With so many iPad apps out there to use in your piano teaching studio, how do you know which ones are any good without trying them all?

While I don’t believe technology can (or should) replace live, human piano teachers, it can absolutely support and enhance our teaching. If you’re just getting started, this is the article for you.
These 10 apps are the ones that I find myself using in lessons almost every week. They are the piano teaching apps I reach for, again and again, regardless of the kind of iPad I have available.
This article was originally published in January 2016. It was revised and updated in February 2025.
App No. 1: Practice+ Metronome Tuner
There are so many metronome choices in the app store these days. But my favourite thing about Practice+ is it’s flexibility. You can change the time signature and tempo like you see in most apps, but Practice+ allows you to customise just about everything else too. It’s especially easy to switch the division of the beat to whatever you need at the moment.
There’s a large variety of sounds from clicks to beeps, and – most importantly for me – the visual aspect of the bar moving across the screen. I find this helps students who simply don’t hear or feel the ticks at the same time that they’re playing.
App No. 2: Super Metronome GrooveBox
As an alternative to a metronome, Super Metronome GrooveBox surely wins the award for the longest app name and the most convoluted to say. 🤣 But I say it a lot, because I love this app.

At its essence, I use this iPad app as a basic drumkit in my own piano teaching. But if you’re sick of listening to the metronome, or if your student just doesn’t “feel” a metronome well, Super Metronome GrooveBox can be a lot of fun.
App No. 3: forScore
forScore is my go-to score reading app. There are many score-reading apps out there, and I have several of them myself. But my favourite app for general score reading is forScore. Despite using it for years, I still discover new features all the time.
There’s just so much you can do in forScore!
- Store all your digital music and organise it into libraries
- Make playlists
- Bookmark pages within a book
- Annotate scores
- Rearrange pages
I even use forScore for flashcards. I find it so much handier to use our mobile-friendly versions of the Minterval Challenges (for intervals) and the 60-Second Challenges (for note names) on my iPad screen rather than fumbling around with the physical cards.

forScore is a popular iPad app for online piano teaching, too, as it’s easy to show and markup music directly on the screen during lessons.
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App No. 4: iReal Pro
This one is a powerful iPad app that has a myriad of uses in your piano teaching studio. Just to name a few, iReal Pro can be used for:
- Creating custom backing tracks built on chord charts
- Setting up specific songs
- Adding a band to make practising chord drills more fun
If you’re a member of Vibrant Music Teaching, you can access my own iRealPro playlist to go with the VMT Piano Chord Challenges. Both you and your students will be surprised how much fun chord drills can be!
Not a member of VMT? Learn more and join today at vibrantmusicteaching.com.
App No. 5: Vivid Practice
For the sake of full disclosure, Vivid Practice is our own app. And while I might sound biased when I say it’s my absolute favourite of all the music practice apps out there, we built it with that exact intention.
With the Vivid Practice app, students can access all their assignments, videos, backing tracks, teaching notes and more in a single spot.

But what I actually like most of all is the organisation on the teacher-side of things, which is done through an internet browser. Vivid Practice makes all my lesson planning dreams come true.
The students use the app, while the teacher uses the browser. So while I don’t technically use the iPad app in my piano teaching, it’s what I tell my students to use at home more than anything at all.
App No. 6: Vibrant Music Intervals
This iPad piano teaching app is another one from our own team: Vibrant Music Intervals.
We created this to fill in a gap in the app universe. There are tons and tons of apps used to practise note names (and almost any other musical topic), but very few – if any at all – for drilling intervals. Which is odd, given that piano students actually read music by interval and not note names. 🤔
Vibrant Music Intervals contains 3 separate games so that students don’t get bored on their way to becoming interval whiz kids.
App Nos. 7, 8, 9: NinGenius, StaffWars Live and NoteRush
OK, I’m going to give you 3 apps for note naming drills.
And honestly, my recommendation is to use whichever one your student likes the look of the best. After all, that’s what really matters when it comes right down to it.

In all 3 of these apps, you can select the specific notes you want your student to drill. This a critical, non-negotiable feature in any note-naming game as far as I’m concerned.
- NinGenius lets you choose if you want the letter name of the note, or the piano key itself.
- In Note Rush, you answer by playing the key on the piano – perfect for spotting octave confusion. (The seasonal themes are fun, too.)
- StaffWars Live is similar to Note Rush in that you play the piano to answer, but in Staff Wars the notes are scrolling across the screen instead of being presented flashcard-style.
All 3 of these iPad note-naming apps have their own pros and cons, so see what appeals to your piano students and use that one in your teaching. Keep the others in your back pocket when you need a little variety.
App No. 10: Decide Now!
If you need a super easy way to randomise things in your piano teaching studio, Decide Now! is the perfect iPad app for you. You can create your own really pretty spinner wheels such as wheels for all the major keys, all the different pieces a student is working on or various other challenges you have for students.
Decide Now! is an iPad app that can also be used alongside board games you already play in your piano teaching studio. Simply swap the standard card deck from any game for a customised spinner instead.
What would be in your top 10 iPad piano teaching apps?
Are there any essential ones you feel I left out? Any of these that you’re not a fan of? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below.
Pro tip from Colourful Keys: The technology section of our ‘Planning Lessons’ hub page is a great place to explore more ways that tech tools can enhance your teaching. You should check it out!
Can’t miss Note Rush! (although it’s not free)
note rush
Noteworks is my fav
1. Piano Maestro
2. Flashnote Derby
3. Staff Wars
4. PiaScore
5. Note Rush
6. BetterPracticeApp
7. T-M-A-S-G*. *not so relevant to piano, but it does liven up a lesson as a reward!
Bees Keys
Rhythm Swing
Thank you for sharing these insightful observations. A piano teaching app has the potential to dramatically improve people’s piano learning and enjoyment through the proper combination of instructional material and intuitive design.