UkuTabs Has Apps Now: A Free Tuner and 20,000 Songs on iPhone and Android
by Jonas
Two free UkuTabs apps are now live on both the App Store and Google Play: a no-ads ukulele tuner and the full songbook with 20,000+ songs. Here is what each one does and what it costs.
UkuTabs has lived in a browser tab since 2012. That is fine at a desk and less fine on a sofa, on a beach or in a rehearsal room with bad signal. So this summer I built proper native apps, and both of them are now live on both stores.
Neither is a wrapper around the website. They are real native apps, written from scratch for each platform, which is why they work offline and feel like the phone they are running on.
The free ukulele tuner
The UkuTabs Ukulele Tuner is the tuner from the site, rebuilt as an app. Same pitch-detection engine, so it behaves exactly like the one you already know from the web tuner.
What it does:
- Listens and works out which string you are playing on its own, so you just play and it follows you
- Nine tunings plus a chromatic mode: standard C, low-G, baritone, English D, Canadian low-A, half and full step up and down, and mandolin or violin
- A string picker for when you are fitting a fresh string and want the guidance locked to that one peg
- Tap any peg on the on-screen headstock to hear a real recorded reference note, either a ukulele string or a clean beep
- Left-handed and right-handed layouts
- Speaks 14 languages, and follows whatever your phone is set to
The important part is what it does not do. No ads. No account. No subscription. It works completely offline, and the Android build does not even ask for internet permission, because it genuinely never needs it. On iPhone it keeps working with the phone on silent, which the browser version cannot do.
It is free on both stores, and it stays free.
The songbook app
UkuTabs Ukulele Chords & Songs is the whole catalog, more than 20,000 songs, in an app built for playing rather than reading.
Free, with no ads and no sign-up, you get:
- Any song in the catalog, in full. Not a preview, not the first verse
- A finger-by-finger diagram for every chord, with alternative shapes when the standard one fights you
- A suggested strumming pattern per song, with a button that plays it on that song’s own chords
- A short “how to play” note on the groove, the tempo and the key
- A Learn tab holding the UkuTabs guides, readable offline once you have opened them
- Search by song or artist, browse by difficulty or by how many chords a song needs, an A to Z of every artist, the Top 99 charts and a song of the day
- A landscape music-stand view for when the phone is propped up in front of you
- Up to five favourites
One honest note for iPhone users. Apple requires a licence to display song lyrics, and licensing every lyric in a 20,000 song catalog is far beyond what a free site can carry, so on iOS the lyrics are hidden while the chords, the diagrams and the song structure all stay. If you want the words in front of you, the app lets you paste in your own copy and lines them up under the chords, stored on your device and never uploaded. On Android the lyrics show as normal.
What is UkuTabs+?
UkuTabs+ is an optional upgrade inside the songbook app, and the thing to understand is that it does not gate any songs. Every song stays free to play either way. What it adds is tools:
- Hands-free autoscroll with a speed control
- Stage mode, a clean full-screen view for playing live
- One-tap transpose into any key
- A tuner built into the app, so you never leave the song
- Play along with the song’s music video where one exists
- Your own chord colours, highlights and shapes
- Offline saves and unlimited favourites
In the US it is $2.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $49.99 once for lifetime access, with a free week on the annual plan. Prices differ per country, and the app shows yours before you commit.
And to be clear, because it would be a rotten trick otherwise: the standalone tuner app stays completely free. The tuner inside the songbook app is a convenience for people who do not want to switch apps mid-song.
Which one do you want?
If you only ever need to get in tune, take the tuner. It is small, free and offline. If you want the songs in your pocket, take the songbook app, and add the tuner too since they do different jobs. And if you would rather stay in a browser, nothing changes, the site is not going anywhere and it stays free.
Frequently asked questions
Does UkuTabs have an app?
Yes, two. UkuTabs Ukulele Tuner is a free tuner, and UkuTabs Ukulele Chords & Songs is the full songbook with more than 20,000 songs. Both are on the App Store and Google Play, and both are free to download.
Is the UkuTabs app free?
The tuner is free with no ads, no account and no purchases at all. The songbook app is free to download and every song is free to play in full. UkuTabs+ is an optional upgrade that adds playing tools like autoscroll, transpose and offline saves.
Do the apps work offline?
The tuner works entirely offline. In the songbook app, saving songs for offline use is a UkuTabs+ feature, and the guides in the Learn tab stay readable offline once you have opened them.
Is there an Android version?
Yes. Both apps are native Android apps on Google Play, not wrappers around the website: the tuner and the songbook.
Do I still need the website?
No, but it is not going anywhere. UkuTabs.com stays free and complete, including the web tuner, every song and all the guides.
Both apps came out of the same stubborn idea the site started with: the chords should be free, and nothing should stand between you and playing. If you try them, tell me what is missing. I read everything and the list of what to build next is mostly written by people who emailed me.
