# PlaySections — AV Player with Section List

> Audio/video player for marking, looping, and analyzing specific sections of media files. (iPhone/iPad app by Hiroshi Kajihata.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playsections/id1032204861 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Hiroshi Kajihata](https://appshunter.io/developer/1032204860)
- Category: Music, Education
- Price: $1.99
- Rating: 4.90/5 from 15 App Store ratings · 32 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.6 · 14 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese
- Released: 2015-10-30
- Data updated: 2026-09-03
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playsections/id1032204861/reviews.md

## What is PlaySections?

PlaySections is an audio/video player that allows you to freely set marks and play back specific sections of your audio/video files. For example, while you're playing music, you can insert marks where the song transitions between the verse and the chorus, dividing the song into sections. Then you can pick a section from the generated section list and listen to any part of the song.

For each section title, you can enter multiple lines of text. As a result, in addition to verse/chorus labels, you can make notes about the chord progression, measure count, lyrics, and so on, offering a tool that you can use for many purposes.

PlaySections supports section and song loop playback, allowing you to listen to your favorite section on loop. It also features useful functionality including tempo/playback speed adjustment, pitch shift, vocal cancellation, 7 band equalizer, and flip video, making it a perfect app to use in instrument, vocal, or dance practice, or when playing music by ear.

Not only can it read files from the iOS Music Library, but by using the Share Extension/Open-in functionality, you can import files from other applications. For example, you can load a recording from the Voice Memo app that comes standard on the iPhone, letting you create and play back a section list for a song that you performed yourself. Even more, you can use it to study a new language, or to prepare meeting notes. Version 4.0.0 adds support for YouTube videos.

Many uses
- Set marks for intro, verses, chorus, instrumental solo
- Set chord progressions and lyrics for each section
- Practice of playing musical instruments, singing, and dancing
- Analyze music structure, chords for music dictation
- Great for language learners, transcription from audio files of meeting/conference

Feature Highlights
- Music Library Integration
- YouTube video
- Waveform scroll
- Section Marks
- Section title edit
- Loop playback (section, song)
- Speed control (-50% to +200%) *
- Pitch control (-12 to +12) **
- 7 bands EQ control (-24dB to +12dB) **
- FX (vocal cancel) **
- Flip Video (except for YouTube videos)
- Share Extension, Open-in support (File import)
- Remote control, AirTurn support
- Low latency playback (Audio Unit support)
- Supports all major audio/video formats (AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, FLAC [requires iOS 11], MP4, MOV...)
- Background playback (except for YouTube videos)
- VoiceOver
- Drag & Drop on iPad
- Inter-App Audio,**

* No support for DRM contents (Apple Music, ...)
** No support for Video, YouTube and DRM contents

Support
http://playsections.github.io/
https://twitter.com/PlaySections
playsections@gmail.com

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Video by TRIAMPERSANDY - ROLLY-POP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RC_rV_dCCg

## Key features

- Section marking and playback
- Loop playback for sections or songs
- Adjustable playback speed and pitch
- Vocal cancellation and EQ
- Import from Music Library and other apps
- YouTube video support
- Background playback

## Recent user reviews (10 of 32)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playsections/id1032204861/reviews.md

### 3/5 — IAA doesn’t work

*2026-08-25*

According to the blog-manual article back in 2018…

“By supporting Inter-App Audio and Audiobus, I think you can use it in a variety of ways, such as adding effects and recording with another app, as well as volume adjustment.”

This is wanted to do, but while audio files play ok in standalone mode, playback immediately stops and gets stuck when adding PlaySections to AUM / Audiobus / apeMatrix / etc. as an IAA generator. 

Old and new iOS devices exhibit same result. 

A shame, as there are a gazillion practice section-loopers on the App Store, but only ONE advertises IAA support, which gives it unique uses outside of the common “practice” use-case, and that’s why I chose this one. 

Will change my rating if this gets fixed.

### 1/5 — イコライザーが効かない

*2026-01-26*

イコライザーが効きません　iOS18.6.2

### 5/5 — Nailed it!

*2025-11-02*

Just the right amount of simplicity and sophistication. Better than the alternatives of which are few.

### 5/5 — Love this app, and reporting a small bug.

*2025-10-12*

Hello! 

I absolutely love the app that you’ve built. Thanks so much for the work you’ve put into it. 

I’m writing to report a bug ! There’s also a temporary fix for users who are having trouble switching between sections when the “loop one” button is pressed. 

I’m using a video that I’ve loaded from my local folders , it’s one that I recorded on my phone. I’m also using an iPhone 12 pro. iOS 18.7.1

The bug is related to playback when looping a single section of a video. I’m experiencing a problem where if the ‘loop one button’ is pressed, it will not switch between sections of the song.  If I disable the ‘loop one button’ and tell it to play the entire song through, then it will successfully switch sections and then I can reenable the ‘loop one button’ once inside the new section. 

It would be really nice to fix this bug because it would make it 1 click to switch between sections that loop instead of 4 clicks. It also took me some time to understand the problem and I thought that the app just wasn’t working properly.

I took a screen capture video to show you the problem and sent that to the apps Facebook account on messenger.

You will notice that even when the “loop one button” is pressed, this song continues to play through the end of that section. Which is unexpected behavior.

