unrealBook vs MobileSheetsLite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
unrealBook
This app digitizes your music library, replacing bulky binders with your iPad. Easily organize, search, and access your music or lyrics with features like indexing, bookmarks, and setlists. Ideal for gigging musicians seeking a convenient and portable solution.
- Digitize music and lyrics PDFs
- Alphabetized and indexed song list
- Create bookmarks and setlists
- Hot spots for navigation
- Built-in music player
- Annotation tools
- Wireless syncing between iPads
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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 and July 2016 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 (and many since day 1!). This product is the result of input from many users. unrealBook does not come with songs or charts, you must add your own PDF files. The screenshots are samples of what you can do with unrealBook. 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. "I LOVE unrealBook" "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 or document 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, AirDrop, Dropbox and Box 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.
MobileSheetsLite
This app digitizes your sheet music library, offering quick access to any score. It provides powerful tools for musicians, including hands-free page turns, annotation capabilities, and custom audio playback. Manage your entire music collection efficiently on your device.
- Digital sheet music library
- Hands-free page turns
- Annotation tools
- Custom audio player
- Library synchronization
- Metronome
- Setlist management
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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. The free version has the following limitations: - Only 8 songs are allowed in your library - Only 2 link points per song - Only 2 bookmarks per song - The Connect Tablets feature can only be used for 90 seconds - The library synchronization feature is unavailable - The advanced camera features such as automatic document detection and image correction are not available All other features are intact and identical to the paid version. 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
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: MobileSheetsLite at Free against unrealBook's $14.99. MobileSheetsLite also leads on update cadence (weekly vs monthly) and device support (3 vs 1). unrealBook's advantage is ratings volume (1.3K vs 8) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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
MobileSheetsLite is free to download; unrealBook costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
unrealBook holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: unrealBook has 1.3K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of unrealBook's written reviews are positive against 80% of MobileSheetsLite's.
unrealBook ships an update monthly, MobileSheetsLite weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | unrealBook | MobileSheetsLite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.3K ratings) — better | 4.5 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.7% of reviews — better | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.3K — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 192 MB | 129 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aron Nelson | Michael Zuber |
Customer experience
unrealBook
MobileSheetsLite
Bugs and requests
unrealBook
Reported bugs
3 issues- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Inconsistent page resizing and zooming
- Unexpected behavior when editing lyrics or text
Requested features
4 requests- Improved annotation tools with Apple Pencil support
- Ability to selectively clear annotations
- Automatic song indexing for PDF songbooks
- Larger transport controls and more intuitive navigation
MobileSheetsLite
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
unrealBook
No in-app purchases
MobileSheetsLite
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is unrealBook free?
Is MobileSheetsLite free?
Which has better reviews, unrealBook or MobileSheetsLite?
Do unrealBook or MobileSheetsLite have ads?
Which is updated more often, unrealBook or MobileSheetsLite?
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