# Simple Songwriter — Creative Assistant

> Music creation assistant for generating and recording song ideas with chord suggestions. (iPhone/iPad app by Christian Inkster.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/simple-songwriter/id310708734 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Christian Inkster](https://appshunter.io/developer/310708737)
- Category: Music, Reference
- Price: $4.99
- Rating: 4.00/5 from 49 App Store ratings · 166 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 9.1 · 15 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2009-04-07
- Data updated: 2026-08-30
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/simple-songwriter/id310708734/reviews.md

## What is Simple Songwriter?

Past Apple Staff Favorite 

Beginners to advanced musicians can use this app to leave thinking behind and bring the fun back into creating music.
All the chords given sound great together and most pop/rock songs will use a combination of these chords.
The touchscreen gives you the perfect environment to quickly and easily generate song ideas. When you have a great song idea, record it for later practice on your chosen instrument. List view allows you to browse your songs chords, while the song key section can transpose your idea to any key instantly

Use Simple Songwriter when you want to:

 Easily and quickly generate song ideas

 Record song ideas for later playback

 Find Chords that sound great together

 Help identify the key of a song

 Instantly change the key of a song

 Easily examine the chord progressions used by your favourite songs

## Key features

- Generate song ideas quickly
- Record song ideas
- Find great sounding chords
- Identify song key
- Transpose songs to any key
- Examine chord progressions

## What do users think of Simple Songwriter?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 👍 Useful for songwriting
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 💡 Helpful for understanding chord progressions
- 🎉 Great for quick song ideas
- 🎨 Enables creative process

**Cons**

- 🐛 Crashes and doesn't save songs
- 🔇 Limited sound options
- 🔒 Lacks customization options
- 🚫 No minor keys
- 🔍 Basic interface

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Crashes on loading after update
- Recordings don't save properly
- Metronome issues
- Mixing of recorded songs

**Most requested features**

- Add minor keys
- Implement MIDI export
- Include more chord options
- Add ability to record vocals
- Implement looping playback
- Add quantization and phrase recording

## Recent user reviews (10 of 166)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/simple-songwriter/id310708734/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Awesome when it works

*2022-10-11*

When this app works, it is the single most helpful songwriting app I’ve found. However, MANY times I will record something only to have the app quit and not save what I recorded. I would pay a lot to have a better working version of this app.

### 1/5 — Crap, won’t save song. Worthless

*2022-05-02*

I bought this app a few years ago and it’s always been like this.  I thought maybe one day they would fix it, nope.  Can’t save anything, worthless. I want my money back.

### 5/5 — Very basic but very useful

*2021-06-02*

Would be good to add to a song

### 5/5 — Great app

*2020-03-03*

Easy to bang out tunes what more do you need. It’s great!!

### 5/5 — I - vi - ii - V

*2019-11-16*

[Update! App won’t save a song if it has more than a one word title! Other than that, pretty cool. Can you keep working on it? Sorry, found another bug. It seems to play a mix of all the songs I’ve recorded when I load a song. I like this app. But you’ve got to sort these problems out.] On my way to teach a songwriting workshop this morning and thought, “I wonder if there’s a decent songwriting app?” This brilliant app is perfect for my workshop. It helps to illustrate how simple songwriting can be. By showing my students the basic chord progressions used in today’s country, rock and pop songs, then demonstrating how easily a song can be created on the app, I’ve completely demystified the songwriting process. A fantastic tool for my students and one that I’ll be using myself from now on. Thanks!

### 2/5 — But too basic for me

*2019-09-10*

Good for basic pop music , but doesn’t allow you to go further then adding 7ths or 1st and 2nd inversions, let alone combining them. Also stuck in circle of fiths and key signatures 

Good if your new to music , not good if your looking for help in writing jazz or anything advance

### 3/5 — Really good

*2019-03-01*

It would be good to be able to delete chords in the side panel , and interchange them, move them about, like Chordbot , and Suggester, ?? Also airdrop export.

### 1/5 — Limited interface

*2018-08-17, version 2.3*

Only 9 chords available at one time.. would be nice to have a screen of all chords one can scroll down and sample.

### 2/5 — Zu teuer und Verbesserungspotential

*2018-08-17, version 2.3*

Na ja, im Grunde genommen ganz nett um schnell ein paar theoriekonforme Chordprogressionen zu finden. Trotzdem einige Macken und vor allem ist der Preis für das Gebotene viel zu hoch.

