Review Insights · App Store
Newzik: Sheet Music Reader
Syncsing - Newzik · 1,398 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
1,398 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 36 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"music"
16 negative reviews mention this · 44% of all complaints
★★★★★ "UI is wanting. It is impossible to keep the controls up when the music is playing or when scrolling through sheets, and it is very difficult to figure out how to bring the controls up, rending this a very poor user interface and experience. I had high ho…" - Mittenles
2
"newzik"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Metronome Update required. I have premium version of this app and I desperately need the accompanist like this but while playing the score, tempo and swing go out of control, especially in newzik webpage, but ipad app also has same problem but relatively lesser. I wi…" - Sonam Achhami
3
"free"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Scam. I tried to put a song for free and won’t let me and have to pay 300 $" - PaulMcCartney ha d
4
"does"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Terrible. I've scanned my music twice and it says it is turning into a pdf but then it doesnt. waste of time" - FrogLemind
5
"playing"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "UI is wanting. It is impossible to keep the controls up when the music is playing or when scrolling through sheets, and it is very difficult to figure out how to bring the controls up, rending this a very poor user interface and experience. I had high ho…" - Mittenles
6
"read"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Metronome Update required. I have premium version of this app and I desperately need the accompanist like this but while playing the score, tempo and swing go out of control, especially in newzik webpage, but ipad app also has same problem but relatively lesser. I wi…" - Sonam Achhami
7
"actually"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Still no dark mode. They haven’t updated the app icon to follow dark app icons either. Newzik has fallen wayyy behind the visually impaired community. I have emailed them many times over the years to add dark mode. It’s literally been available on iOS for more…" - World B. Free
8
"change"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "UI is wanting. It is impossible to keep the controls up when the music is playing or when scrolling through sheets, and it is very difficult to figure out how to bring the controls up, rending this a very poor user interface and experience. I had high ho…" - Mittenles
9
"page"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "UI is wanting. It is impossible to keep the controls up when the music is playing or when scrolling through sheets, and it is very difficult to figure out how to bring the controls up, rending this a very poor user interface and experience. I had high ho…" - Mittenles
10
"terrible"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Terrible. I've scanned my music twice and it says it is turning into a pdf but then it doesnt. waste of time" - FrogLemind
11
"read music"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "stupid app. do you even know how to read music" - Azealea<3
12
"forscore"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "ForScore is better. If I order music for digital download, I should have access to it in a few seconds, even if I need to download an app to get it. I’ve been banging at Newzik and the publisher for a week, and still don’t have what I paid for. This is ridicu…" - Expecting better service
📋 All 36 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
UI is wanting
It is impossible to keep the controls up when the music is playing or when scrolling through sheets, and it is very difficult to figure out how to bring the controls up, rending this a very poor user interface and experience. I had high hopes but not worth the money unless they fix this immediately. Example: music plays with some indeterminate time, you want to change it, but the controls have disappeared from the page, or you want to stop the music- you can’t. The controls are gone from the page. Completely baffling.
Metronome Update required
I have premium version of this app and I desperately need the accompanist like this but while playing the score, tempo and swing go out of control, especially in newzik webpage, but ipad app also has same problem but relatively lesser. I wish they will fix metronome problem and make it effective so that score playing come almost close to real music, if not exact. I understand there can’t be or might not be possible for perfect AI music app, but for the vocalist like me (student), it is essential at least to understand the concept of the music because we have less time to perform, no accompanist (pianist). I hope they will read my message and reply soon. I will certainly raise the star after. Waiting for reply.
Terrible
I've scanned my music twice and it says it is turning into a pdf but then it doesnt. waste of time
Terrible
It can’t read the music and it doesn’t ever have the right tempo i set mine to 144 and it went to 588 it can’t understand what instrument Im playing wether I show it manually or not and it just skips notes Completely
stupid app
do you even know how to read music
Still no dark mode
They haven’t updated the app icon to follow dark app icons either. Newzik has fallen wayyy behind the visually impaired community. I have emailed them many times over the years to add dark mode. It’s literally been available on iOS for more than five years and my son assures me, is VERY easy to code. No more excuses, Newzik!! Start caring about people who can’t see look at bright white screens! Who actually likes those anyway??
