<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" ><generator uri="https://jekyllrb.com/" version="3.9.1">Jekyll</generator><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" /><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" /><updated>2026-05-21T17:07:06+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/feed.xml</id><title type="html">SongSheet Pro | Posts_en_us</title><subtitle>Chord Charts and Guitar Tabs for iPad and iPhone
</subtitle><entry><title type="html">Improvements to Document Conversion</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2025/11/21/pdf-improvements.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="Improvements to Document Conversion" /><published>2025-11-21T09:00:00+10:00</published><updated>2025-11-21T09:00:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2025/11/21/pdf-improvements</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2025/11/21/pdf-improvements.html">&lt;p&gt;One of the things we’ve been working on recently is improving the conversion process. For a long time, SongSheet Pro has allowed the import of several different file formats, including PDF, Microsoft Word, and RTF documents. Upon importing such files, users have been able to view them but not edit them. They can be used in performances, but are limited to using the auto scroll feature, with or without a backing track. Themes cannot be used to modify the text of PDFs and Word documents. Editing is limited to modifying the title, composer, or other metadata. SongSheet Pro offered the ability to convert these documents into editable songs, but the results were not always perfect.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With this week’s release of SongSheet Pro version 2025.18 this changes. Many updates have been made to the conversion of PDFs, RTFs, and Word documents into editable songs. These include:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Adding the ability to scan images for text using OCR (optical character recognition), rather than solely relying on the (sometimes non-existent) text data&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Adding the ability to choose between extracting text data and using OCR to find text&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Adding the ability to convert RTFs to editable songs&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Improving the algorithm for detecting the exact location of chords in relation to the lyric text&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Improving the detection of metadata including capo, tempo, and more&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Adding detection of preset stanza name abbreviations&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The result is a much more accurate and reliable conversion process, which the following examples demonstrate.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;amazing-grace-improved-chord-positioning&quot;&gt;Amazing Grace: Improved chord positioning&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Files such as these were particularly challenging - centered text, a proportional-width font, and lots of spaces to correctly position the chords visually. SongSheet Pro’s old method of “counting spaces” to position the chords was just not up to the task.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;table&gt;
  &lt;thead&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;Song, pre-conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;Old conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;New conversion&lt;/th&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/thead&gt;
  &lt;tbody&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace.png&quot; alt=&quot;Amazing Grace source PDF before conversion&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace%20Old.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace%20Old.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace%20Old.png&quot; alt=&quot;Amazing Grace result from previous conversion engine&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace%20New.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace%20New.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/Amazing%20Grace%20New.png&quot; alt=&quot;Amazing Grace result from improved conversion engine&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;in-the-bleak-midwinter-improved-stanza-detection&quot;&gt;In The Bleak Midwinter: Improved stanza detection&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro now recognizes more ways that stanza names are written. In this example, stanza names are surrounded by square brackets.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;table&gt;
  &lt;thead&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;Song, pre-conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;Old conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;New conversion&lt;/th&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/thead&gt;
  &lt;tbody&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter.png&quot; alt=&quot;In The Bleak Midwinter source document before conversion&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter%20Old.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter%20Old.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter%20Old.png&quot; alt=&quot;In The Bleak Midwinter result from previous conversion engine&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter%20New.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter%20New.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/In%20The%20Bleak%20Midwinter%20New.png&quot; alt=&quot;In The Bleak Midwinter result from improved conversion engine&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;ill-see-you-in-my-dreams-using-text-recognition-to-extract-lyrics-and-chords&quot;&gt;I’ll See You In My Dreams: Using text recognition to extract lyrics and chords&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While many files can be converted using the text extraction method, sometimes some of the text is only “visible” to the OCR engine. The new version of SongSheet Pro has a toggle to force using OCR to parse a document, if the text-extraction doesn’t produce the expected results.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;table&gt;
  &lt;thead&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;Song, pre-conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;Old conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;New conversion&lt;/th&gt;
      &lt;th&gt;OCR conversion&lt;/th&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/thead&gt;
  &lt;tbody&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I%27ll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams.png&quot; alt=&quot;I'll See You In My Dreams source document before conversion&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I%27ll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20Old.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20Old.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20Old.png&quot; alt=&quot;I'll See You In My Dreams result from previous conversion engine&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I%27ll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20New.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20New.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20New.png&quot; alt=&quot;I'll See You In My Dreams result from improved conversion engine&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I%27ll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20OCR.png&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20OCR.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2025-pdf-improvements/I'll%20See%20You%20In%20My%20Dreams%20OCR.png&quot; alt=&quot;I'll See You In My Dreams result using OCR conversion mode&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;scanning-paper-documents-to-text&quot;&gt;Scanning paper documents to text&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The addition of OCR to SongSheet Pro allows you to scan paper documents and convert them to text in just a couple of easy steps. This is particularly useful for converting lyrics and chords from songbooks, song sheets, and other printed materials.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To see how powerful (and easy!) this new feature is, check out the video below.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;responsive-video&quot;&gt;
