The best, most versatile piano app, for all skill levels
If you don’t know how to play, it can start you from the beginning. You don’t have to learn to read but you can if you want to. Learn how to improvise or learn specific songs. If you know a little about playing the piano, it can help you improve. I learned a little piano years ago but not enough to sit down and “play,” and music should be all about playing around and enjoying the experience. flowkey is helping me develop left-hand accompaniment that applies to a wide range of songs. flowkey is well-designed and thought out.
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Review i guess
I have been doing music for over 3 years with my teacher but with quarantine I had to stop and I kind of forgot everything. Then my mom found this app and I play my piano every day know. I am extremely happy! My mom never played the piano but when she started to play the moonlight sonata of of the professional stage I was really surprised. Anyway this app is amazing. Total recommend.:)
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More songs
I signed up for a free month trial and forgot to end it resulting in a years subscription. At first I was upset but I decided to make the most of it and learn to play. I love the way this app teaches you to read and play music but I would really love to see more trending songs. Otherwise I definitely recommend this app! I would love to see some improvement tho!
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Add skip ability
It would be great if you would add an ability to skip listening to the demo. If I want to practice skills, I don’t need to necessarily listen to it twice every time. I would like the option to skip as needed. This would be very helpful for making this part of my daily practice.
Also I’m coming back to it after a while. And when I was using it to study the songs, I had one slight frustration that made me not use it as often. And that was just that if I wanted to hammer out a certain section that I personally had trouble with… There was no way to do that. It would be nice if you could work on a piece, and narrow in on just a section you wanted to work on. And not the sections they choose. And that you could do it as slow or as fast as you wanted until you got it. And not have to listen to them play it (you would see if you were correct, because of the read notes or of moving forward)
Also I’m coming back to it after a while. And when I was using it to study the songs, I had one slight frustration that made me not use it as often. And that was just that if I wanted to hammer out a certain section that I personally had trouble with… There was no way to do that. It would be nice if you could work on a piece, and narrow in on just a section you wanted to work on. And not the sections they choose. And that you could do it as slow or as fast as you wanted until you got it. And not have to listen to them play it (you would see if you were correct, because of the read notes or of moving forward)
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Confusing subscription options
Overall, I’m satisfied with the app features and so I was willing to subscribe. Then, I just noticed that $200 were purchased automatically from the app for the yearly subscription. However, when I looked back the subscription options, you guys had ranges of yearly subscription fees from $119 to $200 and they were all ‘flowkey premium’. What are the differences between those subscriptions? If there is not much difference I would much prefer pay $119 per year rather than $200. Except this confusion, I’m happy with your app but I think you need more clear description on each subscription options to reduce confusion.
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Response from developer
Sorry for the confusion regarding the prices. This happens because you're seeing both our current prices and any sales or deals that we've had in the past. Since some users still have subscriptions at these rates they show up in the list, even though you can't actually purchase them. I can definitely understand how that's confusing! Either way, our current prices via the App Store are as follows (currency depends on your location): Monthly subscription: 32.99 AUD 6-month subscription: 139.99 AUD Yearly subscription: 199.99 AUD As I said, I totally see that this is confusing. Still, I'm glad that other than that you're happy with our app.
Better ways of learning out there
I tried Flowkey for a month and didn’t continue the subscription because....
You can’t print out the score to practice the song or play the song without the Flowkey app. There are other online learning courses that allow this.
There is no metronome, I queried the support team on this and after a few days I got the reply that this isn’t planned as the songs are recorded without a metronome. Again most other online systems have a metronome to enable you to build up speed while learning the songs.
The focus is in learning songs. There is some content on the basics but this is very dry. I have found the other online systems are focused on teaching piano and teaching songs.
The system is very dry, you are reading off a screen. I found this isn’t great motivation. The online learning systems with videos from real people is a better way of learning for me.
On the positive side, the Bluetooth Technoloy integration is good. This is better than most online systems. Their range of songs and genres is wider than the other online learning platform I decide to stick with.
If they allow the score to be printed I would try this again for learning songs after I have learnt piano.
You can’t print out the score to practice the song or play the song without the Flowkey app. There are other online learning courses that allow this.
There is no metronome, I queried the support team on this and after a few days I got the reply that this isn’t planned as the songs are recorded without a metronome. Again most other online systems have a metronome to enable you to build up speed while learning the songs.
The focus is in learning songs. There is some content on the basics but this is very dry. I have found the other online systems are focused on teaching piano and teaching songs.
The system is very dry, you are reading off a screen. I found this isn’t great motivation. The online learning systems with videos from real people is a better way of learning for me.
On the positive side, the Bluetooth Technoloy integration is good. This is better than most online systems. Their range of songs and genres is wider than the other online learning platform I decide to stick with.
If they allow the score to be printed I would try this again for learning songs after I have learnt piano.
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Response from developer
Thanks a lot for your detailed feedback. And yes, if having printable sheet music and a metronome is a must-have for you, then I understand that our app wasn't the perfect match for your needs. Still, I appreciate that you gave it a try and also mentioned some positive aspects. I hope you found an app that better suits your needs. And we'd be happy if you kept an eye on our app in the future as we continue to improve and extend our app and its features.
