Review Insights · App Store
Ultimate Guitar: Chords & Tabs
Ultimate Guitar · 462,854 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
462,854 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 59 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
"every"
25 negative reviews mention this · 42% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Worst app ever for chords. You can’t use it for free instant pop-ups every time you try to pull up a song asking you to buy their program complete waste of time in less you plan on spending money you’re gonna get 1 billion pop-ups every time you click on something ev…" - FadedByLui
2
"subscription"
16 negative reviews mention this · 27% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be great. Every time I open the app I have to go through a dozen different ads. I pay for the pro subscription and still it’s the same. It used to be great. Now I spend half of my time just closing ads even though I pay for pro. Stick to the website…" - Mr. Jozsef
3
"through"
14 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Paid and still have to navigate go through bs offers every time. I hardly use it, because it wants to personalize the app and upsell me everything single time I use it. I can just skip it." - Effoff706
4
"tabs"
14 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Awful, insulting trash. It is unbelievable that this piece of garbage is the best that they can do just full of completely obviously incorrect tabs that are marked the official version. They try to shove their awful stupid lessons and whatever nonsense down your t…" - JaredB425
5
"money"
11 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Worst app ever for chords. You can’t use it for free instant pop-ups every time you try to pull up a song asking you to buy their program complete waste of time in less you plan on spending money you’re gonna get 1 billion pop-ups every time you click on something ev…" - FadedByLui
6
"free"
10 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Worst app ever for chords. You can’t use it for free instant pop-ups every time you try to pull up a song asking you to buy their program complete waste of time in less you plan on spending money you’re gonna get 1 billion pop-ups every time you click on something ev…" - FadedByLui
7
"guitar"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "🤬. When I was using the website on this, it said oh get the app and you’ll have all these parts and features now when I open the app. It tells me oh you gotta pay for premium. I buy premium. Oh, you gotta pay for premium plus what’s next ultim…" - Stumfu(fast. Zgy. You 😎🤓
8
"website"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "🤬. When I was using the website on this, it said oh get the app and you’ll have all these parts and features now when I open the app. It tells me oh you gotta pay for premium. I buy premium. Oh, you gotta pay for premium plus what’s next ultim…" - Stumfu(fast. Zgy. You 😎🤓
9
"features"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "🤬. When I was using the website on this, it said oh get the app and you’ll have all these parts and features now when I open the app. It tells me oh you gotta pay for premium. I buy premium. Oh, you gotta pay for premium plus what’s next ultim…" - Stumfu(fast. Zgy. You 😎🤓
10
"song"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Worst app ever for chords. You can’t use it for free instant pop-ups every time you try to pull up a song asking you to buy their program complete waste of time in less you plan on spending money you’re gonna get 1 billion pop-ups every time you click on something ev…" - FadedByLui
11
"play"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Awful, insulting trash. It is unbelievable that this piece of garbage is the best that they can do just full of completely obviously incorrect tabs that are marked the official version. They try to shove their awful stupid lessons and whatever nonsense down your t…" - JaredB425
12
"been"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t unsubscribe. The app is ok but I have been trying to cancel my subscription for the last 15 minutes and still cannot figure out how to cancel. As is typical of many apps, there is no straightforward way to cancel, so they rely on everyone just being st…" - AppUser05732
📋 All 59 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").
🤬
When I was using the website on this, it said oh get the app and you’ll have all these parts and features now when I open the app. It tells me oh you gotta pay for premium. I buy premium. Oh, you gotta pay for premium plus what’s next ultimate guitar?🤬🤬🤬
Worst app ever for chords
You can’t use it for free instant pop-ups every time you try to pull up a song asking you to buy their program complete waste of time in less you plan on spending money you’re gonna get 1 billion pop-ups every time you click on something every time you open the app the app crashes from how many pop-ups on them trying to sell you their platforms
Horrible app.
The amount of pop ups on startup of this app is ridiculous and absolutely disgusting
Paid and still have to navigate go through bs offers every time
I hardly use it, because it wants to personalize the app and upsell me everything single time I use it. I can just skip it.
Awful, insulting trash
It is unbelievable that this piece of garbage is the best that they can do just full of completely obviously incorrect tabs that are marked the official version. They try to shove their awful stupid lessons and whatever nonsense down your throat constantly. It’s unbelievable how difficult it is just to get to the tab that I want to play because I have to navigate through like eight different prompts asking me about how I want to use their stupid other features that nobody on earth cares about. I just want tabs. That’s it. idiots.
