Octotune FAQ
Short answers about Octotune, the piano app in your browser: price, accounts, devices and MIDI keyboards, Kids mode, songs, offline use and privacy.
Short answers to the questions people ask most about Octotune, the piano app in your browser. For the details of devices and keyboards, see How Octotune works. For children, see Octotune Kids. For data, see Privacy.
If your question isn't here, the reading-music guides may answer it.
Questions
What is Octotune?
Octotune is a piano app that runs in your web browser and teaches you to read sheet music at the piano. It has a 12-unit path for adults, a Kids mode for children from 2½, and a library of 125 songs.
Is Octotune free?
Octotune is free to start. You can open it and play straight away, with no account and no payment details.
Do I need to make an account?
No. Everything works without one, and your progress is kept on your device. A grown-up can choose to sign in with Google to keep progress safe and the same on every device they use.
Do I need a MIDI keyboard?
No. You can play on the on-screen piano or on your computer keys (the home row is the white keys). A MIDI keyboard or a digital piano with USB makes it feel like real playing, and it is what the path is designed around.
What kind of keyboard do I need?
Any keyboard or digital piano that connects to a computer as a MIDI device, usually by USB. The path uses the notes from low C to high C (C2 to C6), which is 49 keys; 61 keys or more is more comfortable, and a full 88 is needed for some of the classical pieces. Touch-sensitive keys let the app hear loud and soft.
Does Octotune work on an iPad or iPhone?
Yes, with the on-screen piano. Safari cannot connect to MIDI devices, and every browser on an iPhone or iPad uses Safari's engine, so a MIDI keyboard can't be used there in the browser. Kids mode is designed for an iPad on the music stand, played on screen.
Does it work on Android?
Yes. Chrome on Android can use a MIDI keyboard plugged in by USB (with an adapter for the phone or tablet's socket), as well as the on-screen piano.
Does it listen through the microphone? Can I use my acoustic piano?
No. Octotune never uses the microphone, so it cannot hear an acoustic piano. It needs a MIDI keyboard or digital piano, the on-screen piano, or your computer keys.
Which browsers work?
Chrome, Edge and Firefox can use a MIDI keyboard; Firefox asks for permission first. Safari runs the app with the on-screen piano and computer keys, but without MIDI.
What age is Kids mode for?
From about 2½ to 6. The first units need no reading and no finger numbers: high and low, loud and soft, a steady beat, the black keys. Then coloured circles, then the staff.
Does Octotune talk to my child?
No. Octotune has no voice, in Kids mode or anywhere else. Instructions are shown: a drawn hand demonstrates, the key lights up, an arrow points the way after a wrong key. The words on screen are for the grown-up.
Can two children use it on one device?
Octotune keeps one Kids progress and one Adult progress in each browser. Two children on one device share the Kids progress; each device or browser keeps its own.
How long is a lesson?
A sitting takes three to six minutes for an adult, and about two minutes for a child. A unit is planned as about a week of short sittings.
I can already read music a little. Can I skip ahead?
Yes. On the adult path, a short placement test lets you jump to any unit. Score 85% and the units before it are marked done; otherwise it suggests where to start.
Where do the songs come from?
The 15 children's songs are public-domain tunes in Octotune's own arrangements. The 110 classical pieces are public-domain works typeset by volunteers of the Mutopia Project, each credited with its typesetter and licence (public domain, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
Are there pop songs?
No. The library holds only music that is free to share. You can open your own MIDI or MusicXML files in Songs; they stay on your device.
Can I print the sheet music?
Octotune shows the music on screen and doesn't print it. The Mutopia Project, which typeset the classical pieces, offers free printable PDFs of them.
Does Octotune work offline?
Yes, once it has been opened online. Lessons and songs you have opened, and instruments you have played, keep working without a connection. You can also install it as an app from your browser.
Where is my progress saved?
On your device, in your browser's storage. You can save a backup file from the settings and restore it later. If a grown-up signs in, a copy is kept in their account and synced between devices.
Is there a streak? Can I turn it off?
Adults get a small daily goal and a gentle streak, and one switch turns the streak off. Children never see a streak or a timer.
Does Octotune show ads or track me?
No. There are no ads and no analytics or tracking code. Children are never asked for anything. The privacy page lists the few outside services the app does use: instrument sounds and, if a grown-up signs in, Google's sign-in.
Does Octotune replace a piano teacher?
No. It is a patient practice partner for reading and playing notes, and it can't see your posture or hand shape. Many learners use it between lessons, or to get started before finding a teacher.
Why is it called Octotune?
An octopus has eight arms, an octave has eight notes, and the app has eight instruments to play: piano, music box, marimba, bells, kalimba, harp, steel drum and xylophone.
Is Octotune related to Splatoon?
No. Octotune, the piano app at octotune.com, is not affiliated with Nintendo or with the Splatoon 2 soundtrack album Octotune (2018).
Octotune is not affiliated with Nintendo or with the Splatoon 2 soundtrack album "Octotune" (2018).