MobileSheets

Review by eFreeware

If you play from printed music and own a tablet, MobileSheets is aimed at you. It is a sheet music viewer for Android tablets, sold by Zubersoft for $15.99, and it replaces the binders, folders and loose pages that usually travel with a musician. The app does not supply any music; it organizes the PDFs, images and chord files you already have and opens them in seconds.

What makes it interesting is how much of the performance workflow it tries to cover. Page turns can happen hands-free, annotations can be drawn straight onto the score, and setlists keep a program in order. The app has been on Google Play since April 2015 and has over 100,000 installs with a 4.7 average from 5,427 ratings, which suggests a settled product rather than an experiment.

It is a paid app with no ads and no in-app purchases, so $15.99 is the full cost. The developer is clear that it is built for 7-inch and larger tablets, which is worth remembering before you buy: this is not a phone-first tool.

Turning a tablet into a working score library

The core of the app is library management. It organizes your sheet music and points to files already on the device instead of importing copies. That means you can keep your existing folders and organize them however you like, and the app will work with them where they sit. For anyone with years of PDFs already sorted on a tablet or SD card, that is a much easier starting point than a system that demands its own storage.

Many formats work, including images, PDFs, text and chord pro files. Large PDF songbooks can be split up using CSV index files, which saves you from scrolling through a hundred-page collection to find one tune. Metadata fields are extensive, so songs can be tagged and sorted in detail, and setlists and collections group them for a particular performance or rehearsal.

The developer also offers a free companion application for a PC, which is meant for creating and editing songs. That is a separate download and is not included with the Android app, but it is a sensible division of labor: heavy editing at a desk, reading and performing from the tablet.

Playing from the screen: page turns and marks

Page turning is where a digital score either works or does not. Hands stay free: pedals (Bluetooth or USB), auto-scroll or face gestures flip pages. The last option is unusual, and it is the kind of feature that will either fit your setup or feel like a gimmick, depending on how much you move while playing.

Reading modes are equally flexible. You can view two pages side by side, use half-page turns, or scroll vertically through a score. Cropping, both manual and automatic, removes margins so more music fits on screen. Bookmarks mark sections for quick access, and link points handle repeats and jumps between pages, which matters for anyone working through a piece with a difficult structure.

Annotations cover freeform drawing, basic shapes, text and stamps, so a score can be marked up the way you would with a pencil. Smart buttons can be placed on a score and tied to actions, which turns the page itself into a small control surface. Annotation sharing across devices is part of how the app is used.

Practice tools: audio, metronome and MIDI

Beyond reading, MobileSheets bundles tools that usually live in separate apps. There is a custom audio player for playing tracks alongside a score, with A-B looping and adjustable sizes. There is also a metronome, with sounds and a choice of displays. For practice, having the click, the reference recording and the notation in one place removes a lot of switching between apps.

The app can also communicate with MIDI devices over USB, loading songs or triggering actions. That points toward setups where a keyboard or controller is part of the rig and the tablet responds to it. Chord transposition is supported for text and chord pro files, which is useful when a singer needs a song moved to a different key.

None of this makes the app play your music. The developer is explicit that it cannot play back PDFs, images or text and chord pro files; it displays them and plays audio files. So the audio side is about accompaniment and reference tracks, not about the notation itself sounding back at you.

What you need before the first score appears

Setup starts with your own files. MobileSheets does not include any sheet music, so the library is empty until you point it at your PDFs, images or text and chord files. Your current folder structure on device storage can stay as it is.

The app is designed and optimized for 7-inch and larger tablets, so a large-screen device is the intended home for it. There is a special e-ink version for e-ink devices, available by contacting the developer's support address. The free PC companion app is downloaded separately from the developer's site, not bundled with the Android purchase.

If Google Play reports your device as incompatible, rebooting the tablet and clearing data for Google Play and Google Play Services before trying again is the suggested fix. The developer notes several reboots may be needed. It is a support note rather than a feature, but it is the sort of thing worth knowing before you assume the app will not run on your tablet.

The musician this fits

This is a tool for people who already have a body of sheet music and a reason to carry it around. Performers who work from setlists, teachers who move between pieces in a lesson, accompanists juggling keys and arrangements, and players who mark up scores heavily will find the feature set lines up with what they do. The combination of annotations, link points, bookmarks and setlists is squarely about real playing rather than casual browsing.

It is also a reasonable fit for tablet owners who want one place for scores, audio and a metronome instead of three separate apps. The MIDI support and pedal page turns suggest it is comfortable in a more elaborate setup, but neither is required to use the app for straightforward reading.

The limits are worth weighing. It is a paid app at $15.99 with no ads or in-app purchases, and the tablet requirement rules out phones. If your music is mostly in a format the app does not list, or you want notation playback rather than display, the app's stated scope will not cover it.

A considered purchase for tablet-based players

MobileSheets is a mature, focused app with a price that reflects its audience. The recent changes are maintenance fixes, which is what you want from software you depend on at a rehearsal.

My recommendation is for musicians who read from a tablet and have a library of PDFs, images or chord files to bring with them. The file-linking approach respects how you already store music, the performance features cover page turns and marking up, and the practice tools reduce app switching. The app suits tablet users who want to manage and display their own sheet music.

For a working musician who performs regularly, that is easy to justify; for someone who only occasionally opens a score, the tablet requirement and the need to supply your own files make it a heavier proposition.

What's new in version 3.9.45 (Build 595)

- Fixed issue with annotations not being synchronized when using "Connect Tablets" with book mode when automatically reconnecting at startup - Fixed issue when sharing multiple files using Share->Share Files - Fixed application hang that could occur with audio playback when "Preallocate audio resources" is enabled - Fixed bug when exporting a list of song titles to a local folder - See release notes for full list of changes