the Craic vs BlueKeyDetect
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
the Craic
This app transforms your device into a portable digital tunebook, offering thousands of traditional tunes in ABC notation. Easily search, play, and organize music for various instruments, with options to create custom sets and collections. Import tunes from multiple sources and share them as ABC or PDF.
- Searchable tune library
- Create and play tune sets
- Organize favorite tunes
- Import ABC notation
- Playback with tempo control
- Edit ABC notation
- Print and share tunes
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Stop rummaging through paper tunebooks - turn your iPad or iPhone into a portable tunebook. Quickly search, display and hear thousands of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and other tunes for fiddle, flute, bagpipes, banjo, mandolin, concertina or accordion. Please leave a review or rate the app if you enjoy it - it helps! Subscribe either monthly or yearly to help support ongoing development. - includes a selection of 76 commonly played session tunes (lots more on the Internet!) - create, play and print sets of tunes - create collections of your favourite tunes and sets, print them as tune books or as incipits - import ABC notation via iTunes, cloud services like iCloud and Dropbox, email or the internet - bagpipe notation for tunes with HP or Hp key - search online or on your iPad or iPhone - online search results can be quickly imported into your library - simple playback with tempo control and looping - choose flute, whistle, fiddle, banjo, guitar, piano, harp or accordion - create and edit ABC notation on your iPad with a keyboard extension to simplify entry - external keyboard fully supported - print - share via email as ABC notation or PDF - open as a PDF in other applications Use of the Craic is governed by the standard Apple Terms of Use. You can view this at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
BlueKeyDetect
Instantly identify the musical key and tempo of songs by recording short audio clips. Ideal for musicians in jam sessions needing quick key information.
- Record audio clips
- Detect musical key
- Display beats per minute (BPM)
- Supports guitar and bass jam sessions
- Multiple recording options for accuracy
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If you are part of a jam sessions with guitar or bass, you should know the key in which the others are playing. The pros among you may be able to hear that, but I either need the information from the chord sheet or someone knows the key ... As a programmer, I quickly have an app in mind simply recording a piece of a song and then recognizing the key via my iPhone. The result is the BlueKeyDetect app: One touch on the display plus a short piece of recording and the beats per minute with the key of the song are displayed. You should record short pieces several times or a slightly longer one to get the correct key displayed. There are limits, since the key in the song can also change and depending on the song, the recognition can be difficult anyway, but in practice it still works quite well if you take a few things into account: ① Find places in the song where there is a lot of sound. Drums and percussion don't do much to recognize the key. ② The longer you record the song, the greater the chances of recognizing the correct key. Alternatively, you can record short phrases several times and then choose the most detected key. ③ Background noise makes detection difficult, so if possible record only the song and not at a low level.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BlueKeyDetect at 5.0 against the Craic's 4.3. BlueKeyDetect also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and price ($0.99 vs $4.99). the Craic's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (13 vs 1). On ads 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
the Craic costs $4.99 and BlueKeyDetect $0.99 up front. the Craic sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.39 per month. BlueKeyDetect asks for nothing beyond the download.
BlueKeyDetect holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: the Craic has 13 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
the Craic ships an update every 2 months, BlueKeyDetect every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | the Craic | BlueKeyDetect |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (13 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 13 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Paid — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wil Macaulay | Stefan Arnhold |
Customer experience
the Craic
BlueKeyDetect
Bugs and requests
the Craic
Reported bugs
28 issues- Won't read past errors in older ABC spec
- Doesn't report ABC spec errors
- No support for multi-voice (e.g., SATB grandstaff)
- Small note heads
- Does not cover concertinas
Show 23 moreShow fewer
- App freezes up
- Not all ABC tunes get imported
- Setting markers for playback is unintuitive
- Selections with pick-up notes don't loop properly
- Multiply editing/saving can create multiple copies
- GUI could be more intuitive/standard
- Freezes up when editing first/second endings
- No iCloud sync for tunes
- No bagpipe option in instrument selection
- App freezes on download
- Gets stuck in a loop during download
- Does not support drum notation
- With iOS 12, staff lines don't display
- Latest version freezes after a couple of minutes
- App freezes on download
- Crashes when deleting tunes
- Default library reappears after deleting all tunes
- Does not allow playback of tunes
- Less than 100 tunes initially
- Does not play tunes
- Too difficult for usage
- Tunes not sortable into books/set lists
- Does not play tunes
Requested features
32 requests- Support for multi-voice ABC notation
- Larger note heads
- Support for concertinas (especially CG Anglo)
- Option to select tunes only from Favourites list
- Option to rearrange items within a set
Show 27 moreShow fewer
- More intuitive marker setting for playback
- Fix looping with pick-up notes
- Prevent multiple copies when editing/saving
- More intuitive/standard GUI elements
- iCloud sync for tunes
- Wider range for speed adjustment (slower)
- Slight pause before tune starts playing
- Drone note before tune starts
- Choice of two or three GM instruments for playback
- Light, bar, or dot that follows notes during playback
- Provision to stop or interrupt downloads
- Visually highlight notes as they play
- Simpler way to add tunes to a set list
- Groupings for different genres (Irish, Scottish, etc.)
- More stability in the app
- Ability to make entire library from zero
- Export/import entire folder tree on cloud storage (Dropbox)
- Read/write directly to ABC files on cloud storage
- Ability to separate music by collections
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Support for drum notation
- Support for bagpipes
- Support for concertinas
- Support for older ABC spec files
- Better error reporting for ABC files
- Support for SATB grandstaff
BlueKeyDetect
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
the Craic
- Monthly supporter7 Days trial$1.391 Month
- Yearly supporter$12.991 Year
- Small Tip$0.99
- Large Tip$4.99
- Huge Tip$19.99
BlueKeyDetect
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is the Craic free?
Is BlueKeyDetect free?
Which has better reviews, the Craic or BlueKeyDetect?
Do the Craic or BlueKeyDetect have ads?
Which is updated more often, the Craic or BlueKeyDetect?
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