Bagpipe Tutorial vs Ultimate Piper
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bagpipe Tutorial
Learn to play the Scottish bagpipes with a comprehensive multimedia reference. It features over 700 videos demonstrating techniques, numerous exercises, and helpful documents. Unlock all content permanently or via subscription for guided learning.
- Over 700 instructional videos
- Embellishment and technique exercises
- Adjustable video playback speed
- Offline video and document access
- Integrated metronome
- Flashcards with video links
- Content sharing with friends
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Recommended by the best pipers in the world! This Bagpipe-Tutorial-App is the most comprehensive multimedia reference in the world on playing the Scottish bagpipes. It contains more than 700 videos demonstrating control of the instrument and finger techniques, including audio-visual information on all the grace notes and embellishments. Numerous exercises convey the essentials of Scottish piping. - More than 700 videos, playable at different speeds - More than 300 embellishment exercises - Unlock all videos and documents forever with Pipe Coins - Full access, subscription for complete activation of the app possible - Download function, videos and documents available offline - Loop function also within the videos for partial sequences - All the exercises and tunes in the bagpipe tutorial book - All books of the bagpipe school - A practical metronome - Helpful documents - Favourites memory - Reminder function - Adjustable video speed - Practical flashcards with video link - Share content with friends to learn together - The eye to learn the names of all embellishments - Many exciting workshops on all bagpipe topics - Available in three languages (French, English, German) - Everything in one practical app and no need to log in to websites - And many other functions The Bagpipe-Tutorial-App is ideal for absolute beginners up to advanced pipers and can be used for independent study or as a source of examples for lessons. Its aim is to give the student basic information about the instrument, a solid foundation in technique and expert guidance on the route to becoming an accomplished piper. This Bagpipe-Tutorial-App by Bagpipe Tutorial is a milestone in the teaching of the Scottish bagpipes. Easily understandable and thorough, it is a worthwhile investment for anyone interested in piping. The Bagpipe Tutorial book, also by Bagpipe Tutorial, is an ideal supplement. Many thanks to Maximilian Huhn-Laubenstein (https://www.jerocom.de/) for their expert support in designing and developing the app. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Ultimate Piper
This music app helps bagpipers learn, compose, and practice. It features automatic score scanning, advanced editing tools, and intelligent practice aids. Users can also tune instruments, use a metronome, and track their progress.
- Automatic score scanning
- Compose and edit music
- Intelligent play-along tracking
- Practice loop for difficult passages
- Audio playback and sharing
- Built-in tuner and metronome
- Structured practice tracking
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Ultimate Piper is the complete music app for bagpipers – whether you're learning on a practice chanter or performing with a full pipe band. SCAN ANY SCORE Point your camera at a printed bagpipe score — or import a PDF or photo — and Ultimate Piper reads it into a playable tune in seconds, notes, gracenotes and barlines included, all on-device. Several pages scan in one go, a tune across a page turn stitched back into one. JUST ASK SIRI "Tune my pipes in Ultimate Piper." "Start the metronome at 84." "Play Scotland the Brave in Ultimate Piper." Siri opens the tuner, starts the metronome, plays or opens a tune, starts a practice session or scans a score. Your library is in Spotlight, and every command is a Shortcut. COMPOSE & EDIT Complete scores for light music and piobaireachd alike, with reactive grace notes and a full embellishment picker — doublings, grips, taorluaths and more. Triplets straight or with mixed values, played as notated. Select a range to transpose, re-time or copy between tunes. Add 1st/2nd time bars, harmonies and colour-coded markup. PLAY ALONG Tracking follows your playing by microphone or MIDI chanter, scrolling the score — turn your iPhone sideways for a full-screen music stand — and colouring each note green or red. Connect a Blair Digital Chanter or Fagerström Technopipes for precise detection. Record a session and replay it, or analyse it for the gracenotes the live tracker missed. PRACTICE LOOP Loop any range of bars, and let the tempo climb each time you nail it. LISTEN & SHARE AUDIO Play back any tune with realistic chanter or pipe sounds — or record your own instrument and hear every tune on it — timed with the idiom's own lilt, strathspey snap to piobaireachd's held close. Control playback from your lock screen or headphones. Render any tune or set to a shareable audio recording — melody, harmonies and drones — to send to a pupil or bandmate. TUNE UP The tuner hears bass, tenors and chanter at once — a beat meter for the tenors, a per-note chanter grid, and drones tuned to your chanter, not a number. A guided tune-up takes the drones one at a time, with a needle for each tenor showing which way to move the slide. Four tuning schemes, GHB Standard to Seumas MacNeill. Also on Apple Watch. A Blowing mode draws twenty seconds of pitch for chanter and drones as steadiness lines, scored out of 100 — pitch follows pressure, so it reads your bag. STANDALONE METRONOME Authentic pipe band drum sounds — side, bass and tenor — tuned to your target Low A. Choose time signature, toggle accents and subdivisions, and tap to set tempo. Also on Apple Watch with haptic taps on every beat. STRUCTURED PRACTICE Reminders, session tracking, suggested warm-ups, and a rating for every tune from Want to Learn to Mastered. VERSION HISTORY & COMPARE Every edit is saved — browse your history, see colour-coded diffs, revert with a tap. Compare two tunes note by note and merge the best of both. Give a tune its back-story in About this tune. SHARE WITH YOUR BAND Export to PDF, share tunes with other Ultimate Piper users, or send as .pipescore to the PipeScore web editor. Shared folders keep your whole band on the latest music, with control over who can edit. ORGANISE YOUR LIBRARY Import BWW and PipeScore files. Organise tunes into nested folders. Search by title, composer, genre or time signature. Works on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Ultimate Piper Premium is available as a monthly or yearly auto-renewable subscription with a 7-day free trial. After the free trial, payment will be charged to your Apple ID account and will recur at the end of each billing period. Subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your Account Settings. Privacy Policy: https://ultimatepiper.com/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Ultimate Piper at every 10 days against Bagpipe Tutorial's every 3 months. Bagpipe Tutorial's advantage is rating (4.3 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (8 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Bagpipe Tutorial sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month and Ultimate Piper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bagpipe Tutorial holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bagpipe Tutorial has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 98% of Bagpipe Tutorial's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ultimate Piper's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Bagpipe Tutorial ships an update every 3 months, Ultimate Piper every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bagpipe Tutorial | Ultimate Piper |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (8 ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 98.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 235 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andreas Hambsch | Mixolydian Limited |
Customer experience
Bagpipe Tutorial
Ultimate Piper
In-app purchases
Bagpipe Tutorial
- All contents$8.991 Month
- All contents$34.991 Year
- 10 Pipe Coins$3.99
- 25 Pipe Coins$7.99
- 50 Pipe Coins$14.99
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- 100 Pipe Coins$24.99
- 200 Pipe Coins$44.99
- 500 Pipe Coins$69.99
Ultimate Piper
- Ultimate Piper Premium Monthly7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Ultimate Piper Premium Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
Questions
Is Bagpipe Tutorial free?
Is Ultimate Piper free?
Which has better reviews, Bagpipe Tutorial or Ultimate Piper?
Do Bagpipe Tutorial or Ultimate Piper have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bagpipe Tutorial or Ultimate Piper?
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