Having an out-of-tune guitar in the most inopportune time is an unnerving encounter. After all, guitar-tuning isn’t easy, especially when you don’t have a digital guitar tuner at hand. Thankfully, our smartphones are there to the rescue. There are guitar tuner apps that can help you with standard tuning.
Here’s a list of the best guitar tuner apps you can download on Android and iPhone to help fix your guitar anywhere you go. The best part? Most of them are free!
Also read: 15 Best Piano Apps for Music Lovers
15 Best Guitar Tuner Apps
- ClearTune
- BOSSTuner
- iStroboSoft
- TonalEnergy
- CarlTune
- Cifra Club Tuner
- Gismart Guitar Tuner
- smartChords
- Tunable
- Fender Tune
- Pro Guitar Tuner
- Pitched Tuner
- Guitar Tuna
- InsTuner
- gStrings
1. ClearTune
Pros
- – Beginner-friendly
- – Customizable temperament
- – Support for transposing instruments
Cons
- – Might not be compatible with some latest smartphone models
- – App freezing often
If you’re not yet inclined to perfect-sounding notes and chords, ClearTune is a good choice to help correct your guitar’s pitch. It’s one of the best guitar tuner apps that lets you tune your instrument using your phone’s built-in microphone.
During the process, the musical pitch input is displayed through a 25-cent fine-tuning and note wheel system that’s easy to comprehend even for beginners. Other features include adjustable temperaments, calibration, and more.
2. BOSSTuner
Pros
- – Accurate chromatic tuning
- – Supports horizontal screen to enlarge meter view
- – Free and no in-app purchases
Cons
- –
Buggy visuals
If you’re looking for the best free guitar tuner app that is also reliable, look no further than BOSS Tuner. It’s one of the best guitar tuner apps that boasts a decent interface and audible reference pitch function. It adopts the familiar look of the best-selling TU-3 / TU-3W pedal tuner, so it’s convenient and easy to use. It uses your phone’s mic to hear your strums and provides you with visual feedback while tuning your guitar. In addition to guitar, you can also use BOSS Tuner to perform hands-free chromatic tuning with great ease on bass, ukulele, or cello.
3. iStroboSoft
Pros
- – Sensitive to all kinds of pitches
- – Adjustable temperaments
- – Full-screen mode
Cons
- – Pricey
- – In-app purchases for extra features
- – Strobe display not for everybody
Whether you’re a professional or a newbie, you don’t have to worry about having a broken pitch. You can fix it in no time using iStroboSoft. Since it’s produced by a company known for its strobe tuners, this app captures a wide range of pitches such as the whole range of a harp. It also has an input boost with a noise filter when you want to use an external microphone.
Other features include auto and manual tuning mode, calibration and drop capo mode, and more. All these premium features of a guitar tuner app will cost you around $10 for a single purchase.
4. TonalEnergy
Pros
- – Smiley face for displaying in-tune notes
- – Combo app
- – No in-app purchases
Cons
- – Interface needing improvement
More than just a tuner, TonalEnergy is an all-in-one app that features a tuner and tone generator, including a metronome function. The app provides feedback not only for stringed instruments but also for brass and your voice. This way, you can sing or play your heart out using a set of practice tools to see your progress. It’s sensitive to a wide range of pitches, and you can adjust settings on how close your pitch needs to be tagged as in tune.
This guitar tuner app is available on Android and iOS platforms for less than $4.
5. CarlTune
Pros
- – Multi-instrument tuner
- – Adjustable tuning settings
- – Colorful interface
Cons
- – Loads of ads on the free version
Whether you’re looking for an acoustic or electric guitar tuner, CarlTune is an app that supports all sorts of instruments ranging from guitar, cello, flute, saxophone, gayageum, and a few more others. It features a comprehensive display of the frequency, octave, note, and other essential information for effective tuning. Apart from it, it employs custom tuning settings and a colorful user interface to aid your experience.
You can get this free guitar tuner app both on Android and iOS.
