Leave a Review flowkey
Frustrated
I tried the free 7 day trial, during which I thought to be safe, ill switch to paying month to month so I don’t forget and get stuck with the huge yearly bill if i forget. That automatically charged me for the month and voided the 7 day trial. That irked me. Buyer beware.
Anyway so I didn’t fight it and gave the app a month to try to win me over. I tried all the introductory lessons and was on my way to some beginner Bach lesson. The problems arose when the app started jumping around the piece. This happened multiple times. Last time this happened I was in wait mode where it waits for you to play a section correctly before continuing. It’s a cool idea but for some reason it wouldn’t read my notes and would start jumping around the score. (My Bluetooth/MIDI works fine in my other piano apps/DAW interfaces.) This went on for half an hour and and made it really hard to focus on learning/memorizing. In frustration i started just playing random notes and then it started registering them as if I was playing correctly??? I kinda laughed and just said im done, and unsubscribed. I did not have this problem with it’s competitor.
Best of luck FlowkeyShow lessMark ryan 123
Developer Response
Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your feedback. We understand that your overall experience was far from optimal and we would like to apologise for the issue encountered issue. However, as it is stated in our terms and conditions, choosing a monthly subscription does not give access to a free trial but charges the monthly fee immediately; the free trial is available only by choosing the yearly plan and the charge takes place after this period if the user has not canceled the free trial beforehand. We apologize if this information has not been clear enough at an earlier point. Of course, we regret also the fact you had technical issues with the note detection, but since your issue might have different causes, we always recommend getting in touch with our customer service at support@flowkey.com: colleagues can help you sort the issue and let you have an overall pleasant piano learning experience!Good app in theory
In theory I like how the lessons are set up to get you from no knowledge whatsoever to playing music right away while giving you tips on things like proper posture and hand placement that won’t seem relevant right away but will set you up for success later on. There is an extensive song library as well and ways to personalize it with things you are interested in. My biggest hang up was with note recognition. Trying to learn on an acoustic piano I tried all the tips to try to improve my iPads note recognition but nothing really worked, and it was highly discouraging to have to quit, not because I didn’t enjoy the lessons, but because I couldn’t continue on in them because no matter what I did it couldn’t recognize I was playing the note it wanted. There seems to be a lot of solutions for keyboards which is nice, and makes sense because they are electric and could potentially digitally communicate but no help to me on an upright. Maybe one day I will learn to play the piano a different way.Show lessrogueBit
Developer Response
Thank you for your feedback, I am sorry though that the note detection did not work as expected. We recommend for acoustic pianos be tuned at the standard pitch (440 Hz), but we are aware some older pianos are tuned a half step down from that and while we do try to incorporate some leeway into the note recognition, anything that's too far off from A440 won't get properly picked up. We have already been discussing a synchronizing feature, where the app would adjust to each instrument's tuning since we understand how helpful that would be.Four stars
I have been practicing here for a few months now. Its great for practicing. I am a self learner. The only issue I have is when you have the song on the self play as you go along the keys tend to stick and you have to hit it hard to make it move. Sort of annoying. Especially when you are hitting the right notes. Other than that I love playing here. Its giving me lots of practice with the advanced notes. Something I need to work on. Besides my issue, I would give it five stars. I too started with Simply Piano. I finished the course there. I am still with them because they have sheet music at my level. Flowkey has really opened the doors for me. Its giving me the opportunity to advance on my own pace. I love the challenge.Show lessMonicaeng
Amazing app to learn piano
If you have never played piano this is the app you need. I play guitar and I’ve played trumpet in school so I have a idea how sheet music goes but it’s been many years. I have never played piano so I am a complete beginner I work 8 hours a day and I practice using this app about 2 hours when I get home I’m only 5 days into the trial and can read sheet music and know all the keys on the piano. This is a amazing app I thought the lessons were kinda random I would learn a couple notes then jump into other stuff then jump back to more notes but now I see why they placed the lessons like they did it helps to pick up more advanced stuff later down the line. Very well made app and great teachers thank you flowkey so much.Show lessBman brendan
