Comparison

Read Notes vs Ilusio

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

Head to head
About

Read Notes

Enhance your musical abilities with interactive games focused on sight-reading, ear training, and chord recognition. Practice essential music theory concepts and improve your performance on any instrument with daily exercises and challenges.

Highlights
  • Sight reading practice with multiple clefs
  • Ear training for notes, intervals, and chords
  • Chord recognition and virtual keyboard
  • 100-song library with challenges
  • Progress tracking and leaderboards
  • Multiple difficulty levels and practice modes
Features
Read full description

Read sheet music one step at a time, on piano, guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, violin or drums. Choose an instrument from Home to see its quests and song library. KEEP YOUR PIANO PRACTICE Continue your piano Quests, Drills, ear training and chord practice. Start piano Quests in treble clef, bass clef or both. Your existing piano progress and purchases are preserved. CONNECT NOTATION WITH YOUR INSTRUMENT • Guitar: connect staff notation and TAB with all six strings and fret positions. • Bass guitar: find notes on the fretboard and practice melodies in a lower register. • Ukulele: learn chord shapes and strumming on screen, then explore melodies. • Violin: connect notes with strings and the finger or position labels shown. • Drums: identify kick, snare and hi-hat on the score and select the matching pads. LEARN THROUGH FAMILIAR MUSIC Explore practice arrangements of existing pieces, with score sources and excerpts identified. Listen to an example, choose a range of measures and repeat it. Drum songs use educational accompaniments. After a one-bar count-in, tap the pads with the metronome and melody and get timing feedback on your screen taps. KNOW WHAT TO PRACTICE NEXT Use demonstrations and hints, then try independently. Review mistakes and follow each instrument’s progress. Screen exercises do not listen through a microphone or assess physical playing technique. Start with free practice. Optional one-time Premium unlocks additional songs, removes ads and removes heart limits.

About

Ilusio

Features
Read full description

Learn real magic tricks, step by step: card tricks, coin magic and mentalism in a two-year course that takes you from your first trick to your own fifteen-minute act. The first two months are free. THE APP DOES MAGIC ON YOU Before it teaches you, Ilusio fools you. The mind reader finds the number you think of, the sealed prediction opens to show your result and the twenty-one cards find yours. Then you learn how it is done and do it yourself. QUICK TRICKS TO AMAZE RIGHT NOW Twelve easy tricks for when someone says "show me a trick", each with a pocket cheat sheet: the rubber pencil, the jumping band, the key card, the twenty-one cards, coins from the air and more. A COURSE, NOT A LIST OF TRICKS Ilusio is an ordered magic course, like the one you would follow with a good teacher: a new lesson every week and a short practice session every day that the app builds for you. Every lesson has animated illustrations and the secret hidden behind a curtain. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN • Cards: the key card, shuffles and controls, the pinky break, the double lift, the ambitious card, forces, false counts, palms and ace productions. • Coins: the French drop, palms, the retention vanish, coin through the table and four coins that gather under a card. • Mentalism: predictions, the one-ahead principle, the center tear, the book test and muscle reading. • Numbers and memory: the magic square, the day of the week for any date and the stacked deck. • Objects: cut and restored rope, napkins, paper clips and a torn newspaper made whole again. • Presentation: character, script, rhythm, angles, helpers, what to do when something goes wrong and how to build your act. HOW IT WORKS • Today: your daily session, ready to go. Review, practice for your moves and a new lesson when it is time. • Course: 96 lessons in 24 modules, each with what the audience sees, the secret, step-by-step instructions, common mistakes and how to perform it. • Practice: every move has a level and comes back when you need it. With a mirror to see your hands the way your audience does, a rehearsal timer and trainers for the stacked deck, the calendar and the magic square. • Progress: streaks, minutes, moves mastered and a log of your performances. BEYOND THE APP • Live Activities: the practice and rehearsal timers on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with a pause button that works without opening the app. • Widgets: your next lesson and your streak on the Home Screen and the Lock Screen. • Siri, Shortcuts and Control Center: say "Practise magic with Ilusio" to jump straight into today's session. • On iPhone and iPad, in portrait and landscape, with Dark Mode and large text. FOR EVERYONE No experience or special hands needed. You start with a deck of cards and what you have at home. The instructions are clear, with the mistakes everyone makes and how to avoid them. FREE TO START The first two months of the course are free, with the daily plan, review, the mirror and the rehearsal timer. The full course unlocks with a single payment, no subscription, and can be shared with Family Sharing. IN SIX LANGUAGES English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese: the app, the course and every illustration. PRIVATE Ilusio collects no data. Your progress stays on your device. No accounts, no ads.

Screenshots

Read Notes4 screens
Ilusio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Ilusio at none against Read Notes's shown. Ilusio also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly). Read Notes's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Read Notes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Ilusio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Read Notes ships an update weekly, Ilusio every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Read Notes versus Ilusio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRead NotesIlusio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB11 MB
Age rating12+4+
Developerminjae LeeJavier Torres Rubio

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Read Notes

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$7.99
1 purchases

Ilusio

One-time1
  • Full magic course$9.99

Questions

Is Read Notes free?
Read Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ilusio free?
Ilusio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Read Notes or Ilusio have ads?
Read Notes shows ads; Ilusio does not.
Which is updated more often, Read Notes or Ilusio?
Read Notes ships an update weekly, and Ilusio every 2 days. Most recently, Read Notes was updated on October 30, 2026 and Ilusio on October 29, 2026.

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