6. Cifra Club Tuner
Pros
- Easy to use
- Clean and simple UI
- Accurate tuning for free
Cons
- Intrusive ads
Cifra is possibly the easiest guitar tuner app to use, so it’s best for starters. Using a chromatic tuner, this app tells you when to loosen or tighten a string to play the desired note. The process starts by you setting the desired note. Your goal then is to keep the pointer centralized when you attempt to play that note. If the pointer turns orange you must tighten, if it turns red you must loosen.
In addition to guitar, you can also use Cifra to tune other stringed instruments like banjo, bass, ukelele, violin, viola, cello, and more. You may also upgrade to a premium version for additional instruments and an ad-free experience.
7. Gismart Guitar Tuner
Pros
- – Multi-instrument tuner
- – Adjustable tuning settings
- – Colorful interface
Cons
- – Too many ads on the free version
Gismart Guitar Tuner is a popular app known for its sleek interface. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert player, you’ll definitely love this app since it boasts an easy-to-use system paired with great functionality. Tune your electric or acoustic guitar with a high level of precision. Not to mention, it requires no additional equipment as it utilizes your phone’s microphone.
You can choose from a variety of tuning modes, including a built-in pitchfork with a tone generator from 1 Hz to 22050 Hz. Gismart Guitar Tuner is free to use, but many users complain that it tends to throw excessive ads that force you to get the paid version in the end.
8. smartChord
Pros
- – All-in-one app
- – Excellent set of tools
- – Beginner-friendly
Cons
- – Too clustered
smartChord is another dedicated guitar tuner app on Android that’s suitable for beginner and intermediate players. It features more than 500 predefined tunings, ranging from Drop D to Rain Song. Apart from it, it also presents all chord types and possible fingerings to teach you how to play.
This app gives you loads of customization and an array of helpful functionalities without making you pay. However, you need to buy some features to unlock them. One good example is the syncing feature. To access your songbook across devices, you need the synchronization option. Don’t worry, most of the features are worth the price.
9. Tunable
Pros
- – Color indicator
- – Reliable combo app
- – Beginner-friendly interface
Cons
- – Pricey
- – In-app purchases to unlock extra features
If you’re looking for an excellent combo app, Tunable is the answer. It’s one of the best guitar tuner apps that give you access to a tuner, metronome, tone generator, and recording services in a straightforward interface. You don’t have to be an expert to operate it. In fact, you can set the difficulty level from beginner to advanced, as well as customize temperament settings to your preference.
Tunable utilizes color to indicate whether the pitch is in tune. If a note is out of tune, the screen turns red. As you correct it along the way, the screen turns green. Unlike most guitar tuner apps, Tunable has the ability to recognize low-end pitches of a Tuba register.
You can get this tuner app on Android and iOS for less than $8.
10. Fender Tune
Pros
- – Free
- – Support for pre-set and custom tunings
- – Ad-free interface
Cons
- – In-app purchases for extra features
Apart from producing high-quality guitars, Fender also has a dedicated app for guitar-tuning. Enter Fender Tune. It’s one of the best guitar tuner apps that touts an array of special features such as auto-tune, manual, chromatic, and custom tuning modes for free. You can also browse Fender’s curated chord collection if you want to familiarize yourself with the basic notes. Plus, the interface is clean with no ads bothering you from time to time.
11. Pro Guitar Tuner
Pros
- – Easy to use
- – Produces accurate results
Cons
- – Free version limited to standard tuning
- – Annoying ads
- – Pricey
Like most guitar tuner apps on this list, Pro Guitar Tuner provides decent performance and features in tuning your instruments. It’s a chromatic tuner; hence, it can tune several stringed instruments with great ease. The interface is also simple and easy to understand. However, be wary of the ads since they appear from time to time, interfering with your tuning process.
The free version is only limited to standard tuning. You need to subscribe to the Premium version to unlock extra features.
12. Pitched Tuner
Pros
- – Ads not intrusive
- – Displays analog note meter (with cents) plus actual frequency to 0.1 Hz
- – Supports transposing instruments
Cons
- – No custom tunings for the free version
- – Not optimized for other smartphone models
Pitched Tuner is a great addition to our list of the best guitar tuner apps. It has a simple and straightforward interface to cater to all levels of players, particularly beginners. You can choose from two tuning methods: the instrument tuner, and the chromatic tuner. The instrument tuner is customizable so you can either tune your guitar in EADGBE or in drop D (DADGBE).
