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Written by Ramsey Brown.
For guitar players, having access to a quick and precise tuner on the go is a necessity. But what happens when you are about to play a live show and your traditional tuner suddenly stops working or the battery goes dead? Well, look no further than the phone in your pocket for a solution.
Thanks to increasing technology, musicians are now able to tune their guitars simply by using the mic built into their smartphones. There are a plethora of guitar tuning apps on the market, but not all of these apps are created equal.
Guitarists need a tuner that is reliable and accurate, especially when they make a living from playing music. You can easily Google search for the top guitar tuner apps to download, but you will have to sort through hundreds that all claim they are the best.
After doing some research, reading customer reviews, and testing out a number of different applications ourselves, we have found the 11 Best Guitar Tuner Apps — free to download on both iOS and Android devices. Let’s check them out below:
What better guitar tuner app to trust other than one made by the world’s best-selling guitar brand? Fender Tune is the 5-star rated, completely free precision tuner app for guitar, bass, and ukulele from the most trusted name in guitars, Fender®.
This portable tuner boasts intuitive feedback to help first-timers tune-up in minutes and Fender’s DSP technology to ensure pitch-perfect accuracy for beginners and advanced players alike.
Through the app’s Auto-Mode setting, just pluck a string and the app hears the note and guides you into tune. A string-by-string diagram reflects each selected tuning.
This tuner app has been used and praised by millions of musicians and guitar players for its quick and professionally accurate tuning abilities. It works well for a wide range of instruments: Ukulele, violin, mandolin, flute, guitars, voice, and more.
Simple controls and clear visuals make it great for beginners. Responsive and precise algorithms provide professional-level accuracy for more advanced players.
This tuning app also works as a pitch pipe and can sound a reference note to tune your instrument by ear (which is always a good skill to practice), or use as a target note when you are re-stringing your guitar/violin/etc.
The BOSS Tuner app brings BOSS’s trusted and world-renowned chromatic tuning technology to Android mobile devices. Available as a free download, the convenient app features the familiar look and intuitive display style of the best-selling TU-3 / TU-3W pedal tuner.
Using the mic on your Android device, you can tune a guitar, bass, and other instruments like violin, cello, brass, etc.
GuitarTuna has been downloaded over 100 million times. It’s fast, accurate, easy to use, with 100+ different tunings, a metronome, chromatic tuner, various tools, and more
Start using GuitarTuna by plucking any string on your instrument. The app will use the microphone on your device (no cables needed) to detect the string’s pitch and give you instant tuning feedback.
Tuning has never been easier — or more accurate. GuitarTuna combines award-winning audio recognition technology with noise cancellation to get you the insanely precise tuning result you need.
Ultimate Guitar Tuner works by analyzing the signal from your smartphone’s mic. It will work with any electric guitar, acoustic guitar, or any other string instrument you want with no cable needed.
The interface is simple, intuitive, and will show you in real-time if you are too sharp or too flat. Then, react to every change you make. This makes it very easy for complete beginners to start tuning their instruments
This app isn't just a typical guitar tuner. It's a precise, responsive, and easy-to-use chromatic tuner that will suit all your needs. You can fine-tune your guitar, bass, ukulele, or mandolin in seconds — all from your mobile phone.
Simply Tune is created by JoyTunes, developers of award-winning apps Simply Piano and Simply Guitar. It works with any acoustic or electric guitar, with no experience needed. This app guides you through the tuning process step by step with easy-to-understand visuals, showing you in which order you need to pluck your strings & indicating if the string is tuned right, too high, or too low.
The automatic tuner automatically detects the closest string to the played pitch & the manual tuner tells you how close you are to the string you choose. Not only is this fantastic tuning app completely free to download, but it is also the #1 top-rated tuner app in the world! With many instruments to choose from, you can be up and playing in less than a minute.
Master Guitar Tuner is an easy-to-use application that allows you to tune your guitar quickly. The app includes sets of string sound characteristics for all different types of guitars.
The algorithm has been adapted to recognize the sounds of guitars most effectively. To get the best result of automatic tuning, play the sound on the single string a few times.
The application includes sets of guitar tunes: Standard, Drop D, Open D, Open G, and, Open A. This precision tool also comes with two separate modes and a list of different features that will quickly get your guitar in tune and ready to play.
Pano Tuner offers a simple and straightforward experience to users, making it both advanced player and beginner-friendly. This chromatic tuner is fairly accurate when it comes to detection with a quick and sensitive response.
Thanks to its simplistic approach, Pano Tuner is the preferred app for a lot of guitarists. You can access this app completely free, or purchase the full version for just $1.99 to remove advertisements and enable non-standard tunings to create your very own harmony, and more.
Unlike most apps featured on this list, this guitar tuner app is exclusive to Android devices only. You can use this app to tune guitar, banjo, ukulele, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The app has a needle to denote the frequency and a custom tuning setting that users can access without a premium subscription.
With an impressive 4.7 star rating and over 200k positive customer reviews on the Google Play Store, this is by far one of the best free guitar tuning apps on the market today.
smartChord is one of the most versatile guitar apps available for Android device users. Not only does it include a precise chromatic tuner, but it also integrates many more advanced features like its built-in metronome, chord progressions, setlist maker, fingerpicking training, personal songbook, online editor, lyric viewer, plus so much more.
Though there are some features that can only be accessed through the app’s paid version, 90% of them are completely free. SmartChord is truly the all-in-one app for any beginner or professional guitar player.
Pro Guitar Tuner is a popular chromatic tuner that offers all the features you need in a simple package. You get over 100 tunings and 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.
The app is conveniently available on both iOS and Android devices and is the preferred tuner for professional guitar makers, guitar repair shops, and musicians around the world.
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