Comparison

Note Names & Pitches vs PlayScore 2

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

Head to head
About

Note Names & Pitches

Hear pitches for written musical notes or piano keys. Play intervals and chords, and see notation as you play. Ideal for musicians learning to read music across different clefs.

Highlights
  • Hear any written note or piano key
  • Play intervals and chords
  • Supports multiple clefs (Treble, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
  • See notation and note names
  • Interactive staff and piano keyboard
  • Chromatic up/down movement
Read full description

Provides a quick and easy way to hear pitches for any written notes or piano keys you need. Hear intervals and chords with up to 5 notes on the iPhone, 12 notes on the iPad. Support for Key Signatures to more easily find a pitch in the music you're working on. An indispensable tool for a cappella groups, and instrumentalists who often play in ledger lines or alternate clefs. If you don’t read music well and need to learn a melody or harmony part, you can simply match what’s written. (Including the key signatures.) This is exactly what you need if you would like to learn the relationship between notation in various clefs and the piano. • Play the piano and see the notation and note name for what you are playing • Choose between Treble, Alto, Tenor, and Bass clefs • Touch the staff and see and hear the piano keys play Selecting a Pitch: Using the Staff (transposed notation): Simply touch and slide up and down on the staff to select the note, slide to the right or left of the note for sharps and flats. Using the Piano (concert pitch): drag in the area below the keyboard to move the keyboard, touch to play notes, touch & slide to change the pitch. When you glissando up the keyboard, notes will be notated as a raised value (sharps), when you glissando down, notes will be notated as lowered values (flats). Use the up and down arrows to move chromatically up and down without touching the music staff or piano keyboard.

About

PlayScore 2

Scan sheet music from photos or PDFs and have it played back. Adjust instruments, tempo, and transposition. Export your scores as MusicXML and MIDI for further editing.

Highlights
  • Scan music from photos and PDFs
  • Playback with scrolling notation
  • Adjust volume, instrument, and transposition
  • Smart metronome with time signature recognition
  • Export as MusicXML and MIDI
  • Create 'Playable Score' documents
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Play all kinds of music direct from photos, images and PDF scores. Export as MusicXML and MIDI Snap music with your camera or import images and PDFs. PlayScore will play them right back to you, scrolling through the song following measure by measure • Adjust volume, instrument and transposition for each staff • Accompany yourself while you sing or play your instrument - PlayScore 2 will even count you in! • Playback with smart metronome that understands time signatures • Create Playable Score Documents that anyone can play back by downloading PlayScore 2 • Export Full Notation MusicXML to score editors with text, dynamics, articulation and more PlayScore 2 reads and plays all kinds of music straight off the page† such as: • Songs • Piano, organ, guitar • Hymns • Solos and Sonatas • Chamber, band and orchestral Choirs and ensembles - Learning a new piece? Create a Playable Score, so each member can listen to their part on its own or standing out from the others. • 19 high quality instruments per staff to choose from • Change tempo (even while playing) • Tap anywhere to play, or drag with a finger to create a loop • Mute and adjust volume, and change instrument for each staff individually • Transpose the whole song or by instrument (transposing instruments) * Adjustable multi-measure count-in and metronome * Swing playback • Adjustable dynamic range PlayScore 2 makes it easy to create multi-page Playable Scores: • Rearrange recapture or delete pages • Select a page range in a PDF • Clip and mask • Search and sort by title or composer Subscriptions - Even without a subscription you can • Play and interact with any PlayScore Playable Score • Play pages of music in unlimited staves from a photo • Create and share single page playable documents PlayScore 2 Productivity subscription • Create and play multi-staff, multi-page scores captured with the camera or imported as images • Export your documents for anyone to play • Interact with scores, auto-transpose transposing instruments, export MIDI files PlayScore 2 Professional subscription • Create Playable Score documents from PDF scores that anyone can play • Export any score as MIDI and MusicXML containing full notation and text Productivity and Professional versions are available as 1-month or 12-month auto-renewing subscriptions. • The payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal • You may manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings on-line after purchase Important: Capturing copyrighted music without the copyright holder's permission is illegal. PlayScore 2 recognises full music notation – see full spec at playscore.co † please see online help for exclusions Terms of use: https://playscore.co/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Note Names & Pitches3 screens
PlayScore 23 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PlayScore 2 at Free against Note Names & Pitches's $1.99. PlayScore 2 also leads on ratings volume (4.8K vs 16) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months). Note Names & Pitches's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and rating (4.6 vs 4.1). On ads 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

PlayScore 2 is free to download; Note Names & Pitches costs $1.99 up front. PlayScore 2 sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Note Names & Pitches asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Note Names & Pitches holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PlayScore 2 has 4.8K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Note Names & Pitches's written reviews are positive against 50% of PlayScore 2's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Note Names & Pitches ships an update every 9 months, PlayScore 2 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Note Names & Pitches versus PlayScore 2: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNote Names & PitchesPlayScore 2
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (16 ratings) — better4.1 (4.8K ratings)
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews — better50.3% of reviews
Number of ratings164.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#132 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.016 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB93 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPatrick Q. KellyOrganum Limited

Customer experience

Note Names & Pitches

All ratings16 ratings
Positive81.3%
Neutral12.5%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral23.1%
Negative0.0%

PlayScore 2

All ratings4,533 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral6.0%
Negative16.2%
Written reviews491 reviews
Positive50.3%
Neutral13.0%
Negative36.7%

Bugs and requests

Note Names & Pitches

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

PlayScore 2

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes and freezes when scanning/importing
  • Playback issues with timing and note accuracy
  • Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
  • Exporting to MIDI/MusicXML not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to import PDFs and multiple pages
  • Improved support for transposition and clef changes
  • Metronome functionality and count-in feature
  • Annotation and score editing capabilities
  • Organizational tools (folders, playlists)

In-app purchases

None

Note Names & Pitches

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

PlayScore 2

Subscriptions4
  • PlayScore Productivity$5.991 Month
  • PlayScore 2 Professional month$6.991 Month
  • PlayScore Productivity$34.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • PlayScore 2 Professional year$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Note Names & Pitches free?
Note Names & Pitches costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PlayScore 2 free?
PlayScore 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Note Names & Pitches or PlayScore 2?
Note Names & Pitches is rated higher. Note Names & Pitches averages 4.6 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while PlayScore 2 averages 4.1 from 4.8K ratings.
Do Note Names & Pitches or PlayScore 2 have ads?
Neither Note Names & Pitches nor PlayScore 2 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Note Names & Pitches or PlayScore 2?
Note Names & Pitches ships an update every 9 months, and PlayScore 2 every 2 months. Most recently, Note Names & Pitches was updated on October 23, 2026 and PlayScore 2 on October 25, 2026.

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