As for the compatibility, Pitched Tuner supports most stringed instruments, and it uses the traditional needle-and-dial style of tuning.
13. Guitar Tuna
Pros
- – Noise-cancelling technology
- – Smooth user interface
- – Highly accurate tuning
Cons
- – Pricey
GuitarTuna is one of the most popular guitar tuner apps on Android and iOS for many reasons. If you’re a beginner, you’ll love this app since it caters to basic music exercises, such as chord learning games for speed development and chord mastery. It also supports a number of string instruments, including rare ones such as Balalaika.
In terms of operation, Guitar Tuna is pretty easy to use. Just pluck a string and it automatically detects the quality of its pitch and how much tuning it needs. With background noise cancellation technology, you’ll have no problem using it in crowded places.
The free version is only limited to standard tuning. You need to upgrade to the Pro version to access other levels of tuning, as well as support other instruments.
14. InsTuner
Pros
- – Supports different tuning modes
- – Supports a wide range of instruments
- – Simple interface
Cons
- – Intermittently shows ads
- – Might not be compatible with the latest devices
InsTuner is a beginner-friendly guitar tuner that lets you tune your instruments swiftly and accurately. From fine-tuning to spectrum (FFT) mode, you can correct your instrument’s pitch and analyze sounds in just a few taps. Not to mention, it offers advanced features for professional players such as Concert A calibration, and historical temperaments and transpositions.
15. gStrings
Pros
- – Clean and decent interface
- – Offers loads of features for classical music players
- – Can save custom tunings for future use.
Cons
- – Has latency problems
- – App keeps freezing
A list of the best guitar tuner apps isn’t complete without gStrings. As one of the longest-running apps on Android, gStrings has a lot to offer to all sorts of players. Depending on your preferences, you can choose from different tuning modes and customize your mic’s sensitivity to pitch for more accurate tuning. Applying different temperaments, such as Pythagorean, comma, and meantone is also possible.
Additionally, you can save custom tunings of your device so that you can use it anytime you want. As for the performance, gStrings is ideal for musicals that play classical types of music, since it has the ability to change temperament.
Why Should You Use Guitar Tuner Apps?
There are many reasons why you should use guitar tuner apps. If you just started playing the guitar, the best guitar tuner apps can be your best friend. They provide extensive assistance in guitar-tuning issues, including ear training, chord-track keeping, and chord familiarization.
They are handy and convenient as well since all you have to do is to download and install them on your phone. This way, you can carry a digital tuner, albeit in app form, around without having to worry about safekeeping and storage.
What’s the Difference Between a Guitar Tuner and Guitar Tuner Apps?
A guitar tuner app functions similarly to an electric guitar tuner. However, there are some differences worth talking about. In terms of performance, the best guitar tuner apps are perfect for beginners who are still unable to tune the instrument correctly. This is because they employ an easy-to-use program that aids all kinds of guitar, including acoustic and electric.
Apart from tuning, guitar tuner apps are also packed with remarkable feature sets to give players the ability to enhance their playing skills with great ease. Those features include customization, chord library, guitar maintenance guide, and more. Not to mention, most of them are free to download from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
However, if you’re leaning on the professional side, having a real guitar tuner device gives you the precision, accuracy, and output you need in just a few seconds. After all, guitar tuners are primarily geared toward fine-tuning, as well as achieving notes and sounds in a faster and more accurate way. Just make sure to save a little up since most of these devices are costly.
Can You Tune a Guitar With Your Phone?
Yes, you can. However, some guitar tuning apps are unable to filter unnecessary noises. They capture all kinds of sounds that can ruin your ability to tune the guitar correctly. That said, you need to do it in a quiet room so that you can obtain accurate results.
The Bottom Line: Are Guitar Tuner Apps Accurate?
The best guitar tuner apps are accurate. However, they’re not completely perfect. You may spot some flaws that can hinder you from obtaining accurate results. Hence, it’s important to choose a guitar tuner app that’s trusted by many people across. Make it a habit to check the reviews before downloading any app to ensure quality.
