Or not.Ĭreating and editing playlists is easy, as is swiping from one song to the next. Strangely, this restriction is enforced also on tablet and in landscape mode so visually iReal Pro is really a case of one size fits all. Chords are written in a sans serif font (not configurable) which is usually easy to read, but the app has a 'four bars per line' convention and 'single full screen' limitation that means some songs get very crowded. Tap once to show the action bar and playback controls. The iReal Pro main screen is nice and clean, with the chord chart filling the screen except for the status bar (which is always visible). (Or maybe something in addition please read on.) There is no support for melodies, lyrics or freehand annotations - so if you need a flexible gig companion rather than a fellow student, start looking for something else. And worse, only fixed formatted chords can be used. This means that, though there are thousands and thousands of tunes available for download from the iReal Pro forum (not only jazz standards), if you are playing originals or other songs you are forced to buy also the Mac OSX application or try to input the chords via the rather awkward built-in editor. The app has some serious limitations, e.g.only a closed proprietary file format is supported. That being said, iReal Pro is not for everyone. Actually, some users claim they even use the iReal Pro accompaniment playing live! All charts chord sequences can be 'auto-played', similarly to Band-in-a-Box or Garageband, which is a great practice tool for instrumentalists or vocalists. Most important is the play-along mode, which really puts iReal Pro in a class of its own and is the feature most users refer to as the reason for getting the app.

Excellent for private practice, but depending on your needs it might not be the right choice for your gigs.įirst and foremost, this is a great app! There is no surprise that iReal Pro (and the previous incarnations iReal Book and iReal b) has been in the top lists of both the Apple App Store and Google Play for a long time, because it has some really unique features.

Ireal pro review