Im Gegensatz zur kostenlosen LE-Version kann man hier nicht mal eben kurz zu einer anderen App rüberwechseln und dann wieder zu SSW, ohne dass die App praktisch neu startet. Das dauert und die Setings wie z.B. die zuvor eingestellte Tonart sind auch futsch. Extrem störend.

Songs müssen zuerst einmal immer aufgenommen werden. Es ist nicht möglich einfach einen neuen Song zu starten und Akkorde manuell einzufügen.

Sollen aus der Akkordliste Akkorde gelöscht werden, so geht das immer nur einzeln und jedes mal (!) muss das auch noch bestätigt werden. Aua!

Gepflegt wird die App anscheinend auch nicht (außer dem iOS 11 Update, immerhin). Zu erwarten ist da also leider nichts mehr.

### 1/5 — Any updates or support coming?

*2018-08-08*

I have loved this app for years and will give full five stars if they will continue to support. It no longer makes any sound. I haven’t found any app that does what this can do so I hope they update it soon!!

## Frequently asked questions about Simple Songwriter

### What does Simple Songwriter do?

Simple Songwriter is a creative assistant designed to help musicians generate song ideas quickly and easily. It provides chord suggestions that sound harmonious together, allows you to record your musical ideas, and offers tools for transposing songs to different keys.

### What are the key features of Simple Songwriter?

Key features include the ability to quickly generate song ideas, record these ideas for later playback, find chords that sound good together, identify the key of a song, and instantly transpose your musical ideas to any key. It also allows you to examine chord progressions.

### Is Simple Songwriter free to use?

Yes, based on the provided information, Simple Songwriter is available for free. There are no mentions of in-app purchases or advertisements, suggesting a completely free experience.

### Who is Simple Songwriter for?

This app is suitable for musicians of all levels, from beginners to advanced players. It's designed for anyone who wants to bring the fun back into creating music and streamline the idea generation process.

### How can I use Simple Songwriter to help with my music?

You can use Simple Songwriter to quickly brainstorm new song ideas, find chord combinations that work well, and experiment with different keys for your compositions. Recording your ideas allows you to revisit them later for further development on your instrument.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.3 — 2017-11-08

This update from Apple will improve the functionality of this app. No new features are included.

Fixed to work on iOS 11

### 2.2 — 2012-12-10

iPhone 5 support
iOS 6 fixes.

### 2.1.1 — 2011-12-13

-iOS 5 fixes

### 2.1 — 2011-01-23

-BugFix: Should now load and change key 2x faster
-UI Changes

### 2.0.2 — 2010-07-13

Hi everybody, thanks for all the feedback.  Remember if you like SSW please review/rate it!

-Chord Numbers are back as a toggle setting.
-Audio Interruption bugfix

Version 2.0.1:
-iPod touch Fix

Version 2.0:
- Completely revised User Interface
- High Quality Samples
- Completely revised sound playback (Nearly zero latency chord playback)
- 1/4 Beat quantizing
- Song Chord list now editable (timing & chord type / inversion)
- Metronome can now do 3/4 timing if desired
- Display chords as Sharps # or Flats b
- Much better audio track recording and playback

Being such a large update we contemplated making this a paid upgrade but decided to reward our awesome customers for all their support and feedback.

Our new guitar based application is now under heavy development, for more info join our mailing list inside the application.

Twitter: @hopefullyuseful
Email: support@hopefullyuseful.com

Enjoy!
-Christian.

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## More apps by Christian Inkster

- [Simple Songwriter LE](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/simple-songwriter-le/id316218233)
- [EasyBeats Drum Machine MPC](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/easybeats-drum-machine-mpc/id329472198)
- [Guitar Chord Progression Songwriter](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/guitar-chord-progression-songwriter/id554498472)
- [EasyBeats 3 Drum Machine](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/easybeats-3-drum-machine/id643525506)
- [LoKey - The Location Sharing Keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lokey-the-location-sharing-keyboard/id1064787662)

All apps by Christian Inkster: https://appshunter.io/developer/310708737

## Related topics

[simple songwriter](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/simple-songwriter) · [simple songwriter le](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/simple-songwriter-le)

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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 2026-08-30.*