iWriteMusic SE vs Music Drawing Notation
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.
Music Drawing Notation
Easily compose music on a staff using your finger. Add notes, chords, rests, sharps, and flats. Save your creations and export them as MIDI or MP3 files via email.
- Draw notes on music staff
- Move and edit notes
- Change note duration
- Add sharps, flats, and chords
- Save and archive compositions
- Export as MIDI or MP3
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The Music Drawing Notation by Virtual Sheet Music has been specifically designed to write music by putting notes on a music staff, the easiest way. Any musician will be easily able to put down melodies "on the go" ad share it via email as MIDI or Mp3 files. You can write music by simply using your finger to put notes on the music staff, move notes around, change the notes' pitches by just moving them up and down, and modify their duration by selecting the corresponding value button. Rests may also be added, as well as sharps and flats. You can also write note chords by adding notes one over another. At any time, you can play, pause, and save the music you created into an archives section of the application, which allows you to retrieve previously saved songs. At any time, you can send or export your created music as a MIDI or Mp3 file via email. About Virtual Sheet Music: Virtual Sheet Music® offers the highest-quality digital sheet music with MIDI and Mp3 audio files to download and enjoy instantly. Many of the Virtual Sheet Music items also include Mp3 music accompaniment files, which allow you to play along with your computer, iPhone, or iPod (over 80,000 files). Get more info on the Virtual Sheet Music® website at: http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com For Feedback and Questions: support@virtualsheetmusic.com Enjoy learning, playing, and composing great music!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: iWriteMusic SE at every 2 weeks against Music Drawing Notation's every 11 months. iWriteMusic SE also leads on review sentiment (57% vs 31%). Music Drawing Notation's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 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 ships an update every 2 weeks, Music Drawing Notation every 11 months. Both last shipped on November 8, 2026.
| Parameter | iWriteMusic SE | Music Drawing Notation |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (148 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 56.8% of reviews — better | 31.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 148 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 11 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | iWriteMusicProject | Virtual Sheet Music LLC |
Customer experience
iWriteMusic SE
Music Drawing Notation
User reviews
iWriteMusic SE
From 148 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎼 Comprehensive notation tools and features
- 👍 Intuitive interface for music composition
- 🎵 Wide range of instruments available
- 💾 Easy saving and exporting to PDF
- 🎹 Playback functionality for reviewing compositions
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 😤 Difficult and unintuitive note input
- 🔧 Poor user interface design
- 📖 Confusing and poorly organized help documentation
- ⚠️ Inaccurate instrument sound playback
Music Drawing Notation
From App Store reviewsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for basic notation
- 💡 Useful for song ideas
- 👍 Simple to use (for some)
- 💡 Polyphonic support
- 💡 Drag and drop notes
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- 🐛 App closes without saving
- 🐛 No sound output
- 🐛 Limited functionality
- 🐛 Difficult to place notes accurately
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 moreShow fewer
- 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
Music Drawing Notation
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes without saving
- App closes unexpectedly
- No sound when playing
- Kicks user out after one note
- Cannot delete double stops
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- Stems don't connect properly
- Sound did not work for playback
- App is sensitive when scrolling
- Cannot update app
- Notes don't play back in free version
- App doesn't save work
- Cannot add more than one note per line/bar
- Cannot add rests sometimes
Requested features
24 requests- Update the app
- Add advanced options
- Fix volume issue
- Add keyboard for note placement
- Allow changing key
Show 19 moreShow fewer
- Add ability to delete double stops
- Add instructions
- Support more instrument types
- Add slurs
- Add undo button
- Add alto clef
- Add left hand option
- Add time signature
- Add chords
- Add slurs and ties
- Allow changing time signature
- Export score to PDF/MID
- Add edit/erase functions
- Remove in-app purchase for saving/sharing
- Add metadata
- Add bass clef
- Add alternate clefs
- Add other notation
- Allow writing more than one line
In-app purchases
iWriteMusic SE
No in-app purchases
Music Drawing Notation
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iWriteMusic SE free?
Is Music Drawing Notation free?
Do iWriteMusic SE or Music Drawing Notation have ads?
Which is updated more often, iWriteMusic SE or Music Drawing Notation?
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