Comparison

iWriteMusic vs digitalScore

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

Head to head
About

iWriteMusic

Create professional-quality sheet music efficiently on your smartphone. This app offers an intuitive interface and a powerful input system designed for small screens, making music notation accessible for musicians of all levels. Share your compositions as PDFs, JPGs, or MIDI files.

Highlights
  • Intuitive and simple user interface
  • Efficient One-Flick Entry System
  • Professional quality sheet music creation
  • Supports major notation elements
  • Useful playback options
  • Export to PDF, JPG, and 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 7 reasons to choose iWriteMusic. 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. ATTENTION: Latency during playback and drawing may occur by device capacity or number of tracks and background applications.

About

digitalScore

This app is a comprehensive digital music studio designed for musicians. It offers advanced library management, performance-ready reading features, and editable annotations. Practice tools, collaboration features, and a large catalog of public domain music are also included.

Highlights
  • Visual library management with custom folders
  • Performance-ready reading with hands-free page turns
  • Editable annotations with smart eraser
  • Practice tools including metronome and recorder
  • Collaboration and sync across devices
  • Access to public domain classical music
Features
Read full description

Read, annotate and practice your sheet music on iPad, iPhone and Mac, with annotations that stay editable, hands-free page turns and Apple Intelligence built in. digitalScore is the music stand built by musicians who understand your workflow. It's a complete digital studio for conservatory students, professional performers and serious musicians who expect more from their tools. VISUAL LIBRARY MANAGEMENT · Folders and subfolders with custom colors and icons · Personalized score covers that make browsing instant · Smart folders that organize automatically by composer, instrument or tags · Multi-movement works with a proper structure · Auto-fill metadata that saves hours of manual entry · Trash and archive to keep your library under control PERFORMANCE-READY READING · Half-page preview removes awkward page turns · Fast page rendering, even with heavy annotations · Turn pages with face gestures, Bluetooth and MIDI pedals, touch gestures or a game controller · Dual-device mode: use two iPads as an open book ANNOTATIONS THAT STAY EDITABLE · Move and resize every symbol, text or marking after you place it · Smart Eraser: remove notes while keeping staff lines intact · Collage Tool: copy a passage and paste it anywhere to simplify difficult sections · Action Buttons: tap to start audio, open the metronome or jump to another score · Stickers, stamps and your own images · Full Apple Pencil support with PencilKit PRACTICE TOOLS THAT ACTUALLY HELP · Mark sections as practice tasks and jump between them · Track practice time and unlock achievements · Set daily and weekly goals and follow your progress · Pro Metronome with saved custom patterns and gradual tempo increase · Audio player with independent tempo and pitch control · Recorder with reverb · Built-in tuner, drone and piano keyboard APPLE INTELLIGENCE, SIRI AND WIDGETS · Name suggestions for new folders and playlists, based on the scores inside · Practice insights that summarize how your work is going · Siri and Shortcuts: open scores and playlists, start the metronome or tuner and check today's practice hands-free · Home Screen widgets for your practice and your scores · Apple Intelligence runs on device, so your library stays private COLLABORATION AND SYNC · iCloud sync across iPad, iPhone and Mac · SharePlay: video call while you view and annotate the same score in real time · Orchestra Mode: connect several devices so everyone follows the leader's page turns · Automatic and manual backups with version history A PUBLIC DOMAIN LIBRARY BUILT IN Search and download scores from a huge catalog of public domain classical music without leaving the app. WHY DIGITALSCORE? Because your tools should be designed around how you actually work. Every feature exists because a real musician needed it: the pianist who wanted dual-screen reading, the violinist who needed hands-free page turns in fast passages, the student managing a conservatory library across years. Download digitalScore and see what sheet music software should have been all along. Privacy Policy: https://digitalscore.app/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://digitalscore.app/terms Attributions: flaticon.com

Screenshots

iWriteMusic4 screens
digitalScore4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: digitalScore at Free against iWriteMusic's $9.99. digitalScore also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). iWriteMusic's advantage is review sentiment (73% vs 44%). On rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

digitalScore is free to download; iWriteMusic costs $9.99 up front. iWriteMusic sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and digitalScore sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for iWriteMusic against 4.6 for digitalScore. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 181 and 622 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of iWriteMusic's written reviews are positive against 44% of digitalScore's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iWriteMusic ships an update every 5 weeks, digitalScore every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
iWriteMusic versus digitalScore: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriWriteMusicdigitalScore
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (181 ratings)4.6 (622 ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.2% of reviews — better43.9% of reviews
Number of ratings181622 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB236 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiWriteMusicProjectSymphonic Hub Sociedad Limitada

Customer experience

iWriteMusic

All ratings181 ratings
Positive90.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews149 reviews
Positive73.2%
Neutral8.1%
Negative18.8%

digitalScore

All ratings622 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral4.5%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive43.9%
Neutral17.1%
Negative39.0%

Bugs and requests

iWriteMusic

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

digitalScore

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • App crashes when editing and arranging pages
  • Annotations disappear when moving between layers
  • Scores randomly disappear without recovery option
  • PDF import fails or requires multiple attempts
  • Renamed files revert to 'droppedScore'
Show 9 more
  • Slow document opening times
  • Page turning cycles through entire set instead of single page
  • Controls accidentally trigger page turns
  • Facial gesture recognition conflicts with facial tics
  • Drag and drop metronome broken on iPad OS 17
  • Pro version purchase not unlocking features
  • Server error messages preventing score access
  • Forced app closures losing unsaved work
  • Review rating system finalizes prematurely

Requested features

11 requests
  • Dark mode or adjustable brightness settings
  • Android version availability
  • Bluetooth page turning device support
  • Replace/overwrite feature for duplicate imports
  • Reorderable playlists
Show 6 more
  • Swipe gestures for page navigation
  • Adjustable gesture sensitivity controls
  • Better help documentation and tutorials
  • Note typing for second octave with ledger lines
  • Drag and drop metronome functionality
  • Support for external storage services (Synology, OneDrive)

In-app purchases

1 purchases

iWriteMusic

One-time1
  • Advanced File Management$0.99
6 purchases

digitalScore

Subscriptions3
  • Sheet Music Premium, Monthly$4.991 Month
  • 1-year Premium (Discount)$9.991 Year
  • Music Stand Premium, Yearly14 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time3
  • Upgrade to PRO with Discount$2.99
  • Pro Upgrade - Lifetime$24.99
  • Upgrade to Pro$34.99

Questions

Is iWriteMusic free?
iWriteMusic costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is digitalScore free?
digitalScore is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iWriteMusic or digitalScore?
digitalScore is rated higher. iWriteMusic averages 4.5 out of 5 from 181 ratings, while digitalScore averages 4.6 from 622 ratings.
Do iWriteMusic or digitalScore have ads?
Neither iWriteMusic nor digitalScore shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iWriteMusic or digitalScore?
iWriteMusic ships an update every 5 weeks, and digitalScore every 9 days. Most recently, iWriteMusic was updated on October 20, 2026 and digitalScore on October 19, 2026.

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