Comparison

iWriteMusic SE vs Humming Note

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

Head to head
About

iWriteMusic SE

Create professional-quality sheet music efficiently, even on small screens. This app offers intuitive interfaces and powerful tools for musicians of all levels, from beginners to professionals. Easily compose, edit, and share your musical ideas.

Highlights
  • Intuitive and simple user interface
  • Highly efficient input systems (One-Flick & Traditional)
  • Professional quality sheet music creation
  • Supports major notation elements
  • Useful playback options for practice
  • Data and sheet music sharing (PDF, JPG, MIDI)
Features
Read full description

Music Writing is easy and fun when you use iWriteMusic! Ever wished you could quickly create sheet music in your small free time? Ever thought smartphones were too small to create sheet music? iWriteMusic enables efficient sheet music creation even on small smartphone screens. Unlike other cramped and cumbersome apps, it is designed meticulously for small screens,comprehensive suite of essential tools for concerts, lessons, and music classes! Best fit for professional musicians, music teachers and students. For songwriters, composers and arrangers. For both singers and instrumentalists (piano, violin, cello, guitar, flute, saxophone, trumpet, drums, etc.). Great for writing down ideas, creating lesson materials, creating lead sheets, or creating scores and parts for chorus groups, choirs, chamber orchestras, jazz bands, Latin bands, orchestras, and more. For daily practice, rehearsals, concerts, iWriteMusic will help you enrich your musical life! Check out 8 reasons to choose iWriteMusic SE (Special Edition) 1. You can understand this app almost instantly! Because of Truly Intuitive and Extremely Simple user interface, you barely need to read pages of manuals nor watching numbers of instruction videos. Unlike Finale, Sibelius and other similar apps, you just have a few things to learn to be able to use this app pretty well. 2.Double your productivity with our Highly Efficient Input System. If you’re already familiar with notation apps and looking for faster & more efficient entry system, try our innovative One-Flick Entry System along with Traditional Entry System to get your job done in no time! What is Traditional Entry System? - The choices will appear with ToolBox. - Select a value and the location separately. - Recommended to those who are not yet familiar with any music notation apps. What is OneFlick Entry System? - The choices will appear when you touch the screen. - Select a location and the value at once. - The selection will change as you slide your finger to left/right. - Recommended to those who are familiar with music notation apps and looking for faster and more efficient entry system. 3. Creates beautiful sheet music - absolutely professional quality! - rich options for page layout adjustment - easy parts creation - easy score/parts management - direct print-out via AirPrint 4. Supports most of major notation elements - multi-track writing - multi-voice writing - percussion/drums notation - chord symbols and lyrics - multi-bar rest - time change - key change - clef change - tempo change - grace note - articulations and dynamics marks - easy song transpose - partial transpose and many more! 5. Useful playback options for practice - mixer with solo, mute and voice select - loop and swing options 6. Data & sheet music sharing - exports/Imports iWriteMusic data file - exports PDF or JPG - exports Standard MIDI file which can be imported by other apps such as GarageBand 7. Extremely Compact Size (15 MB) You can save your device storage space for photos and other apps. 8. Best of all, it's Free! Yes, it's Free and Over 1.4 Million people all over the world has created music with this app family. Let's get started now! Note: This is for iPhone (iPad version sold separately) ATTENTION:  Latency during playback and drawing may occur by device capacity or number of tracks and background applications. Limitations on SE (Special Edition): 1. Water mark appears on page views and printouts. 2. Can’t save more than 5 songs. 3. Can't play more than 30 seconds at a time. 4. Can't import iWriteMusic data file. (export only) 5. Can't export Standard MIDI file.

About

Humming Note

Easily create music notation from your humming. This app converts vocal melodies into MIDI files, even if you have no musical training. It automatically transposes to C major for beautiful scoring.

Highlights
  • Generate MIDI from humming
  • Create music notation without musical training
  • Automatic transposition to C major
  • Noise-free environment recommended
  • Avoid vocal vibration for best results
Features
Read full description

"Humming Note" is an application that automatically generates music scores from humming. Even if you don't know how to write score, you can easily create music notation (MIDI file). The generated file is automatically transposed to the key of C major, so even if the notes are slightly out of tune, you can still score them beautifully. How to make a good notation 1. Sing in "tah, tah, tah" 2. Sing in a noise-free environment. 3. Don't vibrate your singing voice.

Screenshots

iWriteMusic SE4 screens
Humming Note3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: iWriteMusic SE at 4.4 against Humming Note's 1.8. iWriteMusic SE also leads on review sentiment (57% vs 17%) and ads (none vs shown). Humming Note's advantage is iOS requirement (14.5 vs 16.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iWriteMusic SE holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iWriteMusic SE has 148 ratings behind it against 8, 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 17% of Humming Note's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
iWriteMusic SE versus Humming Note: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriWriteMusic SEHumming Note
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (148 ratings) — better1.8 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews56.8% of reviews — better17.0% of reviews
Number of ratings148 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.014.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiWriteMusicProjectKohei YASUI

Customer experience

iWriteMusic SE

All ratings148 ratings
Positive85.1%
Neutral4.7%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews139 reviews
Positive56.8%
Neutral18.0%
Negative25.2%

Humming Note

All ratings8 ratings
Positive12.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative75.0%
Written reviews47 reviews
Positive17.0%
Neutral8.5%
Negative74.5%

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
Show 15 more
  • 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
Show 15 more
  • 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

Humming Note

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

iWriteMusic SE

No in-app purchases

None

Humming Note

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iWriteMusic SE free?
iWriteMusic SE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Humming Note free?
Humming Note is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iWriteMusic SE or Humming Note?
iWriteMusic SE is rated higher. iWriteMusic SE averages 4.4 out of 5 from 148 ratings, while Humming Note averages 1.8 from 8 ratings.
Do iWriteMusic SE or Humming Note have ads?
Humming Note shows ads; iWriteMusic SE does not.
Which is updated more often, iWriteMusic SE or Humming Note?
iWriteMusic SE ships an update every 2 months, and Humming Note every 2 months. Most recently, iWriteMusic SE was updated on October 15, 2026 and Humming Note on October 8, 2026.

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