Comparison

Music Reader vs MobileSheets®

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Music Reader

This app is a comprehensive tool for sheet music. It allows users to view, learn, listen, mark, and play musical scores. It supports various music genres and instruments, acting as a portable songbook and powerful player.

Highlights
  • View and play sheet music
  • Mark and annotate scores
  • Import MusicXML and NotationPad files
  • Supports dark mode
  • Transposition (PRO)
  • Change instrument parts (PRO)
Features
Read full description

Music Reader provides all you need about sheet music. You could view, learn, listen, mark and play music notes and notations as you want. it is your portable songbook and a powerful sheet music reader & player. A easy-to-use painting system for you to draw any marks on sheets. From classic to popular, from rock to country, from piano to symphony, all kinds of music played well in Music Reader. *Compatible with dark mode *Supports importing MusicXML(.xml) and NotationPad(.ecz) file PRO ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION - No Ads - Transposition - Change instrument for parts - Support layers for painting marks - The subscription price is $4.99/monthly, $14.99/yearly - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that service, where applicable - Terms of use: https://service.notationpad.com/sheetmusicplus/terms_service.html

About

MobileSheets®

This app is a digital sheet music manager and viewer for musicians. It allows you to store, organize, and access your entire music library on your device, eliminating the need for physical copies. Features include hands-free page turns, annotation tools, and custom audio playback.

Highlights
  • Digital sheet music management
  • Hands-free page turns
  • Music annotation tools
  • Custom audio player
  • Library synchronization
  • Metronome
  • Setlist creation
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

MobileSheets is the ultimate sheet music viewer for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. It frees you from having to lug around books and binders, and gives you the ability to access any score in your library in seconds. It also comes with a number of powerful features for musicians including: - Connect to other devices running MobileSheets on any platform, and easily share songs and setlists. - Synchronize device libraries using WiFi, bluetooth or the cloud - Multiple modes of operation including two pages side-by-side, half page turns, and vertically scrolling pages. - Hands-free page turns using any bluetooth or usb devices (including two and four pedal models), through the automatic scrolling feature, or by using face gestures such as an open mouth or smile. - Annotations for marking up music including support for freeform drawing, basic shapes, text and stamps - Connect multiple tablets over WiFi or bluetooth in book mode to display two pages at once - A custom audio player for playing audio tracks with your scores. Audio player supports a-b looping and multiple sizes. - Custom page ordering, making it easy to cut out unnecessary pages, repeat pages or change the sequence of pages without affecting the original document. - A metronome with multiple display modes and sound effects - Bookmarks for quick and easy access to sections in scores - Link points for handling repeats and quickly jumping between pages - Smart buttons that can be placed on a score to activate configurable actions when pressed - Support for multiple file types including images, PDFs, text files and chord pro files. - Support for importing CSV index files to break up large PDF songbooks - Support for communicating with MIDI devices over USB, Bluetooth and WiFi to load songs or trigger actions. - The ability to transpose chords in text and chord pro files. - Manual and automatic cropping to completely eliminate unnecessary margins - Support for setlists and collections to efficiently group songs for playback. - Powerful library management features with a huge list of supported metadata fields, giving you complete control over the data in your library - A free companion application for the PC that makes it a breeze to create and edit songs Give MobileSheets a try today and experience the freedom of having all your scores just a simple tap away. NOTE: This application does not include any sheet music - you must provide your own. This application can not play back PDFs, images or text/chord pro files. It can only display those files and play back audio files. The companion app is for your PC and is not included. You can download the companion app for free here: https://www.zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/companion.php Privacy Policy: https://zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/privacy_policy_ios.html Terms of Use: https://zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/terms_and_conditions_ios.html

Screenshots

Music Reader4 screens
MobileSheets®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Music Reader at Free against MobileSheets®'s $15.99. Music Reader also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). MobileSheets®'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, ratings volume and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Music Reader is free to download; MobileSheets® costs $15.99 up front. Music Reader sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. MobileSheets® asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Music Reader against 4.6 for MobileSheets®. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 192 and 66 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 51% of Music Reader's written reviews are positive against 81% of MobileSheets®'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Music Reader ships an update every 4 months, MobileSheets® every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Music Reader versus MobileSheets®: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMusic ReaderMobileSheets®
PriceFree — better$15.99
Rating4.5 (192 ratings)4.6 (66 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.0% of reviews81.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings192 — better66
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#120 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size183 MB129 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer嵩 张Michael Zuber

Customer experience

Music Reader

All ratings188 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral2.7%
Negative9.0%
Written reviews49 reviews
Positive51.0%
Neutral4.1%
Negative44.9%

MobileSheets®

All ratings64 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral1.6%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews79 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral1.3%
Negative17.7%

Bugs and requests

Music Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

MobileSheets®

Reported bugs

19 issues
  • App not opening after update
  • Slider bar gets stuck and glitches
  • Menu bar not appearing when clicked
  • Synchronization lag between devices
  • First pages are black during sync
Show 14 more
  • Titles disappear after backup
  • App crashes when entering annotations
  • App crashes after opening sheet music
  • App not working after iOS 18 update (metronome, page turning)
  • Syncing deleting files from computer instead of adding to iPad
  • Two-way sync does not synchronize annotations
  • App freezes on 'please wait' when exiting editing mode
  • Annotations lost after app crashes
  • Difficult to reconnect devices after crashes
  • Import not working on iPad
  • App crashes when downloading too many pages simultaneously
  • Titles no longer available after recent updates
  • Sheets covered with gray background after update
  • Edit mode for .cho files is difficult to handle

Requested features

15 requests
  • Ability to adjust display and page turning options per song
  • Save custom colors for annotations
  • Shortcuts or faster access to sync button
  • Display time during app usage
  • Integrated tuner
Show 10 more
  • Keyboard with transpose function
  • Better PDF cropping and scaling
  • Ability to set custom colors for drawing tools
  • Button for direct start of scroll function
  • Support for more file types (Word Docs, images)
  • Move shortcut box to center bottom of screen
  • Add more templates for blank pages
  • Auto-sync option for cloud services
  • iCloud file access support
  • Tabs for multiple songs open simultaneously

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Music Reader

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Access$2.991 Month
  • Pro Access7 Days trial$14.991 Year
  • Pro Access$14.991 Year
None

MobileSheets®

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Music Reader free?
Music Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MobileSheets® free?
MobileSheets® costs $15.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Music Reader or MobileSheets®?
MobileSheets® is rated higher. Music Reader averages 4.5 out of 5 from 192 ratings, while MobileSheets® averages 4.6 from 66 ratings.
Do Music Reader or MobileSheets® have ads?
Music Reader shows ads; MobileSheets® does not.
Which is updated more often, Music Reader or MobileSheets®?
Music Reader ships an update every 4 months, and MobileSheets® every 9 days. Most recently, Music Reader was updated on October 26, 2026 and MobileSheets® on October 30, 2026.

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