Scam
I tried to put a song for free and won’t let me and have to pay 300 $
Weird
I just needed to transpose a score down a step and it reconfigured the whole thing. Dumb.
No
I scanned my first piece and played it back to me perfectly in flute, however when i scanned my second piece it played it in piano and i can’t change it to flute
Did not work
It didn’t work. At all
ForScore is better
If I order music for digital download, I should have access to it in a few seconds, even if I need to download an app to get it. I’ve been banging at Newzik and the publisher for a week, and still don’t have what I paid for. This is ridiculous!
Music
This is the worst app ive ever seen
Keeps downgrading me
I have the monthly and am charged as such but periodically I can’t access my music because it says I have reached my limit of the free account. I don’t have a free account! I know because you charge me!!!
Poor AI functionality
I downloaded to help me figure out what my music sounded like but the AI converter tool was unable to read my music without so many errors I couldn’t parse what the song actually sounded like.
Terrible
Does not show all of the parts purchased. Would not recommend this product.
Hard to use
App is not intuitive and the AI fails.
Ripped me off
Just don’t pay for anything
What????
I already purchased this before. It just updated and my whole library is gone??
Aggressive pay wall
This app used to be good, but now scores I’ve already had in my library are locked behind a paywall. You can’t even perform any basic actions on the app without paying $20 a month. What’s the point of the app being listed at free when you have to still pay up front to use the basic functions, or view sheet music you had access to prior to the pay raise?
Bad after the July first update
I liked it before when I could just use it for free some people can’t afford a 20 dollar subscription especially students
NOT FREE
This app is not free as it claims to be. It is free to download but you literally can’t do anything inside the app unless you pay. Minus well charge to download it from the beginning.
Newzik
Horrible app. Totally stuck on my iPad and unable to get off their page
And no help!! Still searching for a decent app that does what this one is supposed to do. Had to give a rating. Should be zero. Totally irritating and a waste of time!!!
And no help!! Still searching for a decent app that does what this one is supposed to do. Had to give a rating. Should be zero. Totally irritating and a waste of time!!!
Make Account?
Nothing works. Can’t find additional info. Can’t see what the price is. Might be a great app but I’ll never know and I just wasted a bunch of time.
Newzik
This is crazy! No help section ANYWHERE! How do I create ‘set lists’? Really lacking in instructions. I’m saving my money! (But I did enjoy transitioning pieces and actually hear how they should sound). You’ve lost me for now…
Much prefer ForScore
The publishers love this as the content is locked. The app is fine, but all my music is in ForScore so I won’t be buying from BIM anymore.
Not Worth the Hassle.
1. When I add multiple pages, it will always go back to the first page instead of turning the page.
2. The tempo feature is completely jacked up as it will always set the tempo to something not even relatively close to what I had set it to.
3. The tuner does not pick up the correct pitch as I had checked to see if I was in tune and it said I was, but I clearly wasn’t because my Bb played as a C#.
4. It skips measures or incorrectly plays them at a faster pace when there is no tempo change or change in notes (ex: quarter notes to sixteenth notes).
P.S. I do not mean to come off as a d**k, but I just want to give my personal feedback on the app after using it for 2 months.
2. The tempo feature is completely jacked up as it will always set the tempo to something not even relatively close to what I had set it to.
3. The tuner does not pick up the correct pitch as I had checked to see if I was in tune and it said I was, but I clearly wasn’t because my Bb played as a C#.
4. It skips measures or incorrectly plays them at a faster pace when there is no tempo change or change in notes (ex: quarter notes to sixteenth notes).
P.S. I do not mean to come off as a d**k, but I just want to give my personal feedback on the app after using it for 2 months.
