the Craic vs FR
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/
FR
This music app automatically detects and transcribes audio clips from your jam sessions or rehearsals. It helps you organize, name, and export musical ideas, with local processing for privacy. A one-time upgrade unlocks advanced editing and organizational tools.
- Automatic music clip detection
- Speech transcription
- Audio import and export
- Traditional tune lookup
- Local on-device processing
- Clip editing (Pro)
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Smart session recorder designed for musicians. Capture the entire jam or rehearsal session, FR-1 automatically detect music clips and transcribe any speech. Great for jam, sessions, practice, or generating musical ideas. Hit Record and Forget • Start recording from the Lock Screen, or Control Center, monitor with Live Activity Find the Music • Auto detect music clips, you can then name and export them • Speech are transcribed for context (Note: transcripts may not be accurate) Audio Import / Export • Import audio for analysis and transcription. Export clips or tune lists. Lookup Traditional Tunes • Suggest known tune names, Quickly look up tunes on TheSession.org, Traditional Tune Archive and more. Private by Design • Analysis and transcription run locally, your data never leaves your device. Free to use, one-time paid Pro upgrade unlock advanced features: • iCloud Sync: access recordings from all your devices • Clip Editor: trim, split and merge clips • Export clips in batch and clip name lists • Star favorite clips for future reference • Adjust playback speed
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: FR at Free against the Craic's $4.99. FR also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (100% vs 75%). the Craic's advantage is ratings volume (13 vs 4) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). On ads, in-app purchases 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
FR is free to download; the Craic costs $4.99 up front. the Craic sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.39 per month and FR sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
FR holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of the Craic's written reviews are positive against 100% of FR's.
the Craic ships an update every 2 months, FR every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | the Craic | FR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (13 ratings) | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wil Macaulay | Qi Yang |
Customer experience
the Craic
FR
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
FR
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
FR
- FR-1 Pro$4.99
