iWriteMusic SE vs Musicnotes Decks
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.
Musicnotes Decks
Learn essential music notation and theory with interactive flashcards. Master symbols, clefs, dynamics, timing, and sight-reading. Includes audio pronunciation for musical terms.
- Learn 50 musical notation symbols
- Master Bass and Treble clefs
- Understand dynamics and musical interpretation
- Learn musical timing and rhythm
- Improve sight-reading skills
- Test knowledge with index cards
- Audio pronunciation of musical terms
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Learn the basics of notation and unlock the world of music theory, powered by Musicnotes – the world leader in sheet music. Musicnotes Decks is a must-have app for every musician; you will learn: • 50 essential musical notation symbols to understand sheet music • Bass and Treble clef keys so you can read any piece of music • How to interpret music via dynamics, accents, coda, and repeats • Musical timing via time signature, rhythm, value, and rests • Sight-reading skills by playing notes and guessing the pitch • To test your knowledge of symbols with a proven index card format • Definitions of all terminology with audio pronunciation guides using both British and American English musical terms Use your newfound music theory to access Musicnotes’ premium interactive sheet music in our main app. The Musicnotes app gives you instant access to the largest selection of sheet music arrangements, and with Musicnotes Pro Premium, you can get 24 titles per year, plus PDFs included in all available keys, and additional savings on our website. Whether music is your hobby, your profession, or your passion, the Musicnotes app gives you ultimate sheet music portability without sacrificing reliability. Download for free today and become one of the world’s musicians who take their sheet music anywhere!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: iWriteMusic SE at 4.4 against Musicnotes Decks's 3.8. iWriteMusic SE also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 15 months) and ratings volume (148 vs 28). Musicnotes Decks's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iWriteMusic SE has 148 ratings behind it against 28, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of iWriteMusic SE's written reviews are positive against 59% of Musicnotes Decks's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
iWriteMusic SE ships an update every 2 weeks, Musicnotes Decks every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iWriteMusic SE | Musicnotes Decks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (148 ratings) — better | 3.8 (28 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 56.8% of reviews | 58.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 148 — better | 28 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 15 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 117 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | iWriteMusicProject | Musicnotes |
Customer experience
iWriteMusic SE
Musicnotes Decks
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
Musicnotes Decks
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iWriteMusic SE
No in-app purchases
Musicnotes Decks
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iWriteMusic SE free?
Is Musicnotes Decks free?
Which has better reviews, iWriteMusic SE or Musicnotes Decks?
Do iWriteMusic SE or Musicnotes Decks have ads?
Which is updated more often, iWriteMusic SE or Musicnotes Decks?
Other comparisons
