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 comprehensive video lessons and exercises. Master techniques, embellishments, and tunes with adjustable speed playback and offline access. Ideal for beginners to advanced players.
- Over 700 instructional videos
- 300+ embellishment exercises
- Adjustable video speed
- Offline video and document access
- Metronome and flashcards
- Multi-language support
Read full descriptionHide full description
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 of all levels improve their playing. It features score scanning, practice tools with performance feedback, and composition capabilities. It also includes a tuner, metronome, and audio playback for practice and sharing.
- Scan bagpipe scores from photos or PDFs
- Progress tracking with missed bar highlighting
- Play along with scrolling score and note lighting
- Practice loop with auto tempo adjustment
- Compose and edit bagpipe music with embellishments
- Realistic audio playback and recording
- Integrated tuner and metronome
Read full descriptionHide full description
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, all on-device: in seconds for a typical tune, a little longer for a long or busy one. Several pages scan in one go, and braced harmony comes in as harmony parts. SEE THE BARS YOU MISS MOST Progress shades every bar of a tune by how your last five runs went, from green for the bars you play solidly to red for the ones you miss. Most Missed Bars lists them; tap one to select it for the Practice Loop. Say yes to recording your runs and you can listen back to any of them. PLAY ALONG Follow Along hears your playing through the microphone or a MIDI chanter and scrolls the score, lighting each note as you play it. Runs on the pipes are scored like runs on the chanter, gracenotes included, against your chanter's tuning on the day. Connect a Blair Digital Chanter or Fagerström Technopipes for precise detection. Turn your iPhone sideways and the score fills the screen. PRACTICE Mark the tunes you're working on as Focus and they join every session, longest-neglected first, with a Tune of the Week and warm-ups from tunes you know. A calendar and streak show your practice; log band practice too. Rate every tune from Want to Learn to Mastered. Loop any bars and let Auto + raise the tempo each time round. COMPOSE & EDIT Complete scores for light music and piobaireachd, with reactive grace notes and an embellishment wheel – doublings, grips, taorluaths and more. Mixed-value triplets play as written. Select notes to raise, lower, lengthen or copy them into another tune. Add rests, 1st/2nd time bars, harmonies, notes on the score, and tempo changes that speed up or slow down across a run of bars. LISTEN & SHARE AUDIO Hear any tune on realistic chanter or pipes – or record your own instrument and hear every tune on it – with each idiom's own timing, from strathspey snap to piobaireachd's held close. Render a tune or set, with harmonies and drones, to an audio file to send to a pupil or bandmate. TUNE UP The tuner hears bass, tenors and chanter at once, with a beat meter for the tenors and drones tuned to your chanter, not a number, on Apple Watch too. A guided tune-up takes the tenors one at a time. Four tuning schemes. Blowing mode scores your bag's steadiness out of 100. METRONOME Pipe band side, bass and tenor drums, tuned to your Low A, with accents, subdivisions and tap tempo. Also on Apple Watch, with haptic taps. JUST ASK SIRI "Tune my pipes in Ultimate Piper." "Start the metronome at 84 in Ultimate Piper." "Play Scotland the Brave in Ultimate Piper." Your library is in Spotlight, and every command is a Shortcut. HISTORY, SHARING & LIBRARY Every save is kept as a version, with colour-coded diffs; compare two tunes note by note and merge them. Export to PDF, send .pipescore to the PipeScore web editor, or share folders that keep your band on the latest music, choosing who can edit. Import BWW and PipeScore files into nested folders, and search by title, composer, genre or time signature. FOR EVERY PIPER VoiceOver reaches every note in the editor and tells you where playback is. Resize the score without a pinch. Works on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Ready for iPhone Duo. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Ultimate Piper Premium is a monthly or yearly auto-renewable subscription with a 7-day free trial, and Family Sharing lets up to five family members use it. After the trial, payment is charged to your Apple ID account and recurs each billing period; it renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or 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 November 13, 2026 and November 9, 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 | 217 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
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- 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?
Other comparisons















