# Piano Apprentice vs Piano Play Now

The clearest difference is rating: Piano Play Now at 4.9 against Piano Apprentice's 3.4. Piano Play Now also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Piano Apprentice's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months). On price, ratings volume and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Piano Apprentice sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Piano Play Now asks for nothing beyond the download.

Piano Play Now holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 7 respectively.

Piano Apprentice ships an update every 5 weeks, Piano Play Now every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Piano Apprentice | Piano Play Now |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [3.4 (17 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/piano-apprentice/id456471024/reviews) | **[4.9 (7 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/piano-play-now/id1512601076/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **17** | 7 |
| Positive reviews | 46.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | **Every 5 weeks** | Every 7 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Ad-supported** |
| Size | 75 MB | 227 MB |
| Requires iOS | **8.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [ION Audio](https://appshunter.io/developer/456471027) | [Daniel Nowendsztern](https://appshunter.io/developer/1028876626) |

## What reviewers say

### Piano Apprentice

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/piano-apprentice/id456471024)

Learn piano with video lessons from a professional instructor. Follow along with visual cues on a compatible keyboard or learn to read sheet music. Practice songs at your own pace or simply enjoy improvising.

**Highlights:** Video piano lessons, Interactive keyboard lighting, Sheet music tutorials, Adjustable playback speed, Piano jam mode

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Holiday Song 3-Pack | $0.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👨‍🏫 Excellent instructor (Piano Guy) with patient, friendly teaching style
- 🎹 Works well with ION keyboard and other MIDI keyboards
- 📚 Sheet music feature helps with music reading
- 🆓 Free app with no paywall for core content
- 🎯 Effective for beginners learning basic songs quickly

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Video playback controls broken - cannot rewind/fast-forward
- 📥 Frequent download failures and missing content
- ⚡ App crashes and compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- 🎬 No video display in lessons (audio only)
- ⌨️ Keyboard keys unresponsive or not lighting up

**Reported bugs**

- Video seek/scrub functionality resets to beginning on iOS 6.1+
- Lessons fail to download or download incomplete
- Video displays blank screen with audio only
- Keys not lighting up during playback
- App fails to update or gets stuck on update screen

**Requested features**

- Add more songs to the library
- Implement proper video scrubbing/seek functionality
- Slow down instructor playback speed
- Add pause and rewind controls for videos
- Include left-hand chord notation in sheet music


### Piano Play Now

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/piano-play-now/id1512601076)

Learn to play the piano with an interactive keyboard. Record your performances as MIDI files, load custom soundfonts, and save your multi-track compositions. Customize the keyboard layout and view note labels.

**Highlights:** Interactive piano keyboard, MIDI file recording, SF2 soundfont loading, Multitrack recording, Customizable key size, Note display

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Piano Apprentice free?

Piano Apprentice is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Piano Play Now free?

Piano Play Now is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Piano Apprentice or Piano Play Now?

Piano Play Now is rated higher. Piano Apprentice averages 3.4 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while Piano Play Now averages 4.9 from 7 ratings.

### Do Piano Apprentice or Piano Play Now have ads?

Piano Play Now shows ads; Piano Apprentice does not.

### Which is updated more often, Piano Apprentice or Piano Play Now?

Piano Apprentice ships an update every 5 weeks, and Piano Play Now every 7 months. Most recently, Piano Apprentice was updated on October 21, 2026 and Piano Play Now on October 22, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*