# the Craic — Mobile tunes in abc notation

> Digital tunebook for Irish, Scottish, and other traditional music in ABC notation. (iPhone/iPad app by Wil Macaulay.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-craic/id586009292 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Wil Macaulay](https://appshunter.io/developer/301735019)
- Category: Music, Education
- Price: $4.99 with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.30/5 from 12 App Store ratings · 55 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.0 · 60 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2013-01-06
- Data updated: 2026-08-18
- Monetization: subscription
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-craic/id586009292/reviews.md

## What is the Craic?

Stop rummaging through paper tunebooks - turn your iPad or iPhone into a portable tunebook. Quickly search, display and hear thousands of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and other tunes for fiddle, flute, bagpipes, banjo, mandolin, concertina or accordion.

Please leave a review or rate the app if you enjoy it - it helps!

Subscribe either monthly or yearly to help support ongoing development.



- includes a selection of 76 commonly played session tunes (lots more on the Internet!)
- create, play and print sets of tunes
- create collections of your favourite tunes and sets, print them as tune books or as incipits 
- import ABC notation via iTunes, cloud services like iCloud and Dropbox,  email or the internet
- bagpipe notation for tunes with HP or Hp key
- search online or on your iPad or iPhone
- online search results can be quickly imported into your library
- simple playback with tempo control and looping
- choose flute, whistle, fiddle, banjo, guitar, piano, harp or accordion 
- create and edit ABC notation on your iPad with a keyboard extension to simplify entry
- external keyboard fully supported
- print 
- share via email as ABC notation or PDF
- open as a PDF in other applications

Use of the Craic is governed by the standard Apple Terms of Use. You can view this at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

## Key features

- Searchable tune library
- Create and play tune sets
- Organize favorite tunes
- Import ABC notation
- Playback with tempo control
- Edit ABC notation
- Print and share tunes

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: $4.99.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly supporter | $1.39 | per month |
| Yearly supporter | $12.99 | per year |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Huge Tip | $19.99 | one-time |
| Large Tip | $4.99 | one-time |
| Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time |


## Recent user reviews (10 of 55)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-craic/id586009292/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Small Note Heads

*2026-01-12*

Why are all the note heads so small?  Would be much easier with larger note heads.

**Developer response:** You can adjust the size of the notation in the tools screen.

### 4/5 — Doesn’t cover Concertinas!

*2024-03-21, version 3.5.1*

Good over all, but does not cover concertinas, especially CG Anglo Concertinas!

### 2/5 — Err

*2024-03-13*

App does import complete abc collection files properly. Not all abc tunes get imported.

### 4/5 — Unique and Indispensable, with some glitches

*2023-01-28*

Must have for anyone with more than a handful of tunes, and a great help when learning them - particularly for the musically challenged like myself. There’s nothing else quite like it on i(Pad)OS, and the latest version finally supports collections.
Would love to give 5 Stars but there are some nags:
- setting markers when selecting parts/bars for playback is unintuitive and capricious
- selections that start with pick-up notes don’t loop properly (there’s a short pause that messes up timing). Please fix!!
- multiply editing and saving a tune can create multiple copies
- GUI could be a bit more intuitive/standard in some places, although it by and large works really well.

### 4/5 — Pretty good.

*2022-02-28, version 2.3.2*

I bought this specifically for creating and sharing sets. It’s pretty good but two changes would make it truly excellent.
Firstly, I only make sets from Favourites (which in my world are tunes I can play). If I had the option of choosing JUST from the Favourites list it would save me hunting through thousands of tunes each time I want to add to the set. 
Secondly, within a set it would be very desirable to have the option of rearranging the items rather than having to start again when the set isn’t quite right. 
Otherwise the PDF creation is great as is the sharing. Money well spent. 👍

### 5/5 — The Craic

*2022-01-15*

Been using this for the last few years as I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of Old Time fiddle music. So many tunes to learn and so little time... Love the ability to do online searches and download straight from the program. Love having an easily portable memory bank cause I sure can’t remember all these tunes. Love being able to alter notes, add bowings, fingerings, ornamentations. Love being able to save a PDF or print it out to share with friends. 

My only issue is when I’m editing first and second endings, I often do something that makes the program freeze up.  But it’s not the end of the world. I just close out the program and boot it up again.

### 3/5 — Great except one thing

*2022-01-01*

I love this app for learning tunes and keeping up my tune library. I only wish there was a way to sync with iCloud so that when I add a tune on my iPad, it is automatically in my iPhone’s version of the app the next time I open it too instead of manually adding it there also.

### 5/5 — Great traditional music app

*2021-01-27*

It’s so cool to be able to carry around a library of tunes in my pocket and to hear them play, import new ones and see the dots. Thanks Will for developing this app and helping me to learn new folk and traditional tunes- a big shout out to the developers of the ABC standard too!

### 1/5 — No bagpipe option

*2020-08-09*

I just bought it for bagpipes and it’s not in the instrument selection.

### 5/5 — A very PalmABC on iPhone

*2020-07-20, version 2.2*

I had often listen abc songs with PalmABC on PalmOS PDA. I liked the tool. 
By comparison with it this Craic is considerably functionable id est “scrolling a score, polyphonical playing, exchanging instruments and facility about administration of abc files etc” 
I like this tool as same as PalmABC.

## Frequently asked questions about the Craic

### What does the Craic app do?

The Craic app turns your iPad or iPhone into a portable digital tunebook. It allows you to search, display, and play thousands of traditional tunes written in ABC notation, ideal for instruments like fiddle, flute, and bagpipes.

### What are the key features of the Craic app?

Key features include a searchable library of session tunes, the ability to create and play sets of tunes, organize favorite tunes into collections, import ABC notation from various sources, and edit ABC notation directly on your device. It also offers playback with tempo control and looping.

### How much does the Craic app cost?

The app operates on a subscription model, offering monthly or yearly subscription options to support ongoing development. This subscription grants access to the app's features and tune library.

### What devices is the Craic app compatible with?

The app is designed for iPad and iPhone, leveraging their portability for use as a digital tunebook. It fully supports external keyboards for easier ABC notation entry.

### What kind of music can I find and play with this app?

The app specializes in traditional music, including Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton tunes. It's suitable for a wide range of instruments commonly used in folk music sessions, such as fiddle, flute, bagpipes, banjo, and accordion.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.9.1 — 2026-04-15

fixed a problem with reordering tunes in a set

### 3.9 — 2026-02-25

Tweaks and improvements to parsing, display and importing tunes

### 3.8.1 — 2025-10-21

Bugfixes and UI updates

### 3.8 — 2025-08-19

Fixed some bugs
Improved compatibility, especially for multi-window, multi-tasking and keyboard support
you can now get a cheatsheet for tunes and sets as well as collections

### 3.7.3 — 2025-05-16

Improved layout for annotations and decorations
Bugfixes and compatibility improvements 
No longer deletes the remainder of a tune when encountering a parse error

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## More apps by Wil Macaulay

- [SideBand](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sideband/id721401314)

All apps by Wil Macaulay: https://appshunter.io/developer/301735019

## Related topics

[wil macaulay](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/wil-macaulay)

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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 2026-08-18.*