iWriteMusic SE vs capella score reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iWriteMusic SE
Create professional music notation quickly and easily. Features fast note entry, extensive notation options, and playback for checking your work. Turn your musical ideas into finished scores without a steep learning curve.
- Fast note entry
- Extensive notation options
- Scores and individual parts
- Flexible page layouts
- Playback for checking and practice
- Intuitive controls
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Less learning. More music. Professional notation without the lengthy learning process. Fast note entry with OneFlick, extensive notation options, scores and individual parts, flexible page layouts, and playback for checking and practice. With clear, intuitive controls, iWriteMusic helps you turn inspiration into finished notation. If you’re getting started with iWriteMusic, we recommend the integrated version. The integrated version is free to download, with features available through one-time in-app purchases. Future new features will also be offered in the integrated version. This SE version remains available to support existing users. For the time being, it will continue to receive bug fixes and OS compatibility updates, but it will not receive new features or support in-app purchases. Limits on the number of saved songs and playback duration, along with watermarks, apply.
capella score reader
This app allows musicians to read, listen to, and practice music scores on their mobile devices. It offers features like solo voice playback, voice muting, and tempo control for efficient practice and study.
- Read and listen to music scores
- Practice individual parts
- Mute specific voices
- Extract single voices
- Two-finger zoom for scores
- One-finger page turning
- Adjustable tempo control
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capella score reader Read and listen to music scores anywhere at any time Open your scores and read, listen, practice, study, perform when and where you like. Practice your part for choir or orchestra. As choir director or conductor study scores. Use capella score reader as digital music stand. capella score reader is the most recent offshoot of the capella family. With many practicing musicians, capella is known to be THE notation software which has been around for more than 25 years. capella is available for Windows and for Mac. Several additional programs, for example for scanning sheet music, complement the capella family – and now it’s capella score reader. Solo - tutti Select the Solo button to listen to one single voice. Solo on/off – this can be done during playback at any position in the piece. This way you learn your part efficiently. Voice filter When you’re almost there: Mute one or several voices to sing or play along yourself. Voice extraction Select a voice extraction for one or several voices – all others are hidden. Two-finger zoom With two-finger scroll zoom single spots or get an overview of the entire page. Page turning with one finger Slide across the screen as if you would turn pages – the notes will follow. Change tempo Control the tempo according to your needs for rehearsal: Slower at the beginning, next time faster. Navigation Open your own files. The last used files will be displayed. Exchange of scores Receive scores from other musicians, for example via WhatsApp or eMail. Share your scores with other musicians as capella file or PDF. capella score reader reads these score formats: - capXML (capella format) - cap (older capella format) - MusicXML - MIDI Video introduction A short video introduction shows the most important features. It’s really simple! We are looking forward to your feedback. Please use the feedback button in the help menu for questions about the app or error reports.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: iWriteMusic SE at 57% against capella score reader's 0%. iWriteMusic SE also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.0) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 18 months). capella score reader's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
iWriteMusic SE holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iWriteMusic SE has 148 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of iWriteMusic SE's written reviews are positive against 0% of capella score reader's.
iWriteMusic SE ships an update every 2 weeks, capella score reader every 18 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iWriteMusic SE | capella score reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (148 ratings) — better | 2.0 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 56.8% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 148 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 18 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | iWriteMusicProject | capella-software AG |
Customer experience
iWriteMusic SE
capella score reader
Bugs and requests
iWriteMusic SE
Reported bugs
20 issues- App crashes when adding rests at beginning of measure
- App crashes when adding/removing notation
- App freezes when entering notes on certain pitches
- App randomly quits during composition
- Note placement inaccuracy on iPhone with retina display
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- Notes appear in wrong location despite correct placement
- Playback cuts off after 30 seconds
- Playback audio not working despite phone not being muted
- Incorrect note playback (different octave than entered)
- Lyric input not functioning
- Crashes after large file operations
- Data loss when closing without saving
- Crashes when using multiple staves
- Crashes during save operation
- Crashes when reinstalling after purchase
- Watermark reappears after reinstall
- App becomes laggy over time
- Staccatos, crescendos, and accents not played back
- Ritards and accelerandos ignored in playback
- Trill notation not functioning properly
Requested features
20 requests- Auto-save functionality
- MusicXML file transfer support
- Guitar tablature (TAB) notation
- Ability to change time signature mid-composition
- Better grace note controls
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- Slur and tie playback support
- Crescendo and diminuendo playback
- More instrument templates (duets, trios)
- Audio sharing/export capability
- Arpeggio playback support
- Individual grace note value assignment
- Pianissimo (ppp) dynamic marking
- Bracket notation for grouped instruments
- More percussion instruments (Baritone, Euphonium, Mellophone)
- Text formatting (bold, italic)
- Customizable bottom navigation bar
- iPad-native version
- MIDI export to Logic Pro and Sibelius
- Searchable help guide with index
- Ability to extend bar lines across measures
capella score reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iWriteMusic SE
No in-app purchases
capella score reader
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iWriteMusic SE free?
Is capella score reader free?
Which has better reviews, iWriteMusic SE or capella score reader?
Do iWriteMusic SE or capella score reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, iWriteMusic SE or capella score reader?
Other comparisons
