The best ocarina apps for beginners, compared
Updated 2026-10-29
For a beginner learning a real 12-hole ocarina, Ocarina Studio (iPhone, $9.99 once) is the most complete app: a 12-lesson course that listens and grades each note. On Android or the web, or for a 6-hole, Ocarina Notes & Tablatures has the biggest tab library and can score your playing, on a subscription. For free tabs on an iPhone with no ads, Ocarina Pocket has 40 songs. Prices and features are as each app's store page showed them when we checked on 29 October 2026, in US dollars.
What makes an ocarina app worth using?
- A good ocarina app knows what you need from it. Apps that listen through the microphone can tell you whether each note on your real ocarina was right. Tab apps show you what to play. Toy apps make the sound themselves, so they can't teach the instrument in your hands.
- A good app fits your ocarina. Most are written for a 12-hole in C. If you play a 6-hole or 4-hole pendant, check before you pay: Ocarina Studio, Ocarina Notes & Tablatures and Ocarina Pocket all leave out the 4-hole.
- A good app charges in a way you're happy with: once, by subscription, or with ads.
- A good app has the songs you want. Ocarina Studio, Ocarina Notes & Tablatures and Ocarina Pocket describe their songs as traditional or public-domain tunes. The Ocarina of Time songs with real-ocarina fingerings are free on our Ocarina of Time page.
Which ocarina app should I pick?
On an iPhone with a 12-hole, pick Ocarina Studio: of these apps it is the one with a full course that grades each note, and its free version already grades 12 songs. Pick Ocarina Notes & Tablatures instead if you're on Android or a computer, play a 6-hole or 10-hole, or want more than 150 songs. For free tabs and a tuner without ads, pick Ocarina Pocket. On a 4-hole, none of these apps covers your ocarina; our charts and songs below do.
| App: where it runs, which ocarinas | Price | Grades you? |
|---|---|---|
| Ocarina Studio: iPhone; 12-hole | Free, or $9.99 once | Yes |
| Ocarina Notes & Tablatures: iPhone, Android, web; 12-, 10-, 6-hole | Free with ads; $2.99 a month or $17.99 a year | Yes |
| Ocarina Pocket: iPhone; 12-, 6-hole | Free | No, tuner only |
| Smule's Ocarina: iPhone; a toy on screen | Free | No |
| Egert's Ocarina: Android; a toy on screen | Free with ads | No, it makes the sound |
| Play Ocarina: a web browser; 12-, 6-, 4-hole | Free | Not yet; tuner only |
Ocarina Studio: the most complete course that listens (iPhone)
Ocarina Studio is built for a 12-hole alto C ocarina. When we checked on 29 October 2026, its App Store page listed "12 playable lessons across four progressive units" and 36 public-domain songs. While you play, it listens and gives "note-by-note clean, timing, off-note and missed results", and when it can't hear well enough it marks the take "Not graded" rather than guess. The free version has a tuner, a coach for holding one note steady (it shows your pitch against a band 10 cents either side of the note), the first 3 lessons and 12 songs with graded takes. Pro unlocks the rest for $9.99; the App Store still lists older monthly and yearly plans, but Playsoloist's terms say "There is no subscription to start. In the United States it is US$9.99 once." It has no ads.
The catch: it runs on iPhone only and teaches the 12-hole only. It first came out in June 2026 and had no App Store ratings yet when we checked, so there are no user reviews to go on.
Ocarina Notes & Tablatures: the biggest tab library (iPhone, Android, web)
Ocarina Notes & Tablatures had more than 150 traditional melodies for 12-, 10- and 6-hole ocarinas when we checked on 29 October 2026, each shown as notes and tabs, with playback at an adjustable speed and an option to change the key. Its training mode does "recognition via the microphone of the music you play on a real world ocarina, and scoring it against the music sheet". It is the one app here on iPhone, Android and the web, which makes it the pick for Android.
The catch is the price. By the app's own description it is "supported by advertisements, and only a handful of melodies are accessible for free"; a subscription unlocks the rest and removes the ads. On iPhone that is $2.99 a month, $7.99 for three months, $12.99 for six or $17.99 a year; Google Play lists in-app purchases from $0.99 to $14.99. On Google Play it was rated 2.6 stars from 273 reviews that day.
Ocarina Pocket: free tabs and a tuner, no ads (iPhone)
Ocarina Pocket had "40 classic public-domain songs written as ocarina tabs" when we checked on 29 October 2026, with animated fingerings, slow playback and repeats, fingering charts for 12-hole and 6-hole ocarinas, and a tuner for your real ocarina. Its page says "No ads. No in-app purchases." You can also play the ocarina on screen by blowing into the phone. Its page describes no grading of your playing. It came out on 2 October 2026 and had 3 App Store ratings.
Can a toy app like Smule's Ocarina replace a real ocarina?
No. Toy ocarina apps make the sound for you. When we checked on 29 October 2026, Smule's Ocarina, free on iPhone, played when you "Blow air into your mic" and touch the holes on screen; it was last updated on 11 May 2017. On Android the most installed ones carry ads: Egert's Ocarina, one of them, showed 500K+ downloads and 2.9 stars from 5.82K reviews. They are fun while you wait for a real one, but since the phone makes the note, they can't teach the breath a real ocarina needs (see breath control).
Where does Play Ocarina fit?
Play Ocarina is a website, not an app: it is free and runs in a current Safari, Chrome or Firefox on a phone or computer. The ocarina tuner listens to your real ocarina, shows how far sharp or flat each note is, and tests your ocarina note by note. The fingering charts cover 12-hole, 6-hole and 4-hole ocarinas, and the songs have tabs for every hole count a tune fits, including the 4-hole songs and a 4-hole chart, which Ocarina Studio, Ocarina Notes & Tablatures and Ocarina Pocket all leave out. Our songs don't listen to you yet: a player that follows you as you play is something we are building now. Nothing the microphone hears is recorded or uploaded.
No ocarina yet? Start with which ocarina to buy. Just got one? Check each note with the tuner, then follow your first week.