flowkey User Reviews

flowkey – Learn Piano

flowkey GmbH

Education

Music

Reviews Summary

Positive highlights

🎓

This app hasComprehensive lessons and courses for beginners to advanced players

🎹

This app hasWide selection of songs across different genres and difficulty levels

🔍

This app hasAbility to isolate and practice specific sections of songs

🕰️

This app hasFlexible learning pace with options to slow down or loop sections

👀

This app hasVisual aids like hand positioning and note highlighting

🤖

This app hasResponsive note detection and feedback

🌟

This app hasMotivating and engaging learning experience

🌍

This app hasCloud sync to access progress across devices

Negative highlights

💰

This app hasExpensive subscription model, especially for the yearly plan

📜

This app hasLimited sheet music availability, making it difficult to practice independently

🔇

This app hasInconsistent note recognition and MIDI support, especially on non-digital pianos

🧭

This app hasLack of navigation options to easily jump between sections of a song

🕰️

This app hasFrustrating when the app gets stuck or jumps around during lessons

🔍

This app hasOverwhelming amount of information on the screen at times, especially for beginners

🎨

This app hasDesire for more customization options like background and song selection views

Top reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Not listening

Has great potential. App is not able to progress through the notes when in learning mode listening through microphone. The follow along feature gets stuck sporadically as you play. I’ve noticed particularly gets stuck on B then I have to flick the notes to move to the next note. This happens throughout the song making learning this way frustrating when all you want to do is concentrate on where the next note is.
Will unfortunately have to cancel within 7 day trial and try find an app that works

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MarketLyell

4 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks for your comments. I'm sorry to hear that the note detection didn't work as expected. And I understand that this can be quite frustrating. We recently released an updated and improved note detection. So we'd be happy if you gave our app a second try.

Free subscription not easily cancellable

I canceled subscription before free period was up but it was not really canceled. I was charged 201$! Asked for a refund.

AnnieTalmali

4 years ago

Response from developer

Sorry to hear that there seems to have been a problem with the cancelation. You can see if your cancelation was successful in your Apple account in the subscription management. I hope that the Apple support already helped you with this.

My review of an app that got me into piano

I found this app from a youtuber entitled “Daniel thrasher”. I downloaded it because I was bored during quarantine and I needed to get myself a hobby. 2 weeks later I learned ode to joy off by heart and multiple others. If a reviewer sees this then get the app, yes it has a membership in order to get even better but it is like paying someone to have a chance to make even more money from something you are passionate about.

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Jo-v-3

4 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks a lot for your review. Great to hear that you learned so much after only two weeks. And also thanks for your recommendation. That really means a lot to us. 🙏

Problem with the 7 day trial

The app stated that there was a 7 day free trial and then i will have to pay for the full year subscription. However, after i clicked the 7 day free trial, it automatically charged me the full price on the one year without give me the 7 day trial.

Haven’t heard back from the in app customer service and also submitted a request for refund with apple.

I hope you guys can fix this problem so others won’t get this trouble. Thanks

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williamzhang123

4 years ago

Response from developer

Sorry to hear that the trial was activated right away. If a trial was used in the past, then the payment will go through right away if the trial was chosen again. If this is what happened, I'm sorry that it wasn't made clear. Our support team usually replies within 24 hours (during holidays or the weekend, it can take a bit longer though). I hope the Apple support already sorted this out for you.

Great alternative for self learner pianist wannabe

My son private piano lesson close down their physical location activities due to pandemic. In the meantime, we are trying to find alternative so he can continue learning and improve his piano skill. There are few products available for self learning but we pick flowkey. The software feature collection of songs from different genres and levels, various self learning tools such as wait mode, speed adjustment, rollback/repetition, and live recording action of the actual person playing on the piano. He was able to master 2 songs so far at the pro level within less than 2 months and his level at private lesson was just the beginner. All it takes is steady and persistent learning. His side reading skills definitely improved vastly. This software isn't perfect. Wait mode sometime skipped and there was no way to print out the sheet perhaps due to copyright issue. Price wise seems to be expensive @$120 yearly but if you think of how much you're paying for private tutor, this is actually cheap. I dare you to try.

