Notalune vs Note Names
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notalune
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Notalune shows the name of every note, right on your own sheet music. Point your iPhone or iPad at printed sheet music and Notalune overlays the note names directly above the notes: English (C D E F G A B), German and Czech (C D E F G A H), solfège (do re mi) or Japanese katakana (ド レ ミ). No typing, no searching, no flipping through theory books. BUILT ON TRUST Notalune follows one rule: blank beats wrong. If it is not sure about a note, it leaves it unnamed instead of guessing. One tap on the traffic light shows how confident every name is (green, orange, red). Every scan starts with a quick clef check, and any name can be corrected in two taps. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Quick reading: point at one measure or a whole page and get the names in seconds. Nothing to create first; keep the reading or let it go • Any measure opens in place, with practice, editing, re-reading and sharing tools around it • Pieces: build your own library, piece by piece, measure by measure • Whole pages: photograph a full page or import a scan, map its measures, and read them one tap at a time • PDF import: title, composer and tempo fill in from the file, and every measure reads itself in while you watch • Open in Notalune: send a PDF from Mail, Files or WhatsApp straight into the app • Octave numbers, if you want them: c¹ c² in the Central European style, C4 C5 elsewhere • Annotated page: the assembled page with every name in place; practice from it with pinch-zoom and free pan • Print and share: export the annotated page or the whole piece as a PDF (Pro) • Metronome: a real mechanical metronome with tap tempo, free and unlimited • Corrections: fix any name, change the clef or key, or revert; uncertain notes are easy to spot FOR REAL SHEET MUSIC From method books and first songbooks up to harder repertoire. Recognition works best on printed music photographed up close, one measure at a time. In My Sheet Music you can assemble and read whole pages, measure by measure. A SCAFFOLD, NOT A CRUTCH The names are made to be hidden. In practice mode, tap a single name to hide just that note and test yourself. Tap again to reveal it, or bring them all back at once. The goal is the day you read without Notalune. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything happens on your device. Photos are processed on-device and stored only in the app. No accounts, no ads, no analytics, no tracking. The app never connects to the internet. If you opt in to help improve recognition, correction snippets are stored locally on your device; you decide if and when to share them, manually. FREE AND PRO Free: 10 quick readings in total, 3 pieces with one page each, the full metronome, practice mode, and every reading and correction tool. The 10 readings are a one-off allowance, not a daily quota - nothing resets, and nothing expires. Pro: Notalune Pro is a one-time purchase - no subscription, no trial to expire - that removes the limits and adds printing & sharing of annotated PDFs. Family Sharing included. IPHONE AND IPAD One purchase covers both. On iPad the reading page shows at close to print size, so you can play straight from the stand. LANGUAGES Seven: English, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese. Note naming in English (B), German and Czech (H), solfège, or Japanese katakana. The naming follows your choice, not your phone's language: a fixed-do player keeps do re mi on an English phone. Notalune reads notes so you can play them.
Note Names
Easily identify notes on sheet music by photographing a page. The app overlays note names, allowing you to print or share the annotated music. It also offers playback and MIDI export.
- Photograph sheet music pages
- Automatic note name overlay
- Printable PDF export
- Sheet music playback
- MIDI file export
- Support for transposing instruments
- Customizable note spelling (CDE/DoReMi)
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Music is meant to be played. But at the beginning, most of the practice hour goes somewhere else — working out which note is which, counting up from middle C, losing your place, starting the bar again. This app hands that hour back. Photograph a page of your own sheet music, and every note comes back with its name printed right above it — C D E F G, or Do Re Mi if that's how you learned. Print it, put it on the stand, and play. And the reading? It comes with the playing. It always has. WHY PEOPLE USE IT • You're learning piano as an adult, and you know the piece faster than you can read it • You sit with your kid at practice and can't read the music yourself • You picked your instrument back up after twenty years • You joined a choir or a community band and want to keep up at rehearsal IT WORKS ON YOUR MUSIC Not a retyped version of the song — your actual page, with the names added. The layout, the fingerings, your teacher's pencil marks: all still there. THREE STEPS 1. Photograph the page — just fit the whole page in the frame 2. Crop it (a finger in the shot? erase it) 3. Done. Every note named, ready to print or share as a PDF HEAR THE PAGE, TOO Once the names are on, tap play. It follows the note lengths and rests it read, so you can get a feel for how the piece goes. Drag the red line to start from anywhere on the page, or loop a single staff until the hard bar sits right. NAMES FOR YOUR INSTRUMENT Transposing instruments are supported — in B-flat, in E-flat, in F and more. Read the names as they sit on your part, or as they sound in concert pitch. Switch any time in Settings. PICK YOUR SPELLING C D E F G (letter names) · Do Re Mi (solfège) · ドレミ (Japanese katakana). Change it any time in Settings. WHEN IT GETS ONE WRONG, YOU FIX IT Tap the note and pick the right name. Add a note it missed. Delete a mark that wasn't a note. Add a whole staff it didn't find. It takes seconds — and it beats penciling in every note by hand. YOUR MUSIC NEVER LEAVES YOUR PHONE Everything runs on your device. No account, no upload, no server. It works in airplane mode. PAY ONCE. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Try it free: 5 scans, one photo each, with the first 2 staves named — enough to see how it does on your own music before you spend anything. Full Version, one payment: unlimited scans, any number of pages, every staff named. A NOTE ON ACCURACY This is built for printed sheet music. Handwritten scores aren't supported, and faint printing, heavy shadows or a curled page will cost you accuracy. Anything it gets wrong you can fix in the app in a few taps.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Note Names at every 2 days against Notalune's every 10 days. On price, 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
Both are free to download. Notalune sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Note Names sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Notalune ships an update every 10 days, Note Names every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notalune | Note Names |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | — | 33.3% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 32 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DAVID CHRISTIAN LICHTAG | TETSUYA SAKAI |
In-app purchases
Notalune
- Notalune Pro$9.99
Note Names
- 完全版のロックを解除$4.99
Questions
Is Notalune free?
Is Note Names free?
Do Notalune or Note Names have ads?
Which is updated more often, Notalune or Note Names?
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