Tonic FAQ

No. Tonic has no subscription. It's one purchase, and every instrument, tuning and feature is included, with nothing behind an extra payment.

Tonic costs $4.99 in the US, paid once (App Store prices vary by country). It isn't free and has no free version or trial. Updates come through the App Store at no charge.

No. Tonic has no in-app purchases, no pro tier and no upgrade screens. The lessons, the Backing Band and every tuning come with the app.

Tonic runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later. It isn't available on Android or Windows, and there's no web version.

No. Tonic has no account, login or sign-up. Open it and it's ready.

Yes, completely. Everything in Tonic runs on your device, and it never connects to the internet, so it works in a rehearsal room, on a plane or anywhere without signal.

None. Tonic has no analytics, no ads and no tracking, and Apple's App Store privacy label for it reads "Data Not Collected." Your settings, practice history and recordings stay on your device. Read the privacy policy

Yes. The whole of Tonic is in English and Spanish, and it follows your device's language. To use Spanish for Tonic alone, go to Settings › Apps › Tonic › Language.

Yes. Tonic's controls are labeled for VoiceOver. If anything is hard to reach or read out, please tell me.

No. Your music keeps playing while you tune, use the metronome, record or loop in Tonic, so you can play along with a song. Pause it yourself when you want a clean take.

No. Download Tonic from the App Store with the same Apple Account and it's yours on that device too. Tonic doesn't sync anything itself, so practice history stays on the device where you made it.

Tonic tunes guitar (6-, 7-, 8- and 12-string, and baritone), bass (4-, 5- and 6-string), ukulele, mandolin, banjo, violin, viola, cello and double bass. It also tunes 13 brass and woodwind instruments and your voice, and a chromatic mode names any note. Tap the instrument name at the top of the Tuner to choose.

Tonic includes 19 guitar tunings. On six strings: Standard, Drop D, Half-Step Down, Whole-Step Down, Drop C, Drop B, Open G, Open D, Open E, Open C, Open A, Open D Minor, DADGAD and Baritone (B Standard). There's Standard and Drop A on 7-string, Standard and Drop E on 8-string, and Standard on 12-string. All are included, and you can save your own.

Banjo: Open G, Double C, Sawmill and Open D. Ukulele: Standard GCEA, Low G, Baritone DGBE and D tuning. Bass: Standard, Drop D, Half-Step Down and Drop C, plus 5- and 6-string. Violin: Standard GDAE, Cross A and Cross G. Double bass: orchestral, solo and fifths. Mandolin, viola and cello have their standard tunings.

Yes. Tonic has 13 brass and woodwind presets: trumpet, French horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax. They show the note you read, not concert pitch, so a B♭ trumpet player sees their own written notes. Find them under Brass & Woodwinds in the instrument picker.

Usually Tonic doesn't have microphone access, or the sensitivity is too low. Turn Tonic on in Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone. If it hears you but the needle doesn't move, raise Menu › Settings › Mic Sensitivity (High suits quiet sources like an unplugged electric). Then pluck one string at a time and let it ring.

Tonic's tuner reads in cents, hundredths of a semitone, and lights "In tune" when you're within 5 cents of the note. The needle glides and settles instead of jumping, and "In tune" holds steady at the edge. For the last cent or two, switch to the strobe.

Yes. Turn it on in Menu › Settings › Tuner Display. The stripes drift right when you're sharp and left when you're flat, and they stand still when you're in tune.

Set the capo fret with the Capo control under the instrument name on the Tuner. Each string then shows the note it sounds with the capo on.

Tap the instrument name at the top of the Tuner, choose Guitar, and tap Create Custom Tuning at the bottom of the list. Custom tunings are for guitar, and they're saved with the others.

Yes. Set A4 anywhere from 430 to 450 Hz in Menu › Settings › Reference Pitch (A4), and it applies across the whole app. In the same place, Readout shows cents instead of Hz, which helps when setting intonation.

Single note is the most precise: pluck one string, let it ring and tune it exactly. All strings (Beta) lets you strum and see every string at once for a quick check. A loud string can hide a quiet one, so finish with Single note when it matters.

Yes. Tap Reference Tone on the Tuner for a sustained pitch to tune against, in the octave you choose.

Yes. Tonic's lessons start at the notes on your instrument. Open the Practice tab, pick your instrument and tap Start Lesson 1. Each lesson is a short read, then a few drills already set up for it. Mark it done and the next one waits under Continue.

Tonic has guided courses for guitar, piano, bass, mandolin, banjo, violin, viola, cello and ukulele. Each one has five units, beginner to advanced, and goes up to improvising in every key; banjo adds a sixth, Clawhammer & Old-Time. Every drill works in whatever tuning you've picked.