### 5/5 — Best of it’s kind

*2025-08-28*

Have been using this app for years.  Beautifully simplistic yet highly functional.  Doesn’t seem widely known yet, but it should be.   Excellent way to organize video/audio content, partition and label user-defined sections within a video (the outstanding and unique part of this app), loop, slow/speed various content across multiple platforms.  Importantly, this works with YouTube and offers much more functionality than the native YouTube app.  Would love if future iterations had:  1.  Ability to cross sync custom bookmarks between devices (e.g. sync bookmarks between iPhone/iPad).  2. Magnify/zoom in on an image (eg like a fretboard).

### 5/5 — It just works

*2024-09-11*

I needed an app to loop sections of a song. This does exactly that. I don’t know why apple music doesn’t work, but I am able to use it with youtube with no issues.

### 5/5 — Exactly What I Needed!

*2024-09-01*

I have tried many other apps for what I thought was a simple need; to easily access, segment and repeat clips of songs (both from my Apple streaming library and YouTube). This app does it perfectly! At first I could not import YouTube shorts but found a solution by replacing /shorts/ with /watch?v= in the import prompt

### 4/5 — 便利

*2024-05-27*

区切った範囲をループする為に使っています。
機能面を気に入っても、デザインが好みでなければ使いたくなくなってしまうので自分は本当に助かっています。ありがとうございます。

ただ、改善済みのはずのEQが機能していないようです。
私の環境の問題でしょうか？iPadOSは16台〜17.4.1その間変化なし。

### 5/5 — 神アプリ

*2024-01-13*

iOSでmp4をここまでシームレスに再生できるアプリはこれしかないと思う。4K60fpsでも問題なく動作します。

### 5/5 — Perfect for Learning Dance Movements

*2023-12-29*

I am using this app to learn new and more complex moves for Xtreme Hip Hop w/ Phil — which is a type of aerobic exercise with steps. It's really fun & now I can get better faster and easier with the help of this app. Thank you to the developer!

## Frequently asked questions about PlaySections

### What is PlaySections used for?

PlaySections is an audio/video player that lets you mark and play specific sections of your media. It's useful for music practice, language learning, and transcribing audio by allowing you to loop sections, adjust playback speed, and more.

### Can I import my own audio files into PlaySections?

Yes, you can import files from your iOS Music Library or use the Share Extension/Open-in functionality to import from other applications like Voice Memo.

### Does PlaySections support YouTube videos?

Yes, version 4.0.0 of PlaySections added support for YouTube videos, allowing you to mark and play sections from YouTube content.

### What kind of playback controls does PlaySections offer?

PlaySections offers extensive controls including section and song loop playback, tempo/playback speed adjustment from -50% to +200%, pitch shift from -12 to +12 semitones, vocal cancellation, and a 7-band equalizer.

### Is PlaySections suitable for beginners?

The app is designed for a variety of uses, including instrument practice, vocal training, and dance practice. Its intuitive section marking and playback features make it accessible for users looking to focus on specific parts of audio or video.

### How often is PlaySections updated?

The latest version of PlaySections is 4.3.2, which was released on September 9, 2023. Updates typically include new features and improvements.

### What devices is PlaySections compatible with?

PlaySections is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices. It also supports VoiceOver for accessibility and Drag & Drop on iPad.

### Does PlaySections have ads?

No, PlaySections does not contain advertisements. It is a paid application available for a one-time purchase of $1.99.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 4.3.6 — 2026-06-22

Added support for loading YouTube Shorts URLs.

### 4.3.5 — 2026-06-18

• IFixed an issue where songs stored in Apple Music or iCloud could not be selected or played.
• Improved the reliability of fast-forward and rewind controls when playing Apple Music tracks.
• Fixed an issue where the playback position was not updated correctly while dragging the seek bar.
• Fixed a layout issue that could occur in full-screen mode.
• Removed Audiobus integration.

### 4.3.4 — 2026-06-01

- Fix waveform overlay while editing marks

### 4.3.3 — 2026-04-30

Optimized for iOS 26 and improved overall stability. The minimum supported iOS version is now iOS 16.

### 4.3.2 — 2023-09-09

Minor UI bug fix

## Apps similar to PlaySections

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Slow Down Music \| Transcribe+](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/slow-down-music-transcribe-plus/id1048119179) | 4.5 (5,283) | Free | Music |
| [Music Speed Changer ▶▶▶](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/music-speed-changer/id1595494271) | 4.8 (3,943) | Free | Music |
| [Chord Tone Soloing For Guitar](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chord-tone-soloing-for-guitar/id1031680220) | 3.5 (2) | $9.99 | Music |
| [Music Wrench](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/music-wrench/id965939820) | 4.5 (21) | Free | Music |
| [LoopDeLoop](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/loopdeloop/id982766020) | 1.0 (2) | Free | Music |
| [ChordsVault](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chordsvault/id1024176980) | 5.0 (1) | Free | Music |

## More apps by Hiroshi Kajihata

- [AUVideoPlayer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/auvideoplayer/id1553676660)
- [PlayFrame for KEF / Sonos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playframe-for-kef-sonos/id6762045201)

All apps by Hiroshi Kajihata: https://appshunter.io/developer/1032204860

## Related topics

[starplayerloop](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/starplayerloop)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-03.*