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c@ts74

4 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks a lot for your thorough feedback. It's great to hear that our app helps your son to keep practicing in these difficult times. And sounds like he is really making great progress. That's awesome! And yes, advanced pieces can sometimes be a challenge for the note detection via microphone. So in case you have a digital piano, I'd highly recommend to use a MIDI connection. With MIDI, the note detection is 100% precise - even in pro pieces. However, we're also working on improving the note detection via microphone. If you'd like help with setting up MIDI, please email our support team support@flowkey.com They'll be happy to help! Again, thanks a lot for taking the time to share your and your son's experience. Stay safe!

Great app BUT...

Got a three month subscription with my piano. Using piano marvel to tackle some classical pieces, but this has a nice feature of showing the hand placement if I get stuck. I don’t want to rely on watching hand placement or I’ll never get good at sight reading, but the looping, separate hands and different speeds are great. They also have a wide variety of pieces of a range of difficulty. Biggest note on this app is there is a huge piece of unused black space above the hand position video. Would be nice to be able to slide hand position video and sheet music up to reveal more sheet music and remove unused black space. Seems like an obvious issue to improve. I end up having piano marvel and this app open and switch back and forth. Maybe wouldn’t do that if the empty black space issue was resolved and more sheet music took up more real estate on the iPad screen.

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alecjstory

4 years ago

David Bowie writes...

Ahem, by that I’m not being immodest, it’s just that I am an Absolute Beginner... Starting out at age 48 to play the piano with no musical ability whatsoever, I heard about Flowkey and thought it might be what I needed. It gets you up-and-running in no time, and building up competence/confidence in equal measure. Two days in, with about 30 mins a day, and I’m having a reasonable stab at a Beethoven number over a few bars; this is the type of learning I need. I know I have to be patient and diligent, and this app helps with both, although I feel it tries to push you on to continuing a little before it should, and when more consolidation might be in order. That’s it for now; will update this review when I’ve done a bit more. Oh, why not 5 stars? I feel I’m learning more by ‘feel’ than by knowledge, and I don’t know which notes I’m playing/reading as yet, although a breakthrough might be about to happen...

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RealDaddyTiger

5 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Great to hear that you enjoy learning with us so far. If you feel like you want to repeat a course exercise instead of moving on, feel free to do so. We are also working on improving the setup for our users. I hope you had your breakthrough already. And if you have any questions, always feel free to contact our support team via in-app messenger.

‘D’ note not recognised

Hi there, for some reason my ‘D’ note isn’t recognised when playing to the courses. I have to press it twice, or hold the note down until it’s recognised to move on. This then throws of the rhythm of the piece...
I’d say it could be my tuning but I’m using a keyboard...

Elliesnore

5 years ago

Definitely get a MIDI cable

Just getting back into piano after a 20 year hiatus and this app has been a nice way to find a decent variety of songs to get back to it.

Songs range from classical to pop to romantic and the same song usually comes in multiple levels, letting you get a taste for a song, master one level to feel accomplished, and then start practicing against the next level.

The cloud syncing of your songs and preferences is great as you can change between devices and your songs follow you.

The wait for me feature is awesome, especially when you have a section that is particularly tricky. As others have noted, the microphone note detection is sketchy, so do yourself a favour and get a MIDI cable if possible.

Feedback to the developer:
* I wish you would group the same song’s various levels together
* there seems to be a huge gap between intermediate and advanced. See Happy Birthday as an example of the leap between the two.
* the ability to add to/remove from favourites on all views of a song would be a huge boon
* minor nit: the indicator between beginner and intermediate is really hard to differentiate if you’re colour blind

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freakyfelt

5 years ago

Not many songs I know

I thought I would get a ton of songs for the price I paid. But being a beginner - I’m only eligible for a small amount and majority of them I’ve never heard of or want to learn to play. I wish I could have seen their selection before paying close to $100 for the year

jay-_