Why another tuner?
Because most of them are not good enough to perform with
The tuners that come free with other apps — the ones buried in a metronome app or shipped
as a web page — share a common problem: they were built quickly, not obsessively. They
jitter when they lock onto a pitch. They lag behind by a quarter second. They lose
tracking in a room with other instruments playing. They require you to hold very still
and be very patient.
None of those are acceptable constraints when you are on stage between songs, tuning fast,
or when you are in a rehearsal and need to re-tune a guitar in the middle of a run-through
without stopping the room.
SongScribe Tuner was built because we needed something better for ourselves. We tested
the pitch detection against hardware clip-on tuners. We worked on the needle smoothing
until it tracked accurately without the jitter. We made the instrument presets actually
correct — the string names and expected frequencies are right for each instrument, not
approximated from a guitar model.
We did not ship it until we had been using it ourselves at rehearsals for a while and
found nothing to complain about. That is the standard it was held to.
Accuracy
Plus or minus 1 cent
Cent-level accuracy across the full frequency range. Tested against hardware tuners.
The needle settles cleanly and stays there when the pitch is stable — it does not
wander once it locks.
Speed
No perceptible lag
Pitch detection processes in real time with no buffering delay that you would notice
while tuning. Strike the string, the needle responds. No waiting.
Instrument Presets
22 presets across 6 instruments
Guitar (8 tunings including DADGAD, Open G, Drop D), bass (4-string and 5-string),
ukulele (High G, Low G, Baritone, D Tuning), mandolin, banjo (Open G, Double C,
Sawmill), and violin. Every preset shows the correct string names and expected pitch.
No presets gated behind a paywall.
Reference Pitch
Adjustable from 430 to 450 Hz
Standard concert pitch is A440. If you play with a keyboard player who has tuned to
A432, A443, or any non-standard reference, you can match it exactly. The full range
covers period instrument tuning, early music, and alternative temperament work.
Notation
Sharps or flats, your choice
Toggle between sharp and flat notation with one tap. If you read F-sharp as G-flat
or vice versa, the display uses the notation you prefer. Both are correct; this is
a personal preference setting.
Privacy
Your audio never leaves your phone
Microphone audio is processed locally in real time. Nothing is recorded, stored, or
transmitted. No account is required. No email address. The app opens to the tuner
immediately.
Themes
18 themes. Or your own photo.
18 handcrafted color themes — warm parchment tones, late-night studio darks,
retro phosphor glow. Or set any photo from your library as the wallpaper with
adjustable blur and tint. The tuner can look exactly the way you want it to look.
Offline
Works without internet
The tuner functions with no network connection at all. Underground venues, rural
rehearsal spaces, airplane mode — it makes no difference. The pitch detection
runs entirely on device.
Questions
Does it work offline?
Yes. The tuner requires no internet connection. All pitch detection runs on the device.
You can tune in airplane mode, in a basement, or anywhere else with no signal.
Does it record my audio?
No. The microphone is used for real-time pitch detection only. No audio is recorded,
stored, or transmitted anywhere. Once you close the app, nothing from your microphone
is retained. This is verifiable — the app requests only the microphone permission,
and it uses it only while the tuner screen is active.
What instruments does it support?
There are presets for guitar, bass (4-string), ukulele, and violin. Each preset
displays the correct string names and expected pitches for that instrument. Chromatic
mode lets you tune any instrument, any note, any tuning — it detects the closest
chromatic pitch without assuming what you are playing.
Is there a subscription?
No. The app is free to download and use with ads. Removing ads is a one-time $1.99
purchase. That is the only purchase available. There is no subscription, no monthly
fee, and no in-app purchases beyond ad removal.
If I buy ad removal, does it carry over if I get a new phone?
Yes. The purchase is tied to your Apple ID through the App Store. Use the "Restore
Purchases" option in the app on any new device signed into the same Apple ID, and
ad removal will be restored at no additional cost.
When do ads appear?
Ads appear only on non-tuning screens — settings, instrument selection, and similar
navigation screens. The main tuning display never shows ads. This was a firm design
requirement: nothing interrupts you while you are actively tuning.