Can’t unsubscribe
The app is ok but I have been trying to cancel my subscription for the last 15 minutes and still cannot figure out how to cancel. As is typical of many apps, there is no straightforward way to cancel, so they rely on everyone just being stuck with a perpetual $50 per year payment. It’s almost fraud, except they will claim there is a “path” to cancellation if you just keep searching through the jungle of legal disclaimers. Be warned!!!
Forced advertisements and annoying usage
The website works fine but I’m getting forced to use the app even if I don’t want to, so they can try to trick you into subscribing the useless premium version.
I don’t know how many times I get sent to the app even though I try to use the web version and press the button for browser.
Also I don’t want to use anything outside of what I know usually works because I know any slight missclick will result in an ad loop. It’s so annoying for something that is supposed to show just user uploaded content.
I don’t know how many times I get sent to the app even though I try to use the web version and press the button for browser.
Also I don’t want to use anything outside of what I know usually works because I know any slight missclick will result in an ad loop. It’s so annoying for something that is supposed to show just user uploaded content.
Stop with the hard sell nag screens
Every time I open the app, despite having already bought the pro version I get u shippable nag screens to buy more stuff. I hate it.
I just want to look at some tabs
You MUST pay to use this app. This stuff used to be free! Users could just upload some tabs and there ya go, BUT NO now it just gets crammed into this stupid app that doesn’t work and wants your money. Kick rocks!
Cash grab
They push you off the website to the app to do basic transpose, and then one you’re in the app they try to upsell you every time you open the app. I might be inclined to send them some money if their sales technique wasn’t so darn annoying.
The survey is making me want to switch apps
Actually so frustrating you can’t opt out
Just let me use the app
The only time I ever use this app is when I don’t know a song that gets called at a jam or gig and every time I’ve done that I’ve had to cycle through a bunch of unskippable questions and prompts trying to get me to spend money. Bogus.
Customer support sucks
I paid for a subscription and every time I try to log in, it tells me I don’t have an active subscription. My bank account begs to differ. I have reached out by email and thru your “ bot” support to no avail. Extremely disappointing. I have tried clearing the cache, I’ve tried different email addresses in case something weird happened, and I’ve tried deleting and reinstalling the app. Crickets from customer support. Future app purchasers be warned.
I got scammed
It said it would give me a 7 day free trial and it charged me $42 dollars
So Many Pop Apps
The app is nearly impossible to use lately with how many pop ups it displays
Nothing but Ads
This app is pure garbage. It used to be OK, but now it is nothing but ads unless you want to pay them $40/year. Stay away from their website too because they try to sell you the app based using tabs created by users that they get for free!
Absolutely sad to see
I started playing guitar 13 years ago, and this place was amazing. Even back then, there was plenty of tablature to look through and get a good feel for a song. Granted, I was 13 at the time, so there was plenty enough for a novice adolescent.
I know the times may have changed, I’ve watched everything else shove more ads in my face while it restricts more features behind a paywall, but you guys are actual freeloaders.
Constantly shoving ads in my face, every single tab, I have to watch, at minimum, a 5 sec ad. (thank god I have a guitar in my hands, that’s probably the only reason I’ve put up with this for so long)
And then, you have the actual nerve to paywall some of the more popular song tabs. Not just the “Official Tabs” but every, single, one. It wouldn’t even be this bad and I wouldn’t be so angry if you guys bothered doing any ####ing work. All of the content on your app is submitted, with no cost to you, by others who use your app.
I hope whoever rep reads, or AI summarizes this review finds a better job. Eat #### and die.
#### you,
-All Of Us
I know the times may have changed, I’ve watched everything else shove more ads in my face while it restricts more features behind a paywall, but you guys are actual freeloaders.
Constantly shoving ads in my face, every single tab, I have to watch, at minimum, a 5 sec ad. (thank god I have a guitar in my hands, that’s probably the only reason I’ve put up with this for so long)
And then, you have the actual nerve to paywall some of the more popular song tabs. Not just the “Official Tabs” but every, single, one. It wouldn’t even be this bad and I wouldn’t be so angry if you guys bothered doing any ####ing work. All of the content on your app is submitted, with no cost to you, by others who use your app.
I hope whoever rep reads, or AI summarizes this review finds a better job. Eat #### and die.
