Uraha vs Shami
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Uraha
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Why a shamisen-dedicated tuner? The shamisen's distinctive tone — shaped by its percussive attack, rapid decay, rich harmonic overtones, and the characteristic sawari buzz — makes it notoriously difficult for general-purpose digital tuners to detect accurately. Uraha is purpose-built and optimized specifically for the shamisen. Why choose Uraha? ■ Record Your Own Shamisen — Recorded No two shamisen sound alike. Record your instrument at its perfectly tuned pitch, then play that recording back before every performance to tune your strings to it — not a generic reference pitch, but the character of your own instrument. Hear each take before you keep it, add a quick memo, and swipe away any you no longer need. Found in no other shamisen tuner app. ■ [New in Version 4.5] Now on Apple Watch Play reference tones from your wrist, through the watch's own speaker. Turn the Digital Crown to move between 壱, 弍 and 参, and tap to play or stop. The base tone and tuning follow your iPhone, or you can choose them on the watch itself. ■ The Whole Tuning on One Screen Choose your key and tuning from two pickers, then work across the three strings side by side. Each string shows its note, its octave and its exact frequency, and keeps a check mark once you have held it in tune — so you can see at a glance how far through the instrument you are. Hold a string in tune for a second and Uraha advances to the next one on its own. ■ A Tuner That Measures the Right String The needle now reads against the string you selected, not simply the nearest note. Play the wrong string, or catch an overtone instead of the fundamental, and Uraha tells you so rather than reporting a confident match. ■ Ear Tuning with Authentic Shamisen Tone Uraha plays a synthesized tone that closely recreates the resonance and timbre of a real shamisen, so you can tune by ear the way musicians have for centuries. One tap sounds a string; hold to repeat it. Fine-tune the timbre to match your own instrument and preference. ■ Digital Tuner Optimized for Shamisen Calibrated specifically for the shamisen's pitch range and harmonic structure, Uraha detects the fundamental pitch far more reliably than conventional chromatic tuners — use it alongside ear tuning for precision you can see and hear. ■ Instrument-Type Presets Fine-tune the synthesized tone for Tsugaru shamisen, nagauta, jiuta, and more, then save up to three configurations as presets — ideal if you own multiple instruments or switch between genres. ■ Full Support for All Three Traditional Tunings Hon-choshi, Ni-agari, and San-sagari — accurate reference pitches for every standard shamisen tuning, one tap away. ■ Saved Tunings with Memos Save a key and tuning together with a note — the song, the piece, the player — and call it straight back from the saved list. Ideal for teachers tracking students' setups or performers managing multiple pieces. ■ Accessible by Design Every primary control — record, play, save, tune — includes VoiceOver labels, and the app fully supports both Light and Dark Mode. ■ Upgrading from Version 3.0 In version 4.0 the key list was reordered to start at 一本 (A) and climb one semitone at a time to 十二本, the order of a pitch pipe. As a result, 一本, 二本 and 三本 now sound an octave lower than they did in 3.0, and saved tunings at those three keys play an octave lower with them. Recordings still play exactly as recorded, but a recording labelled 一本, 二本 or 三本 now sits an octave above that key. All other keys are unchanged. Who is Uraha for? Anyone who has struggled to tune a shamisen with a standard tuner; players of Tsugaru shamisen, nagauta, jiuta, or other specific styles; those who play multiple instruments or switch between genres; performers who need to match pitch with others in an ensemble; and anyone who needs reliable, repeatable tuning at rehearsal or on stage. A tuner built for the shamisen, by a shamisen player. Uraha supports your performance.
Shami
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Shami is a practice partner app for shamisen players. Turn paper bunkafu (shamisen tablature) into scores that play, slow them down to learn by ear, and record yourself to compare with your last take, so you can keep improving at home. ■ What you can do - Import bunkafu scores from photos and PDFs (AI score reading) - Create and edit your own scores with the bunkafu editor - Play scores back and check by ear: change the tempo, loop a section, or let the score wait until you play the note - Tuner and metronome - Record audio or video of your practice and look back by month or on the calendar - Compare two recordings side by side - Practice songs from the catalog right away ■ Made for - Students who take lessons and want to practice correctly at home - Self-taught players starting the shamisen - Anyone who wants to keep paper scores in one place ■ Members Join Members (monthly or yearly) to save unlimited scores and use AI score reading for up to 15 pages a month. Prices are shown on the purchase screen in the app. Membership fees support running the service and the music rights that let us add more songs to practice. Members is an auto-renewing subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account, and the subscription renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it in your Apple account settings after purchase. Terms of Use: https://shami.jp/en/terms Privacy Policy: https://shami.jp/en/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Uraha at none against Shami's 4. Shami's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Shami sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Uraha asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Uraha | Shami |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.1 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 株式会社OHANA | Takumi Nishimura |
In-app purchases
Uraha
No in-app purchases
Shami
- Shami メンバーズ ライト(月額)14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Shami メンバーズ(月額)14 Days trial$7.991 Month
- Shami メンバーズ ライト(年額)14 Days trial$29.991 Year
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- Shami メンバーズ(年額)14 Days trial$79.991 Year








