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PDFs of printed sheet music, MusicXML files (.musicxml and .mxl) exported from notation apps, and photos of printed pages. Tap Import Score in your library and choose Scan with Camera, Choose Photos or Choose File. For song lyrics, use Import Lyrics instead: it takes PDF lyric sheets, photos or scans of printed lyrics, timed .lrc files, and ChordPro or plain-text chord sheets.

Tap Import Lyrics and pick a lyric sheet. The words are read on your device, and chords written above them are placed over the right syllables. Press play: after a count-in, the lyrics move along a line at a time at your tempo. Set the tempo with the slider or TAP, and choose how many bars each line lasts and the time signature from the timing button. Timed .lrc files bring in each line on its own time stamp instead. Tap any line to jump there, use the guitar button to show or hide chords, and the A buttons to change the text size. Try the Amazing Grace lyrics sample to see it.

Lay the page flat, light it evenly and shoot from straight above so the whole page is in view. Synesthesia crops, straightens and cleans up the page for you, but blur, strong glare or a page curling off the edge can cause missed bar lines. Printed music works best; handwritten scores aren't supported yet.

Open the score and tap the bar-line button in the controls. Tap to add a missing bar line or remove an extra one. Each score remembers its fixes, along with its tempo and time signature.

Set the tempo with the slider, the + and − buttons, or by tapping the beat on TAP. Tap the time signature next to it to choose a different one. Your choices are saved with the score.

Ask uses Apple Intelligence, which needs a device that supports it (such as iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an iPad or Vision Pro with an M-series chip) running iOS, iPadOS or visionOS 26 or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings. Everything else in Synesthesia works on any supported device.

Make sure Synesthesia is allowed to use the microphone in Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. The first time you use it, your device may download its speech model, which takes a moment. Speech is recognised on your device and never recorded.

In your library, tap Select next to "Your scores", tick the ones you want to remove, and tap Delete. You can also press and hold a score to rename or delete it.

Pro is $4.99 a month. It unlocks an unlimited library (the free version holds 15 imported or scanned scores; the samples don't count), the Sheet Music look (black on white, like the printed page), Follow me, Explain the markings, Art Mode moods, and, on iPhone and iPad, turning pages with your head. Tap Go Pro at the top of your library. To cancel, open Settings → your name → Subscriptions, or tap PRO in the app. Tap Restore Purchases in the Pro screen if Pro doesn't show on a new device.

With Pro, open a score and tap the ear button, then play. Synesthesia listens to which notes you're playing and moves the playhead with you, speeding up and slowing down as you do, and waits if you stop. For now it works with scores imported from MusicXML (and the samples), because it needs to know the notes; PDFs and photos only tell it where the bars are. It works best in a quiet room with the device near your instrument. Turn it off, or press Play, to go back to a steady tempo.

With Pro, tap the magnifying-glass button in the controls, then tap a word on the score, like dolce, rit. or Allegro. A card explains it in one line, in your device's language. If you tap a symbol, such as a fermata or a trill sign, pick it from the list that appears. Tap the button again to go back to tapping bars to jump to them.

With Pro, turn on Art Mode (✨) and pick a mood under the intensity slider: Starry Night, Stormy Sea, Golden Sunset, Enchanted Forest or Aurora. Each gives the score its own colours and a backdrop. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Image Playground paints the backdrop the first time you choose a mood; elsewhere you get a colour theme.

Open a score in Screen Mode (AR off), tap the face button and turn on Turn pages with your head. Turn your head right to jump to the next line, left to go back; a short "Next line" sign confirms each turn. If it feels backwards, turn on Swap left and right. It needs a device whose front camera supports face tracking (iPhone and iPad models with Face ID, and many recent models).

No. Your scores, scans and settings stay on your device. See the privacy policy for details.