Tentative 4 Stars
I give this app a tentative 4 stars. I tried Flowkey and another piano app together for the 7 day trial and found that, overall, Flowkey worked better for me. I played an instrument in grade school and had unsuccessful private piano lessons as a kid and was definitely in need of a refresher on reading music. I think this app does a nice job introducing the elements of reading music (though I do sort of wish there was a written element where a note would appear and you had to name it by letter, like a written pop quiz) It also allows you to practice a piece as needed before moving on. Another small gripe is how many times you have to push play or OK to start the activity. I wish this could be a voice command so that you can get your hands situated and then say “OK” to start the exercise. My tentative 4 stars is based on the fact that shortly after starting to play more than one note at a time, the app has a hard time determining if you are playing the correct note. This make practicing extremely frustrating having to play the same note many, many times until it hears it correctly to move on, ruining any flow you had going and making it hard to actually learn a piece of music. I have a cable coming so that I can plug my iPad into my keyboard and hope this improves the experience. If this works, it will solidify my 4 stars.
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Response from developer
Thanks a lot for your detailed feedback. Nice to hear that our app helps you to refresh your piano skills. And you definitely have a point regarding the clicks in the courses. The good news is that we are already working on improving this. Our goal is to remove all unnecessary clicks in the courses so you can keep your hands on the keys. Sorry to hear that the note detection seems to have problems when multiple notes are played. This issue will definitely disappear with the cable connection. It's a game changer for sure. So I hope you enjoy practicing even more then.
Probably a good tool for beginners
I’ve been playing piano for almost 20 years- I started when I was five. After I moved to my own apartment, I decided to buy a Yamaha digital piano with weighted keys to best mimic the true touch of a real piano. I noticed this App from Yamaha’s website and decided to give it a try. After tried playing several pieces, I think this app is really ideal for beginners who do not know anything about pedal, dynamics, and the flow of music. The only thing this app cares about is wether you played a note right or wrong. While playing the note correctly is an essential part for beginners, for more advanced players, there are certainty room for improvements. This App did help me correct some notes that I unintentionally played wrong, but I had to stop and correct the wrong note before I can move on. Imaging you’re playing some beautiful pieces in front of your friends, this app keep yelling at you for one note and will not show the rest of the sheets before you correct it. More ideally (at least for me) is that after I finish playing the whole piece, this app can tell me the locations of notes or chords I played wrong in this piece. But I think it is still a quite powerful tool for beginners who just want to press the key and play some music.
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High keys
Good app. So far.
I have noticed a bug, the high keys such as G and higher on the right side of the second middle C are not recognised and so it will not let me go further until I hit other buttons even though I hit the right key notes. I hit other buttons so as to confuse the app. Or I sometimes have to repeatedly smash the key note until it recognises it. So I can continue playing the songs.
Hesitant on buying it as it will be the same with premium. If it can’t recognise the right key note, you can’t progress which would be a waste of money plus the frustration in trying to get past the right key notes.
Five star if the above issue is fixed and then I would try the premium.
I have noticed a bug, the high keys such as G and higher on the right side of the second middle C are not recognised and so it will not let me go further until I hit other buttons even though I hit the right key notes. I hit other buttons so as to confuse the app. Or I sometimes have to repeatedly smash the key note until it recognises it. So I can continue playing the songs.
Hesitant on buying it as it will be the same with premium. If it can’t recognise the right key note, you can’t progress which would be a waste of money plus the frustration in trying to get past the right key notes.
Five star if the above issue is fixed and then I would try the premium.
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My sister and mom love it, but...
Edit, I realize that I wrote this when I was near drunk-levels of sleep-deprived, but I still think that it’s criminal that the Celeste soundtrack isn’t available. It already has a full piano album and translates so well to piano!
Alright, this service works well and taught my sister how to play the piano. My only gripe is pretty niche, and it’s that the game music section is a bit sparse. It was the Celeste game soundtrack by Lena Raine that got me to love piano music. The soundtrack has a piano album and would make a wonderful addition to Flowkey’s library. Some of them would make great songs for beginners, but would be enjoyable to learn for anyone. Personally, I find it difficult to keep working at learning a skill as a personal long term goal, and piano is no exception; however I know that these songs would keep mine and others’ interest. I reiterate, this app works wonderfully and already has a large library of songs, but I personally have a harder time due to music preference.
Alright, this service works well and taught my sister how to play the piano. My only gripe is pretty niche, and it’s that the game music section is a bit sparse. It was the Celeste game soundtrack by Lena Raine that got me to love piano music. The soundtrack has a piano album and would make a wonderful addition to Flowkey’s library. Some of them would make great songs for beginners, but would be enjoyable to learn for anyone. Personally, I find it difficult to keep working at learning a skill as a personal long term goal, and piano is no exception; however I know that these songs would keep mine and others’ interest. I reiterate, this app works wonderfully and already has a large library of songs, but I personally have a harder time due to music preference.
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Response from developer
Thanks a lot for your comments. And I can totally understand that you would like to have the Celeste soundtrack in our app. I'll definitely put this suggestion on our wish list. We do plan to add more pieces from different genres, so we can also discuss adding more game music. Our goal is that everyone finds enough inspiring songs in our app no matter what kind of music preference they have. It's a challenge but we'll keep doing our best. :)