#### you,
-All Of Us
Terrible
It did not let me play any songs and I just would not recommend if you don’t want to play 5000 dollars a month
Garbage app
Good luck ever using the features on this app without paying and/or getting a “offer” pop up every five seconds. App is useless if you have to pay for features like the ability to transpose chords (the whole reason I downloaded the app). Annoying “personalization” feature that is unskippable the moment you open the app. Want you to pay for a subscription literally every ten seconds, can’t click on anything without being told you have to pay money. Just use it on your computer where the features are free. Complete garbage app. Thanks for nothing!
Way too many ads now
You need to spend like 3 mins every time waiting for ads…. And then they keep trying to upsell you on premium features after watching ads the whole time
Ruined it
Absolutely flooded with ads. The app was great and I practically can’t see a tab without seeing 5 ads
Holy popups
Jesus Christ fire whoever the hell thinks that the best way to get people to use your stupid AI mode/buy a class is to spam users with an unskippable questionnaire every time they open the app. It’s beyond annoying and in a time where every app is begging for a subscription, I’d rather have to learn every single song I play by ear than send a penny to this company. Fix your app you chimps.
This would be five stars if not for the SURVEYS
Listen. Ultimate Guitar. I pay you MONEY. On an ongoing basis. For a subscription! You have *made the sale*! Is it too much to ask to just be able to open your app and immediately be able to use the product I pay for? Y’know… the tabs? Instead of EVERY SINGLE TIME being forced to sit through a stupid “habits” survey that’s trying to upsell me something? Its MADDENING. I’m very close to canceling my subscription. Your constant desire to have more of my money makes me want to give you none at all.
UPDATE: UG responded and says it’s to “improve user experience”? Come ON, guys. At least be honest. It’s a mandatory survey that ends with an upsell. I just took another star off my review. Do better.
UPDATE: UG responded and says it’s to “improve user experience”? Come ON, guys. At least be honest. It’s a mandatory survey that ends with an upsell. I just took another star off my review. Do better.
Apple ID does not work on a Macbook
I bought guitar ultimate pro using my Apple subscription. The app opens up on my iPhone and my iPad but when I try to use my Mac computer, it does not allow me to login using my Apple ID. It insisted I set up a new account. I am very dissatisfied with the app on the iPhone and iPad because the music is so small. I can’t read it.
Terrible- Songster & Yousician are way better
This app is so confusing, hard to use, and the font is tiny. Plus there are tons of incorrect tabs. Songster and Yousician are a million times better than UG.
This sucks
I downloaded this app to help learn guitar and all I have to do is I play one thing and then every single thing is premium what if I don’t wanna pay premium then I have to delete it then I tried another app and it didn’t work so every single thing I swear is freaking it’s premium. It’s all premium. That’s why I think this app sucks.
[PLEASE READ] TOTAL SCAM. To access ANY of what they adversity requires 3 separate subscriptions
I have been a user of this app and website for years, and only recently got a free account. The free version of this app has NOTHING on it. You need to pay a subscription to access official tabs. You need a separate subscription to access songbooks. You need ANOTHER separate subscription to access any sort of lessons. All you can access without money are community-made tabs, and nothing else. There are pop-ups everywhere, and ads cover approximately half of the screen. On top of this, they will straight up lie to you about what your subscription entails, and their customer support team is abysmal. I purchased a subscription today and immediately cancelled it, because the official Ultimate Guitar website told me I would be getting songbooks, official tabs, and lessons. I was only given official tabs. When I contacted customer support to receive a refund after cancelling within an hour, the individual whom I was receiving help said that I never cancelled my subscription. This is the SAME individual who sent me the confirmation of my cancellation. This app is NOT WORTH IT unless you pay for all of the subscriptions.
Death by Pop-Ups
Every time I open the app I’m greeted by prompts to buy extra tutorials or answer questions on my playing progress. I don’t need the constant upselling.
If these features are valuable, bundle it with the subscription and let people choose whether to use them.
Right now it feels like I’m being nickel-and-dimed after already paying for access.
The core app is good but the constant nagging is becoming a distraction. So much of a distraction that here I am writing app reviews instead of playing guitar.
If these features are valuable, bundle it with the subscription and let people choose whether to use them.
Right now it feels like I’m being nickel-and-dimed after already paying for access.
The core app is good but the constant nagging is becoming a distraction. So much of a distraction that here I am writing app reviews instead of playing guitar.
Waste of time
Makes you go through the entire account setup process and then tries to force you to sign up for a paid subscription. Nothing free about this app.
