Playing Against Notes: Piano

The free app shows a small banner ad at the top left, which changes by itself every so often. From version 2.3 a full-screen ad appears after every 60 right notes or 60 wrong notes, whichever comes first, and before every second Test Skill run. There are no full-screen ads in your first 10 minutes with the app. Buying Remove Ads stops all of them.

Yes. From version 2.3 the piano keys no longer wait for the banner ad, so you can practise anywhere. In the free app, every second Test Skill run has a short ad first, and that ad needs the internet. With Remove Ads everything works offline, tests included. (In version 2.1.1 the keys paused until the banner had loaded; update to 2.3.)

In the free app a short ad plays before every second test, and the test starts half a second after you close it. If that ad can't load (for example when you are offline), a box explains why and the test doesn't start: connect to Wi-Fi or mobile data and tap Test Skill again in a few seconds. With Remove Ads every test starts straight away, online or offline.

Tap Remove Ads / Restore Purchase (top right, on the top row). Read the details, tap Continue to Payment and confirm with Apple. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, and it works on every iPhone and iPad signed in with the same Apple ID. Afterwards the ad box at the top left turns gold and reads Paid Version.

Tap Remove Ads / Restore Purchase again, or Already bought it? Restore in the pop-up. Make sure you are online and signed in with the same Apple ID you bought it with. If it still does not work, email me.

From version 2.3 the app keeps track of the notes you miss or find slowly, on your device. Tap the Best card below Test Skill, then the Weak notes tab: your hardest notes are shown on a small piano, hardest first. Tap Practise these to practise only those notes; a bar with Stop appears above the staff. After a test, the results card also lists the notes to practise. In normal practice, the notes you find hard come up more often.

After a test, tap Share on the results card (version 2.3). The app makes a picture of your score, average time and test choice, and opens the share sheet so you can send it to a friend, a teacher or a chat app. Nothing is shared unless you choose an app or person.

The app follows your device language: English, Japanese or Korean (version 2.3). To change it for this app only, open Settings, find Playing Against Notes (under Apps on newer iOS versions) and choose Language. The EN / JP / KR button on the top row changes only the note names: C D E, ドレミ or 도레미.

From version 2.3 the app shows a short note-reading tip for about two seconds while the piano gets ready, which helps on older or busy devices. Each time you open the app you get the next of 20 tips.

From version 2.3, Apple requires apps whose ads may use Apple's advertising identifier to ask first. If you tap Allow, Google may use it to show you more relevant ads. If you tap Ask App Not to Track, you still see ads, but they are less personalised. The app works the same either way. You can change your answer at any time in Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Tracking. Buying Remove Ads stops all ads. See the privacy policy for details.

Apple handles all purchases and refunds. You can ask for a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Yes, with a USB MIDI piano or keyboard. Connect it with the right cable or adapter for your device (a USB-C cable for USB-C devices, a Lightning-to-USB camera adapter for Lightning devices). A green MIDI chip appears next to your score. Tap it to switch the app's own sound for the piano keys on or off.

Yes. It has no ads, no paid version and nothing to buy, and every feature works for everyone.

It opens my PayPal donation page in your web browser. Donating is completely voluntary, as support for my work, and it does not unlock or change anything in the app. Donations are not refundable. Donations are only for the Windows app: on iPhone and iPad the only payment is Remove Ads.

From version 2.3 the app keeps track of the notes you miss or find slowly, on your PC. Click the Best card below Test Skill, then the Weak notes tab: your hardest notes are shown on a small piano and as tiles, hardest first. Click Practise these to practise only those notes; a bar with Stop appears at the bottom of the staff. After a test, the results card also lists the notes to practise, with a Practise button. In normal practice, the notes you find hard come up more often.

After a test (version 2.3), click Share: copy picture on the results card. A picture of your score, average time and test choice is copied together with a short message, so you can paste it into a chat, an email or a post (Ctrl+V). Or click Save picture… to save it as a PNG file in a folder you choose. The app sends nothing by itself.

From version 2.3 the app follows the Windows display language: English, Japanese or Korean. To change it, open Settings ▸ Time & language ▸ Language & region, choose the Windows display language, sign out and in again, and reopen the app. The EN / JP / KR button after Key names changes only the note names: C D E, ドレミ or 도레미. The spoken countdown is in Japanese or Korean when that Windows voice is installed (Settings ▸ Time & language ▸ Speech); otherwise it stays in English.

