forScore vs unrealBook One
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
forScore
This app digitizes sheet music, offering organization, annotation, and playback tools for musicians. It allows for easy import, library management, and hands-free navigation, enhancing the performance experience.
- PDF sheet music reading
- Cloud sync and import
- Library organization and search
- Annotation tools
- Hands-free page turning
- Integrated metronome and tuner
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Go paperless. Get organized. Download and play something new in seconds. With forScore for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS, your scores have never been better—it’s everything you can do with paper and so much more. As seen in Apple keynote addresses and retail stores worldwide! On your music stand or on the go, it's the complete PDF sheet music reading experience that has wowed musicians all over the world for years: CONNECT • Copy PDFs from other apps like Safari and Mail and sync them to all of your devices with iCloud • Import scores from popular cloud storage services and content providers like Musicnotes.com • Share scores and setlists with colleagues, whether or not they use forScore ORGANIZE • Add metadata to your scores for a perfectly browsable, instantly searchable library • Create smart bookmarks to manage longer files containing multiple parts or pieces • Group scores manually with Setlists to play through them from start to finish PLAY • View full pages in portrait orientation and crop them to better fit your device's screen • Turn your device sideways for bigger scrolling pages or view two pages side by side instead • Use Reflow on smaller screens to lay out systems of music end-to-end like a horizontal teleprompter REFINE • Annotate by drawing, typing text, or placing common symbols onto the page • Separate your annotations into layers and show or hide them at any time • Open scores and setlists in multiple windows or tabs to multitask with ease SIMPLIFY • Create links and buttons to handle repeats or perform common actions with a single tap • Rearrange and duplicate pages of a score to play without jumping back and forth • Connect your Bluetooth page turner for hands-free navigation EXTEND • Access integrated utilities like our metronome, pitch pipe, tuner, and piano keyboard • Link tracks to scores to loop regions, adjust pitch, and even use them to record and play back your page turns • Connect wirelessly to nearby devices and coordinate your page turns and program changes effortlessly There's much more than those highlights, though, so be sure to visit forscore.co to learn all about forScore's incredible features and find out why so many musicians agree that forScore is simply the best! Note: forScore also offers an optional, annual auto-renewing subscription called forScore Pro that unlocks additional features and content (visit forScore.co/pro for complete details). forScore Pro is a 1-year subscription that renews automatically until canceled. Should you choose to subscribe, payment will be charged to your iTunes Account upon confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will then automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage your subscriptions in your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. Complete terms of service are available on our website at: forScore.co/terms-of-serviceGo paperless.
unrealBook One
This app digitizes your music library, replacing bulky binders with your iPad. It offers easy song searching, setlist creation, and annotation tools for musicians. Optimized for older iOS versions and iPad 1, it also runs on newer iPads.
- Digital music and lyric library
- Alphabetized and indexed song search
- Setlist creation
- PDF bookmarking and indexing
- Hot spots for page jumps
- Score annotation with pens
- Built-in music player
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unrealBook One is unrealBook that still runs on iOS5 and iPad 1. Get this version if you have an iPad 1 or are running an old version of iOS previous to iOS9. This version also runs un-optimized for iPad Pro - which means menus are larger and the keyboard is larger - some people will like this. unrealBook allows you to access your entire library of music or lyrics on your iPad with ease. Replace your bulky and heavy binders with a small and light device filled with your music PDF files. The alphabetized and indexed list makes it easy to find the song you are looking for. unrealBook is the answer for the gigging musician! Please check the reviews. 4.5 stars!!!!!! unrealBook is being used on tour with Billy Joel - see October 2014 Keyboard Magazine! unrealBook was one of the first apps for displaying music charts on stage. The evolution continues as many musicians use it on stage every day. This product is the result of input from many users. Yes, unrealBook supports PDF Table of contents, user created indexes, bookmarks, keywords. You can even convert the PDF table of contents into indexes. It has been able to do these features for a while. Note: Screenshots are from iOS7/iOS8. unrealBook runs on every iPad, even the iPad 1! "unrealbook is just an awesome app" "On gigs people are always asking about it and I am always telling them about unrealBook. Thanks for the great app and the great support. Awesome!" "Have been using unrealBook in live band set up for a year or so – really useful app my man, thank you." "I want to thank you for creating unrealBook! I love it!" "I just wanted to let you know that I used unrealBook extensively on my most recent rehearsal and show….couple of weeks ago and it performed flawlessly" "I absolutely LOVE your APP on my iPad" "I love the page turning, it's instant and also the Index is the right size for my fingers! Love not having to carry big books to work! It's so neat!" "I love unrealBook so thanks !!" •Replace your bulky and heavy binders with a small and light iPad filled with your music PDF files. The alphabetized and indexed list makes it easy to find the song you are looking for. •No more asking for a light for your music stand on dark stages. •No more worrying about a breeze turning a page by accident. •Search for a song quickly and easily. •Create bookmarks that allow you to easily load up a large PDF and go directly to a page within. •Use bookmarks and PDF files together to create set lists for different gigs. •Hot spots allow you place highlighted areas on the page that allow you to jump from one page to another when pressed (think To Coda and D.S. signs). •There is a built in music player so you can listen to your music while you check out the score! •Connect to the world via email and dropbox support. •Annotate your scores with auto-highlighted text and colored pens with different sizes. •Create set lists easily. Jump to any song in a set list directly or step through the set list sequentially. •Assign an iPad as a master and have multiple iPads slaved via bluetooth or WiFi! •Record your rehearsals or your band on stage, all while reading music in unrealBook! •Take pictures of a chart on a gig and create a PDF that you can use on stage. • Airturn Support for turning pages. • Use the iRig BlueBoard to jump directly to D.S. and CODA in a document via foot switches. • AirDrop an entire set list of files between two AirDrop compatible devices - including unrealBook Mobile on iPhone.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: unrealBook One at $6.99 against forScore's $24.99. unrealBook One also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 11) and review sentiment (75% vs 50%). forScore's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (43K vs 27). On ads 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
forScore costs $24.99 and unrealBook One $6.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. unrealBook One asks for nothing beyond the download.
forScore holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of forScore's written reviews are positive against 75% of unrealBook One's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
| Parameter | forScore | unrealBook One |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 | $6.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (43K ratings) — better | 4.4 (27 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 43K — better | 27 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #12 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 5.1.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | forScore LLC | Aron Nelson |
Customer experience
forScore
unrealBook One
Bugs and requests
forScore
Reported bugs
4 issues- Disappearing annotations
- Unreliable page turning
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Unresponsive touch controls
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to cut and paste sections of scores
- More flexible page turning controls
- Customizable metronome
- Improved backup and restore functionality
- Easier sharing of annotated scores
unrealBook One
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
forScore
- forScore Pro$14.991 Year
- Brahms: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Haydn: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Händel: The Mutopia CollectionFree
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- Liszt: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Satie: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Schumann: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Tchaikovsky: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Beethoven: The Mutopia Collection$0.99
- forScore Pro 30-Day Pass$2.99
unrealBook One
No in-app purchases









