Real Piano

Review by eFreeware

Real Piano is a free keyboard app for Android from the developer Bilkon, and it has been on the Play Store since June 2017. It turns a phone or tablet into a playable piano, with a full set of keys, several instrument sounds and a recording option. The main reason to consider it is simple: it costs nothing to install, and it gives you a keyboard you can open whenever a tune comes to mind.

The install figures are hard to ignore. More than 100 million downloads and a 3.7 average across 260,886 ratings suggest a lot of people have tried it and that opinions are mixed rather than uniformly glowing. That combination is typical of a lightweight instrument app that does one job without much fuss.

I would treat Real Piano as a sketchpad rather than a substitute for a real instrument. The developer pitches it as the best piano keyboard on Google Play and promises studio-grade audio, but those are marketing claims; what the app actually offers is a broad, touch-friendly keyboard with a handful of sounds and a way to capture what you play.

A full keyboard on a touchscreen

The keyboard spans 88 keys and seven octaves, which is the same range you would find on a full acoustic piano. On a phone that means keys are small, so the app lets you change the keyboard size using plus and minus keys. Shrinking it fits more octaves on screen at once; enlarging it makes individual keys easier to hit.

Multitouch support matters more than the key count here. It means you can hold a chord with several fingers at the same time instead of playing one note after another, which is the difference between a toy and something you can actually practice on. The developer also says the layout adapts to different screen resolutions, so the same app works on a phone or a tablet.

Five instrument sounds are available: grand piano, synth, organ, acoustic guitar and flute. Switching between them changes the character of the same performance, so a melody written on the piano can be tried on the flute or organ without learning anything new. It is a small set, but it covers the common cases for casual playing.

Recording what you play

The recording mode is the feature that gives the app some staying power. You can capture either the audio as a sound file or the keys you touched, which are two different things: one is a performance you can listen back to, the other is closer to a record of what you played.

Once something is recorded, it can be shared on social media, and it can be played back in a loop. Looping is useful for practice, since a short phrase repeated over and over is easier to learn against than a single pass. Sharing turns a private experiment into something you can send to a friend or teacher.

For a free app, having any recording capability at all is more than I would expect. It is not a studio tool, and I would not plan a serious project around it, but as a way to keep a melody before you forget it, it does the job the developer describes.

Free, with ads

Real Piano is free to download and it contains advertising. Nothing inside the app asks you to spend money on top of the download.

If you are looking for a keyboard to play for long stretches without interruption, that is the main thing to weigh before installing.

The app is rated for Everyone and the developer markets it partly to children, describing it as a way for kids to learn while having fun. That fits the free model, though a parent may want to think about what ads mean for a younger player.

Who will get the most from it

The listed audience covers pianists, keyboardists, performers, artists, amateurs and beginners, which is broad enough to be unhelpful. Narrowing it down, I would expect the app to suit two groups best: complete beginners who want to see whether playing appeals to them before spending money on lessons or an instrument, and casual players who want something to poke at when a tune is stuck in their head.

Children are a natural fit given the simple layout and the instrument variety, and the app is rated for all ages. Someone who already plays seriously will likely find the touchscreen limiting compared with a weighted keyboard, but the 88-key range and multitouch do at least allow real chord shapes.

What appeals to me is the low commitment. There is no purchase, and no reason not to try it if you are curious. The 3.7 average suggests it will not convert everyone, but the install count suggests plenty of people keep it around.

A free keyboard worth trying

Real Piano is a sensible first stop for anyone who wants a piano on their Android device without paying for one. The 88-key layout, seven octaves, multitouch playing and five instrument sounds cover the basics, and the recording mode with sharing and looping adds more than the price suggests.

The reservations are equally clear. Ads are present, the developer's claims about audio quality and being the best keyboard on the platform are claims rather than guarantees, and a 3.7 rating across a huge number of reviews points to a mixed reception. None of that is unusual for a free app of this kind.

If you are a beginner, a parent looking for something musical for a child, or a casual player who wants a keyboard in your pocket, this is worth installing and judging for yourself. If you need a serious practice instrument, the touchscreen will likely get in the way.