Boo. Subscription. Boo
Was a great program. Then they added a bunch of features I don’t use but have to pay for so I can have more than 15 projects. Back to ForScore
Catfished
Can’t import pieces or add parts to existing pieces. Have less than 15 pieces in my library including extra parts or sections. Not paying $20 per year for it now. Too bad the annotations seemed nice. Maybe the latest update didn’t get proper UAT.
Does not allow you to try it out before demanding payment.
This app came highly recommended and, despite the fact that it is not free, I had decided that if it was half as good as it looked, I would purchase it to replace the free sheet music app I currently use.
However, while the trial version allowed me to import sheet music, it would not allow me to access any of the files I imported to test out features. I could not explore any of the menus, make annotations, even turn pages. Every time I click on a file, a pop up appears that tries to sell me the paid version. When I close the window my file also closes.
I had actually planned to purchase this app, but if this is an example of their customer service, I am very hesitant. Just as I will not purchase a car without a test drive, or buy a violin without playing it first, I refuse to pay for a product that does not allow a user trial.
I am extremely disappointed. What could have been an excellent product has turned out to simply another high pressure sales gimmick. Companies need to treat potential customers better than this.
However, while the trial version allowed me to import sheet music, it would not allow me to access any of the files I imported to test out features. I could not explore any of the menus, make annotations, even turn pages. Every time I click on a file, a pop up appears that tries to sell me the paid version. When I close the window my file also closes.
I had actually planned to purchase this app, but if this is an example of their customer service, I am very hesitant. Just as I will not purchase a car without a test drive, or buy a violin without playing it first, I refuse to pay for a product that does not allow a user trial.
I am extremely disappointed. What could have been an excellent product has turned out to simply another high pressure sales gimmick. Companies need to treat potential customers better than this.
Terrible
Won’t let me log in. When I make an account or log in with my Apple ID, it takes hours to even load, and even then it doesn’t let me in. Fix this.
Does not read music
Cannot read music, just lets you draw on photos
Be Careful!
I was trying out the app and decided I didn’t want to pay a monthly premium. The app fails every time I try to delete my account AND when I send a query to app support, the website never sends my query.
Not worth my time
It’s a good app in general, but I use it to hear what my parts in the clarinet sound like and it’s not the right notes. This app plays them a note above what they actually sound like just reading the music normally. It getting really annoying that i can’t hear it exactly how it’s supposed to be played.
Eh
It was alright at first but then I downloaded it to hear the music and the metronome literally started going at 928 bpm
Just one request
I took a leap of faith to try Newzik instead of forScore which has longer history and followers and strongly recommended by many musicians. I do enjoy Newzik and it works well enough.
I noticed that the app crashes sometimes, and when it does, there’s no help - it’ll continue doing so no matter what I do (rebooting the app, the iPad, turn on/off Bluetooth or WiFi etc) unless I change to a different score. It always seems to happen to my longer pieces in the last movement. This never happens during he actual performance, but I’m nervous. Has anyone else experienced this?
I noticed that the app crashes sometimes, and when it does, there’s no help - it’ll continue doing so no matter what I do (rebooting the app, the iPad, turn on/off Bluetooth or WiFi etc) unless I change to a different score. It always seems to happen to my longer pieces in the last movement. This never happens during he actual performance, but I’m nervous. Has anyone else experienced this?
Great if you have a foot pedal
This app is for orchestras and they have put a lot of thought into scrolling in that environment. But if you don’t have a foot pedal with you, you are out of luck. If you use automatic scroll, it reverts to displaying the screen by whole pages and won’t turn to the next page until you are already supposed to be playing it. They should be able to respect the option to scroll line by line while keeping the active measure in the middle, but apparently do not accommodate people who don’t carry a foot pedal at all times.
Also the apo crashes when opening many of the MusicXml files generated by major apps, so I can’t put all my music in.
Also the apo crashes when opening many of the MusicXml files generated by major apps, so I can’t put all my music in.
Sentiment summary
89%
Positive (4-5★)
4%
Neutral (3★)
7%
Negative (1-2★)