Not responding to sound
I would give this app 5 stars if it wasn’t for the fact that it doesn’t respond to sound, despite picking up the notes from my keyboard (I can see the little mic in the top left corner picking up the notes as I hit the keys, and they are the right keys, but the exercise does not progress). It’s as if it got stuck. Because this annoying issue has been happening quite a bit since the beginning of my free trial, I may not purchase the app, and it is upsetting, because this truly is a good app, definitely worth the money, if it actually worked all the time and not only some of the time. I hope this problem can be fixed (I’ll change the rating then). Thank you!Show lesscesca_b87
First saying using
I have tried many piano apps, some use the lay out where the notes are falling, like Synthesia, while I think that’s great, traditional music playing is done by site reading, this app is incredible, it shows SOMEONE PLAYING the song in real time, highlighted notes, in REAL TIME with the music, that in its self is incredible, I have been looking for something like this, I was using just sheet music before this and wasn’t learning fast enough, I learned half a song today, I have not even talked about the wait mode, which listens to you play, and won’t progress until you play the right note, so helpful, incredible, and the looping system, this is almost everything you could want from a piano app, not to mention it has lessons for music, this is what I’m suggesting to anyone who wants to play piano, I just have to ask why this wasn’t in my life soonerShow lessedward6708
Love this app. Just one request
After a couple decades of not playing, and previously having reached barely an intermediate level at best, I’m finally back at it and progressing thanks to this app. I have just one request: Please add an option in wait mode for the songs (not necessarily in the lessons but in the song selections) where the letters of the keys played are not displayed. I’m really trying to work on sight reading, and inevitably I find myself glancing up at the letters of the keys when I’m learning songs in wait mode. They’re impossible to ignore. I’m learning the songs quickly and ultimately memorizing them, but it’s not helping my sight reading and I feel like I’m cheating myself. Otherwise, I’m thrilled that I Flowkey has made it possible for me to bring piano playing back into my life. Thank you!!Show lessValF.
Only goes so far
At first, I really enjoyed this app. I learned a few song parts and techniques on my digital piano, which I’m quite happy about. Unfortunately, I’m unable to progress with the app anymore. During the courses there are sections where it asks you to play along as it displays both the musical notes, as well as a video of actual hands on the keyboard (to show you which keys to press.) It moves forward AS it hears you play the notes. So helpful!! Until suddenly it won’t pick up the notes I’m playing. I can’t get through two bars without it getting stuck. There’s even a mic sensor that shows that it’s picking up the sound, and I’m playing with the volume all the way up so I’m not sure what the problem is. Not only that, when I sent a message and asked if there was a solution I was told to buy more cords and stuff. Thank goodness the app was a free trial or I would’ve wasted my money.Show lessitsjustjess2
It’s ok
When I first payed for my yearly subscription, I thought that this app would be fun and help me a lot as a beginner. I was wrong. I feel like they cram to much information into the screen when you choose to play a song. For example, they show someone’s hands and the notes at the same time, which in my opinion, for beginners like myself is an overwhelming feature. I like to see the whole sheet of music and work at the kinks but the thing just keeps on going and going, which makes me feel rushed. I payed $110 for this and it’s so far been a waste of money. One thing that might be helpful to update this app is (if you pay money for this) to be able to print out the music sheet or have an option to just see the music or hands.Show lesshappy-O7
Good just needs a few things
I’ve had this app for a year now. It has plenty to keep me engaged. I started with a basic knowledge of treble clef and reading music from playing sax. A few things I wish this app had: 1. It makes you take your hands off the keyboard to touch the iPad to advance to the next lesson or part to be learned. That is a pain. They should just make you push a piano key to move on. 2. Needs a way to highlight measures you have trouble with and a way to write in accidentals or notes to yourself (like you could do if using paper music). 3. I would like to see a song that I have learned just static, like a piece of sheet music. Instead it always has the music measures scrolling like a video game and I don’t think that function can be turned off. So is it worth the $? Yeah, I guess so. It is fun. It’s at least a ton cheaper than private lessons however for someone not very gifted like myself I think I’d still need real piano lessons to actually be able to play piano.Show lessCPatt_1105
