# Scale Runner: Theory Practice — Piano scales, chords & modes > Piano scales, chords & modes (iPhone/iPad app by C1GNUS STUD1O.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scale-runner-theory-practice/id6795850810 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [C1GNUS STUD1O](https://appshunter.io/developer/6795326950) - Category: Music, Education - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 15.0 · 35 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-08-30 - Data updated: 2026-10-09 ## What is Scale Runner? Scale Runner turns music theory into something you play, not something you read. Pick a mode and the app names a scale or a chord. You answer on a MIDI keyboard or the on-screen keys, and every note is checked as you play it. In the timed modes it checks when you played, too, against a metronome that never drifts. SIX WAYS TO PRACTICE • Scales: play scales from a random key, note by note • Chords: build the named chord, holding all the notes at once • Voicings: capture a shape you like, then play it in all 12 keys • Scale Running: hold chords and run their modes in time, key by key • Inversion Running: walk a chord up its inversions an octave and back down • Jam Mode: comp diatonic chords in time, one per bar, in a single key VOICINGS: YOUR SHAPES, IN EVERY KEY Play a voicing you want to own, say a drop 2, a rootless 13th or a stack of fourths. Tap its root and Scale Runner spells the shape out in degrees from the bass up. Name it, then drill it around all 12 keys. It is judged by shape rather than exact pitches, so you can play it wherever it falls under your hands, in any octave. Keep a library in order with folders, colour tags, text tags, search and drag-to-reorder. Three saved voicings free, unlimited with Pro. INVERSION RUNNING: ONE CHORD, TOP TO BOTTOM Walk a chord up through every inversion to the octave and back down, so your hand moves through the positions instead of jumping between them. The keyboard transposes to each new root, so the shape stays where you can see it. Run it untimed to build the map, or start the metronome and be judged a position per beat. JAM MODE: COMPING IN TIME Stay in one key and comp its diatonic chords against the click, one per bar. Follow the changes the app calls, or switch to freestyle and pick your own way through the key while it scores what you land on. Loosen it with "any chord tones", which accepts any voicing of three or more notes with the root in the bass, so the way you actually comp counts, not just textbook triads. Sessions run for as many bars as you set, after a counted-in start. SCALE RUNNING: CHORDS AND MODES AT ONCE Hold the diatonic chord in one hand and run its mode in the other, one note per beat, bar after bar, through a progression and around the keys. Set the progression, triads or sevenths, passes per key, and whether keys move chromatically or by fifths. WHAT'S COVERED • 25 scales: all 21 modes of the major, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales, plus both pentatonics, blues and chromatic • 13 chord types: triads, sixths, sevenths, sus and diminished • All 12 keys, cycled chromatically or by fifths • 5 progression presets, including 12-bar blues, as triads or sevenths PLAY IT YOUR WAY Connect any class-compliant MIDI keyboard over USB or Bluetooth and the app remembers it, reconnecting on its own next time. No keyboard? The on-screen keys do everything. TIMING YOU CAN TRUST The metronome runs on absolute time, so it stays honest from 40 to 240 BPM. A quick calibration measures your audio and Bluetooth latency and subtracts it, so an on-beat press reads as on-beat. Set the windows to Easy, Normal or Strict. KEEP THE HABIT Daily streaks with milestones, reminders at a time you choose, and per-key, per-chord and per-mode stats that show what you have actually drilled. PRACTICE WITH FRIENDS (OPTIONAL) Sign in to back up your streak, invite friends, applaud their practice and compare streaks. Only your display name, avatar and streak are shared, and only with friends you invite. Everything else works signed out and offline. SCALE RUNNER PRO A one-time unlock, yours forever on all your devices: • Scale Running, Inversion Running and Jam Mode, unlimited • Full progression presets, sevenths and key cycles • Unlimited saved voicings • Streak protection: one missed day a week is repaired automatically Every timed mode is free to try three times before you decide. ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Scale Runner Pro | $14.99 | one-time | ## Is Scale Runner safe? Not enough ratings yet to assess Scale Runner. ## Is Scale Runner legit? Scale Runner: Theory Practice has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Scale Runner is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data. ## Version history (last 4 releases) ### 1.0.3 — 2026-09-23 Fixes a crash on iOS 27 when tapping the Bluetooth button to pair a wireless MIDI keyboard. ### 1.0.2 — 2026-09-15 Free Play is a new mode for playing whatever you like. It names the notes, intervals and chords as you play them, on the keyboard or the fretboard. Your practice now follows you. Sign in and your voicings, settings, stats and streak stay in sync on every device. Also in this release: - Metronome time signatures: 3/4, 4/4, 5/8 and 6/8, with an accented downbeat - Arpeggiated Notes: build a chord on the on-screen keys one note at a time - Home is now split into Practice and Drills - A one-bar count-in before each new key in Scale Running - A short guide the first time you open each mode - On guitar, Scale Running now asks you to strike the chord on beat one instead of holding it ### 1.0.1 — 2026-09-05 Guitar Mode is here. Every drill now works on a fretboard as well as a keyboard: chords, scales, voicings and Jam Mode, with string letters and fret numbers to help you read the board. Switch instruments in Settings. Voicings got organised. Sort saved shapes into folders, tag them by colour or name, search across everything, and drag cards or whole folders into the order you want. Also in this release: - A much bigger on-screen keyboard in landscape, with keys sized for fingers - A taller, clearer fretboard in landscape - Fixed silent notes at the top and bottom of Inversion Running and Voicings - Fixed Scales quiz timing, which was not applying your MIDI latency setting - Better use of the screen on iPad ### 1.0 — 2026-08-30 No release notes. ## Apps similar to Scale Runner | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [StringView](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stringview/id6758876210) | — | $2.99 | Music | | [KeyJaan!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/keyjaan/id6789836028) | — | Free | Music | | [Show Me Chord](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/show-me-chord/id6759505523) | — | Free | Music | | [GMetronome-Rhythm & Tap Tempo](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gmetronome-rhythm-and-tap-tempo/id1566795992) | — | Free | Music | | [Earonman - Ear Training](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/earonman-ear-training/id6760226882) | 3.0 (4) | Free | Music | | [VocalFit - Sing Better](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vocalfit-sing-better/id6759431079) | — | Free | Music | --- *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 2026-10-09.*