From version 2.3 the app shows a short note-reading tip for about two seconds while the piano gets ready, which helps on older or busy PCs. Each time you open the app you get the next of 20 tips.

Yes. Connect the piano's USB to Host port to your PC with a USB cable (pianos with only round 5-pin MIDI sockets need a USB-MIDI interface cable). Windows needs no driver or setup. A green MIDI chip appears next to your score; click it to switch the app's own sound for the piano keys on or off. If the chip doesn't appear, close other music programs: on Windows a MIDI device can usually be used by only one program at a time.

L Only asks for one white-key note on the bass staff and R Only one white-key note on the treble staff. Basic asks for one note at a time. All three use only the keys you choose in the From and To boxes. Expert asks for one to three notes at once, anywhere on the piano.

They set the lowest and highest key for L Only, R Only and Basic, anywhere from A0 to C8. The range must hold at least 7 keys (black keys count too); if it doesn't, a message tells you which keys would work. The playable keys jump to your range straight away. The app starts at C4 to A4 every time you open it. In Expert, and during a test, the boxes are greyed out.

Tap or click Test Skill beside the staff and choose 10, 20 or 40 notes and 1, 2 or 3 seconds for each, then Start (Windows 2.2 and iPhone and iPad 2.3; earlier versions always use 20 notes with 2 seconds each). In the free iPhone and iPad app a short ad plays before every second test. After “Ready?” and a spoken 3, 2, 1 countdown, the notes appear one at a time, from the same keys as your level (all 88 keys in Expert). Any key brings the next note at once: the right key counts as right and any other key as wrong. No key in time also counts as wrong, and the next note comes. A short sound tells you right or wrong. At the end you see how many you got right and your average time for the right keys. Press OK to go back, or Cancel (or Esc) at any time to stop a test.

Each Test Skill choice (for example 20 notes × 2 s) has its own best score, shown below the Test Skill button and kept on your device, even after you close the app, until a test beats it: more right keys wins, and with the same number of right keys the faster average wins. A test needs at least one right key to count. Your best score from version 2.1.1 becomes the best for 20 notes × 2 s. Best scores are removed only if you uninstall the app.

Tap or click the Best card below the Test Skill button (Windows 2.2, iPhone and iPad 2.3). It lists your last 10 tests with the date, the test choice, the score and the average time, and a chart shows how your speed is changing. Results of 90% or more are shown in green. From version 2.3 a second tab, Weak notes, shows the notes to practise.

The chip next to your score (for example “32/50 · 🔥4”) counts the right notes you play today, in practice and in tests (Windows 2.2, iPhone and iPad 2.3). Tap or click it to choose a goal of 25, 50 or 100 right notes a day. Every day you reach your goal, your streak grows by one; if you miss a day, it starts again. The card also shows the last 7 days.

Check that your sound is on and turned up. The voice comes from the speech voice built into your device (Windows, or iOS and iPadOS). If there is none, the app plays a short note for each step instead.

Yes, on a Windows PC or an iPad with a keyboard. A S D F G H J K L ; ' play the white keys shown and Q W E R … ] the black keys. Space shows the answer, 0 resets, ← → move one key (with Shift, one octave) and + − zoom. On Windows, F1 opens About.

Sharps and flats only work in Basic and Expert. L Only and R Only use white keys only, so the buttons are switched off there. Your choice comes back when you return to Basic or Expert. They are also greyed out while a Test Skill run is going.

Version 2.2 on Windows and 2.3 on iPhone and iPad add a ♭ Flats button next to ♯ Sharps. With only ♯ on, black keys are written as sharps (C♯); with only ♭ on, as flats (D♭); with both on, either way at random, and the black keys show both names. With both off, the app asks for white keys only.

Swipe or drag the playable keys sideways, use the arrow buttons, or scroll the small piano above them (on Windows also with the mouse wheel). The + and − buttons zoom in and out, from 3 keys to the whole 88-key piano.

The piano needs a wide screen. Hold your iPhone, iPad or Windows tablet in landscape. On a PC, make the window wider than it is tall.