Tonic has 48 drills in eight areas: Scales, Arpeggios & Triads, Chords & Changes, Licks & Improvising, Technique, Rhythm & Time, Ear Training, and Know Your Instrument. Each drill plays with a click and shows on your neck or keyboard as it goes. See all 48

After a clean run, tap Clean +5 and the drill speeds up 5 BPM. If you missed, Missed −5 slows it down. Your best clean tempo is saved for every drill. A good rule is three clean runs before you step up.

Listen mode lets you play a drill yourself while Tonic hears each note through the mic and moves on when you play it. It waits for you, so go at your own pace. It works best with one instrument and little background noise.

Yes. Tonic's banjo course has three-finger rolls, and a Clawhammer & Old-Time unit with the bum-ditty and drop thumb in Double C and Sawmill tuning, plus a Clawhammer drill. Banjo drills mark each note with its picking finger (T, I or M), the way banjo tab is written.

Yes. Piano has its own course and drills, shown on a keyboard: scales hands separate and together, broken-chord arpeggios, five-finger and left-hand patterns, and more. Tonic's tuner isn't meant for tuning a piano.

The Backing Band is a band that plays along with your chords: drums, bass, keys, rhythm guitar, and a pad, pedal steel or horn section. It plays 20 genres and 85 feels, each with its own drums, bass line, swing and tempos. Open it from Menu › Backing Band (Beta).

The Backing Band plays Rock, Pop, Blues, Jazz, Funk, Detroit Soul, Soul & R&B, Country, Folk & Bluegrass, Reggae & Ska, Latin, Hip-Hop, Lofi, Gospel, Disco & Dance, Metal, Spaghetti Western, Desert Rock, Psychedelic & Jam, and Waltz & 3/4. Tap Groove, open a genre and pick a feel.

Under Chords, choose Key + Progression and pick a key. Then load one of the 20 named progressions or tap chords to build your own, and press Play. Tap a section in Song Structure, such as the Chorus, to give it different chords. A song saved in Songs works too: choose Choose a Song.

Yes. Switch the Backing Band to Follow Me and start playing. Strum a few steady beats and a chord, and the band comes in on your next beat, at your tempo. It changes chords when you do and keeps going until you stop it. If it can't catch a steady beat, it comes in after a few seconds at the tempo you've set. Headphones help the mic hear you over the band. (Follow Me replaced Auto-Start in version 1.53.)

No. Follow Me takes its tempo from how you start and holds it there, like a steady drummer. To change the tempo, change it while the band plays or start again.

Yes. The tempo, groove, any of the sounds, Swing and Energy all change while the Backing Band plays. Each change lands at the next bar line, so the band never stops.

Yes. The Mix section, also under the Mix button beside Play, has a fader for each part, and the middle of each fader is the band's own balance. To keep a setup, tap Save This Band… under My Bands. That saves the feel, tempo, instruments, mix, chords and song structure by name.

The Backing Band is labeled beta because following live playing through a phone mic depends on the room and the instrument. The feels, mix, progressions and saved bands are complete, and it's included in the price. If it doesn't follow you well, tell me.

Tonic's metronome has subdivisions (8ths, triplets, 16ths) and an accent, soft or silent setting on any beat. Odd meters are grouped the way they're felt, like 5/8 as 3+2 or 7/8 as 2+2+3. There's tap tempo, a speed trainer, a gap click and four sounds. It keeps playing across tabs and with the screen locked.

Yes. In Menu › Recorder / Looper, import a song from Files (or use a take) and tap its tortoise button. Drag the loop handles around the hard part, then slow it to as little as 25% without changing its pitch, or shift its key to match your tuning.

Yes. The Key/Chord Finder (Beta) names the key and chords. Play the song from your music app through the phone's speaker, or play it yourself, and it charts the chords bar by bar. It works best with one instrument close to the mic.

Yes. In Menu › Recorder / Looper, switch to Looper. Record a loop, freely or a set number of bars, then layer parts on top, undo or mute any layer, and save the mix. If overdubs land late on Bluetooth headphones, nudge them with Sync.

Menu › Theory covers what each chord in a key does and where it wants to go, harmonizing in 3rds and 6ths, 60+ progressions in any key, and the circle of fifths. It also teaches reading rhythms, tab, chord charts and sheet music, and the Nashville Number System.

Yes. Menu › Instruments has fingering charts for trumpet, French horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and alto and tenor sax. Tap any note to hear it. There are scales and arpeggios with their fingerings, and a page that turns concert notes into the ones you read.