Scrolling through the same apps trying to find and listen to new music is growing more and more boring. TikTok, Apple Music, and Spotify are popular apps, and they can help discover more when it comes to the music industry, but, other incredible apps are more than just streaming services. And, they’re bound to expand your love of music even further, while also being free.

As a forewarning, some of these apps offer subscriptions that aren’t necessary for use but can be bought if a user desires. Also, putting your phone on airplane mode when using the first three apps prevents ads from popping up.

DPM, also known as Drum Pad Machine, is a fun app for anyone who loves to make music with just the touch of a finger. Once you open the app, it asks what your favorite genres of music are; your picks cater to what music the app recommends you to make. To make a song, a user can pick one of the app’s recommended sounds and get lessons for creating that particular sound. After watching a short video, a screen opens up to show 12 different noise-making buttons. With the lessons, users can learn how to compose and record a pleasant-sounding song using only those buttons. Not only does the app let users make music, but the lessons are a sort of game — for each lesson you get stars depending on how well you do, and three is the maximum; it’s satisfying to earn all the stars. For anyone who loves to produce songs and sounds, this app works perfectly.

Beat Blade is a running game where the objective is to slice blocks as your avatar moves down a track, while also avoiding obstacles along the way. What makes the game unique, however, is that music plays in the background as you play, and the slicing of blocks produces the exact beat of the music. The music is not generic, either; hit songs are the main choices to play the game to. You can play Beat Blade to songs like “SAD!” by XXXTentacion, “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, and even “Sunflower” by Post Malone. Some songs are more difficult than others and are on different “levels;” for example, “SAD!” is considered to be on the “expert” level. Playing a game to the beat of a song is super satisfying, and Beat Blade is one of the first and best apps to bring such a feature to life.

BandLab, another app meant for making music, is similar to DPM, except it has a much wider range of options when it comes to making songs. Different pre-recorded instruments, beats, and vocals are provided for users to compose new music. Users of the app can even reach out to other users for inspiration in producing music. It’s a great dupe for GarageBand, which isn’t available on non-iOS devices. BandLab also allows your voice to be recorded on top of the instrumental song you’ve made using the available features, unlike DPM. BandLab is an in-depth way to make music and might be better for those who have experience already in doing so.

Shazam is an amazing app that allows you to find the name and artist of a song you’re listening to by just holding down your screen as the song plays aloud. Snapchat also has this feature, but having the Shazam app itself is much better because it is faster than Snapchat, and the whole purpose of the app is to help users discover music. Whether you hear a song on the radio, in the mall, or inside a café, Shazam will help you discover it.

Soundcloud is a relatively familiar app for cellphone owners, but it’s mainly used as a joke about “Soundcloud rappers.” And yet, the app has other features that aren’t to be taken so lightly, and they’re helpful. Soundcloud has many songs that might be unreleased on other streaming services, like Doja Cat’s “Freak,” which was originally released on Soundcloud in November 2018, only to be released officially on Apple Music and Spotify in August 2020. Short edited audios are often uploaded to Soundcloud and can be useful for editors. This app is super useful and should be recognized for it.

Whether it’s making, playing games with, or listening to new music, these apps can help cellphone users around the world in their music discovery journey.