Licensing and rights. The maker states that all tracks are royalty-free for commercial use and that the Orpheus model was trained on licensed and Creative Commons audio; PromptQuorum has not checked the engine licences, and this is not legal advice.
  • Free-tier limits. The FAQ gives three tracks a day of up to 30 seconds plus one free long track, while the pricing text speaks of unlimited fixed-length generations; the two are not reconciled.
  • Heat and battery. The maker says Live sessions are limited by thermals; run time, battery drain and performance on older phones are untested.
  • Other devices. The App Store listing shows iPad, Mac and Vision compatibility that the maker's site does not mention.

Competitors and Alternatives

MLX-Audio

Platforms:
macOS (Apple silicon)
Price / license:
Free / MIT
Key difference:
Python library for speech generation and recognition on Macs; no music workflow
Articles about MLX-Audio (2)

Also mentioned in:

No other music-generation app has a PromptQuorum review yet, so these are the nearest on-device audio tools; confirm each app's current price, license and platforms on its own listing.

Compare in directory

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the music on YouTube or in a commercial game?

The maker says every track, free or Pro, is royalty-free and can be used commercially, and that neither Murmur nor its model providers claim rights to your output. It also warns that automated systems such as Content ID can rarely flag a false match, which can be disputed.

Does Murmur write vocals or lyrics?

No. The maker describes it as a pure instrumental generator aimed at background soundscapes, lo-fi beats and cinematic loops.

Why does the free tier look different in two places?

The maker's FAQ lists three free tracks a day of up to 30 seconds plus one long track, while its pricing section describes unlimited generations at a fixed length. Check the limits inside the app before relying on either.

What does Pro cost outside the United States?

On the App Store storefronts checked on 24 October 2026 the Lifetime Unlock was 19,99 € in Germany, Spain and France, ¥3,000 in Japan, ₩29,000 in South Korea and R$ 79,90 in Brazil, against $17.99 in the US.

Verdict

Murmur is a focused, actively updated way to get instrumental music for clips from an iPhone, with a free tier to try it and a one-time Pro price instead of a subscription. Against that, it is closed-source, comes from one independent developer, needs a recent iOS and a large model download, and none of its sound claims could be checked here. It suits creators who want fast background tracks that the maker says are generated on the phone and can test the free tier first; anyone who needs a documented licence for the generated music should read the engine terms and the maker's statement carefully before using tracks commercially.

Sources

  • Murmur on the App Store — description, version history, requirements, privacy labels and in-app purchase prices per storefront, checked 24 October 2026.
  • Murmur website — feature list, FAQ, engine descriptions and pricing text, checked 24 October 2026.
  • Murmur privacy policy — data collection, third parties and opt-outs, last updated 16 October 2026.

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