10 Best Guitar Tuner Apps for Android and iOS (Free and Paid)
Jan. 1, 2021The microphones in our smartphones have gotten good over the past few years. While some phones arecapable of even recording ASMR audios, you can use any modern smartphone for putting that microphone to good use, like tuning a guitar. If you’re a hobbyist guitarist or someone who picked up a guitar tolearn music during self quarantine, here are some good apps that you can use to tune your guitar.
We’ve picked the apps for both Android and iPhones. Although they all serve the same purpose, you can try out and pick the one that suits your needs. Without further ado, let’s get started with the list.
Fender Tune is a feature-packed app from guitar maker Fender to tune your guitar. The app offersfour tuning modesnamely auto mode, manual mode, chromatic mode, and pro tuner mode. You canchoose from a variety of tuning presetsincluding standard (EADGBE), Open G, Drop D, Open D, and Drop C.
Through Tune Plus – free for a limited time, you get access to over 5000 guitar chords, a metronome, and 2000 guitar scales for improving your skillset. The app is available for free anddoesn’t have ads. You can use the app to tune your acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, or ukulele.
Supported Instruments:Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Ukulele
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases for tutorials
Download Fender Tune (Android,iOS)
GuitarTuna is a widely used guitar tuner app and that’s for a good reason. It offers over 100 tunings including standard, drop-D, open tunings, half step down,7-string tunings including drop-A, and 12-string. The app also boastsbackground noise cancellation technology for better accuracy. One way GuitarTuna stands out from other apps is in the extensive support for instruments.
It even supports folk instruments like Mandolin and Balailaika, which is a nice touch and something artists across the globe would appreciate. That said, you should make in-app purchases or buy GuitarTuna Pro to unlock rare instruments. Besides tuning, the app is home to games for learning and practicing chords.
Supported Instruments:Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Mandolin, Ukulele, Viola, Violin, Cello, Fiddle, Balalaika, Cavaquinho, Banjo
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases
Download GuitarTuna (Android,iOS)
Pano Tuner offers a simple and straightforward experience to users, making it beginner friendly. It is achromatic tunerand is fairly accurate when it comes to detection. Thanks to its simplistic approach, Pano Tuner is the preferred app for a lot of guitarists. You can purchase the full version to remove advertisements and enable non-standard tunings including Pythagorean, Just intonation, 1/4-comma mean tone, and more.
Supported Instruments:Guitars, Bass Guitars, Trumpet, Ukulele, Piano, Piccolo, Violin, Keyboard, and more.
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases
Download Pano Tuner (Android,iOS)
Pitched Tuneroffers both chromatic and instrument tuning modes. You get atuner needleand dial for measuring the frequency. You can define the volume sensitivity, tuning pitch, note name, and customize app theme (light, dark, black). In instrument tuning mode, you can tune guitars, ukulele, violin, mandolin, flute, and more. Moreover, you can define custom tunings and remove advertisements by upgrading to the full version of the app.
Supported Instruments:Banjo, Bass, Cello, Guitar, Ukulele, Viola, Violin, Woodwind
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases
Download Pitched Tuner (Android,iOS)
Pro Guitar Tuner is apopular chromatic tunerthat offers all the features you need in a simple package. You getover 100 tuningsand you can favorite the ones that you use the most. The tunings are divided into categories for quick access. You can purchase the app for removing ads and unlocking extra settings.
Supported Instruments:Guitar, Bass Guitar, Ukulele, Banjo, Mandolin, Mandocello, Mandobass, Cittern, Greek Bouzouki, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Balalaika
Pricing:Free
Download Pro Guitar Tuner (Android,iOS)
Cifra Club Tuner is another app you can use to tune your guitar. The app has amodern interface and also packs musical gamesto help you play you instrument better. Although the app supports a variety of instruments, you’re limited to a single guitar in the free version.
Supported Instruments:Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, Violin, Viola, Cello, Acoustic Bass Guitar, Electric Bass Guitar, Viola Caipira, Balalaika, Cavaquinho.
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases
Download Cifra Club Tuner (Android,iOS)
BOSS Tuneruses chromatic tuningto tune your guitar. You can use the app in TU-3 or TU-3W pedal tuner skins. Much like other guitar tuning apps, you get visual feedback for tuning the guitar. The app’s tuning range is from A#0 (29.14 Hz) to G8 (6,271.93 Hz). You also get a horizontal view to conveniently see the meter readings. Although the app does a good job, its interface isn’t userfriendly and beginners may get overwhelmed by it. You can try it out to know if it works out for you.
Supported Instruments:Guitar, Bass Guitar, Violin, Cello, Brass
Pricing:Free
Download BOSS Tuner (Android,iOS)
CarlTune is yet another chromatic tuner capable of tuning multiple music instruments. CarlTune’s home page offers aninformation view consisting of frequency, octave, note, staff, keyboard,and ±cents. As far as customization goes, you can use the color palette for changing the background color, use the app in landscape mode, and change the notation. You can purchase the app to remove advertisements.
Supported Instruments:Guitar, Bass Guitar, Ukulele, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double bass, Mandolin, Mandola, Guitalele
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases
Download CarlTune (Android,iOS)
Supported Instruments:Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, Double bass
Pricing:Free, offers in-app purchases
Download gStrings (Android)
Cadenza is an iPhone app that you can use for tuning your guitar. The app’spitch ranges from A0 to A8and theresponse latency is below one millisecond. It offers a clean interface and the options are represented in a straightforward manner so that everyone can easily learn the app without a noticeable learning curve. Do note that the app is not available for free and you’ll have to spend 2 dollars for downloading it.
Supported Instruments:Guitar, Bass Guitar, Cello, Viola, Violin, Mandolin, Ukulele
Pricing:$1.99
Download Cadenza: Tuner + Metronome (iOS)
Yes, tuning your guitar isn’t as complicated as it seems from the outside. You can use one of these guitar tuner apps to tune your own guitar.
I found FenderTune to be fairly accurate. You can also try out other apps like GuitarTuna.
Yes, you can use apps like Fender Tune or GuitarTuna to tune your guitar for free.
You can note the movement of markers in the app to know if your guitar is tuned. If tuned correctly, your guitar will sound more rich, full, and produce sound in a pitch that’s true to the respective string.
Phone guitar tuner apps are fairly accurate and you can use them for tuning your guitar.
You can technically tune a guitar without a tuner, but it is easier said than done. Tuning a guitar without relying on a tuner means you need to know how all strings sound like and acquiring that skill requires practice and expertise.
440Hz is a tuning standard for guitars. 440Hz denotes the note A above middle C, commonly referred to as A4. Some also consider 432Hz as the standard.
You can use Fender Tune’sonline tuning serviceto tune your guitar right from your web browser.
If you’re confident that you’ve correctly tuned the guitar, chances are, your strings might need a replacement.
If you’re a hobbyist guitarist or a beginner, you’ll be fine with an app. You should consider using a tuner if you are an artist or a professional guitarist.
So, these are some apps you can use to tune your guitar.We hope this removes the friction in your guitar journey. If you’re looking for a course to enhance your guitar skills, you should not miss out on our coverage of thebest guitar courses. It is a mix of free and paid courses, and I’m confident there’s something for everyone.
Also, don’t forget to check out our articles onmusic composer apps,music maker apps, andaudio editing apps. They will help you record and polish your songs so you can share them with anyone.
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