App needs too many bug fixes
The chords function on each song is my go to. The app has recently been plagued by bugs that prevent the song from scrolling. Why can’t the software reliably scroll through songs? Ugh.
Regret
Stop making me jump through 20 hoops and speak the secret password to access a service I’m already paying for. You’re only getting garbage data from your surveys because I just click through them as fast as possible.
HATE THE NON-STOP UPSELLING
I like the app but it drives me nuts to have to wade through multiple screens of upselling every other time I open my it up. I have a paid subscription! Stop already!!!!!
Spam spam spam
Can’t even read tabs you click on google. Way better NOT to install the app. If you do get ready to be asked to subscribe every time you do anything. Literally trash. Run.
On open insanity… questions after questions
I deleted the app today because when I’m in the mood to play I open the app and I’m ready to PLAY but you force 5,674 questions that last forever and mess up the creative flow and heat of the moment.. a real buzz kill. Stop listening to “super smart product people” and listen to us, “let us open the app, find tabs, and play all within seconds and be happy and then you’ll make us happy…” but since you sided with the evil product team with “super smart ideas” I delete the app and I’ll go back to general tab web searches.. geez Man. In the words of internet meme culture “daddy chill”
It’s just not a good app
Hello I am a beginner at guitar and when it said that it would help me learn I thought it would be a great app because AT FIRST it doesn’t ask you for money but then when you click to look at lessons it’s 34.99 on top of another 34.99 to even access anything. And yes I know theres no such thing as free lessons on any app but I already paid 34.99 so why do I have to pay another 34.99 to access something I thought I was getting in the first place.
Too many pop ups
I already have a subscription and have fully paid, yet the ap makes me walk thru 10 screens of junk without an escape. I just want to go straight to tabs without all the upsell. Very very very annoying and discourages me from using the app.
Beware! Scammy!
The free trial is a joke they will charge you the maximum plan amount before your trial is up and Apple won’t refund!
Too many intro
I stop my subscription till this year. It’s becoming too annoying. Every time I open the app, it always ask me to set preferences/ likes and to subscribe extra stuff aside from my yearly subscription. That’s it I’m fed up with this. Found a better one and it’s free. Why can’t I not go straight to searching the song I want to play. It’s getting so ridiculous.
Best source of tabs but...
Can't use it without taking an unskippable survey? Awful
Immediately charged me $99 for trial
I tried to see what the pro version offered and started a trial…they then without waiting the 7 days charged me $99 and basically locked me out of my apple App Store bc it didn’t go through right away and even though I cancelled the trial seconds after that, I’m still being charged. Absolutely ridiculous and scammy. Will tell everyone to avoid them at all costs.
Ads everywhere and takes over your screen
Helpful for tabs but ads infest any time you want to utilize anything. Two ads that claimed to be skippable took over my screen and wouldn’t let me look at tabs until I watched them.
Last update lost ability to use Apple Music
The last update to the iPad app has lost access to Apple Music catalog. All I can see now is videoed. Please fix this.
Sucks
Every time I subscribe it works for a week then tells me I’m not subscribed making me repay even though I pay for a whole year absolutely asinine
This app used to be good...
Now every time I want to use it it's asking me questions and all this stupid stuff I have to go through just to use it... can't count on it in a live situation or even practice when others are waiting on me. Takes 5 minutes just to get through to be able to use it
Too many ads
Money Hungry
not good for learning, great if you already know how to play
it’s great if all you’re trying to do is play along to the actual band but if you’re trying to learn a song from scratch you’re way better off on youtube, don’t waste the money unless you just want to jam along to a song you already know
No auto scroll
I refuse to give this app anything but a one start until they put the auto scroll feature on EVERY tab at least for pro subscribers like myself. They keep taking it away and im honestly fed up about it and ready to switch apps
App is borderline unusable
There are so many ads and pop ups that open every time you open the app or pull up a new tab. The subscription to remove them is way too expensive.
Used to be great
Every time I open the app I have to go through a dozen different ads. I pay for the pro subscription and still it’s the same.
It used to be great. Now I spend half of my time just closing ads even though I pay for pro. Stick to the website.
It used to be great. Now I spend half of my time just closing ads even though I pay for pro. Stick to the website.
Frustrating
Once you’re in, this app is fine. But nearly every-time I open it, it makes me go through screens as if you’ve never been there, even though I am logged in. And ads for its other products. As a paying member, I shouldn’t have to go through this to get to my app. Most likely canceling subscription and moving in after this year strictly based on this app.
+ 9 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
94%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)