  &lt;iframe src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/po4xa9QmE-k&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;summary&quot;&gt;Summary&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro now has greatly improved document conversion capabilities. Converting PDFs, RTFs, and Word documents into editable songs is now far more accurate and reliable with better detection of stanzas and chord positioning. With the addition of OCR, you can now scan paper documents and convert them to text, making it even easier to convert your songbooks and song sheets into editable songs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Now that you’ve seen what this new conversion process can do, go on and try it for yourself! If you find some really good conversions, make sure to let everyone know!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;But that isn’t where we are going to stop. We have many more ideas on how to improve document conversions, so keep an eye out for more updates in the future! And if you have ideas of your own or find documents where the conversion doesn’t work as well as you think it should, please send us an email, and we will do our best to put these improvements into a future update.&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">SongSheet Pro now has greatly improved document conversion capabilities. Converting PDFs, RTFs, and Word documents into editable songs is now more accurate and reliable with better detection of stanzas and chord positioning!</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">2024 in Review and plans for 2025</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2025/02/18/update.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="2024 in Review and plans for 2025" /><published>2025-02-18T09:00:00+10:00</published><updated>2025-02-18T09:00:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2025/02/18/update</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2025/02/18/update.html">&lt;h2 id=&quot;a-look-back-at-2024&quot;&gt;A look back at 2024&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;2024 was a busy year of SongSheet updates - 23 in all! While continuing to work towards cloud-based sync and a macOS version, I made a lot of improvements along the way. Here’s a summary of the key changes:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;user-interface-enhancements&quot;&gt;User Interface Enhancements&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The navigation model in the Library was modernized, making it easier to find and navigate between songs and set lists, especially on wide iPad displays. SongSheet also now remembers the last selected song list or set list upon relaunching.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The interface for editing themes was completely redesigned, bringing all options together on a single screen. Not only does the new design make it easier to edit themes, it makes room for some great new features coming down the track.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Additionally, the user interface for picking stanza names was refreshed, making it more intuitive for users when editing songs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;feature-requests&quot;&gt;Feature Requests&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A new “Feature Requests” view was introduced, allowing users to stay updated on in-progress and planned features, submit new feature requestsand even vote on feature requests. This has been extremely well received - I’ve received tons of great feedback and suggestions, and users have been voting for features they’d like to see. I’m feeding this all back into my development plans.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;importing-capabilities&quot;&gt;Importing Capabilities&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet gained the ability to import Word (.doc and .docx) documents, making it easier to import songs from an existing library of songs you may have built up over the years. For some file types, additional metadata can also be specified at import time, making it easier to keep your Library organised.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;set-list-enhancements&quot;&gt;Set List Enhancements&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I added an option to shuffle songs within a set list, as well as the ability to add song numbering to set lists. (I also built out the ability to keep set lists sorted by song title, artist, etc, but it requires a database migration, so I haven’t released it yet.)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;language-support&quot;&gt;Language Support&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Greek and Portuguese were added as supported languages, broadening accessibility for non-English speaking users.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;performance-improvements-and-bug-fixes&quot;&gt;Performance Improvements and Bug Fixes&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Of course, along with new features, comes the usual “performance improvements and bug fixes”. I’ve been progressively working through the entire app as I work on cloud sync, and this has given me a lot of opportunities to polish, enhance, and fix bugs (especially a few gnarly edge-cases). Overall SongSheet is in much better shape than it was at the start of the year.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;looking-forward-through-2025&quot;&gt;Looking forward through 2025&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Cloud sync was a big focus for 2024, and 2025 will be no different. As I’ve been working on it, I’ve realised that there are a few more things that need to be added to make it work well. I also underestimated how much legacy code was holding me back from adding some of the features I’d planned. Apple forcing my hand in raising the minimum supported iOS version to 15 has given me a lot of opportunities to simplify and modernise SongSheet’s code, so I’ve been taking advantage of that. This has meant slower overall progress than I’d hoped, but the end result should be more reliable and easier to maintain.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;let-me-know-what-you-think&quot;&gt;Let me know what you think!&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As always, I’m always keen to hear what you think of SongSheet - what’s good, what’s bad, suggestions for a new feature or improvement? &lt;a href=&quot;/support.html&quot;&gt;Drop me a line!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">A retrospective of SongSheet's development in 2024 and what I have planned for 2025.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">2023 - Year in Review</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2023/12/21/year-in-review.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="2023 - Year in Review" /><published>2023-12-21T16:00:00+10:00</published><updated>2023-12-21T16:00:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2023/12/21/year-in-review</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2023/12/21/year-in-review.html">&lt;h2 id=&quot;brief-history&quot;&gt;Brief history&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet has, up until recently, been a side project for me. It was tough balancing family, full-time work, and developing and supporting SongSheet.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Up until mid-2020, SongSheet was a paid-up-front application. This was common in the App Store in the early days (SongSheet launched 11 years ago in November, 2012!). Over the years, the market changed, and it became more and more difficult to sell SongSheet this way. It also became clear that if I ever wanted to turn this into a full-time business, the amount I was charging for the app was not sustainable. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back came in 2020 with the pandemic: sales dropped dramatically when musicians could no longer perform. So I &lt;a href=&quot;/blog/2020/08/20/free-to-try.html&quot;&gt;made the decision&lt;/a&gt; to re-think the whole pricing structure, introducing a (short) free trial with subscriptions, while maintaining a lifetime purchase option at a more realistic price.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Making the above change turned out to be the right move. For the last three years the SongSheet “business” has steadily grown again, to the point where, in June this year, I had the confidence (and savings!) to be able to quit my full-time job in order to work full-time on this instead. Although at this stage we are still relying to a certain extent on our savings buffer, I am feeling pretty good about SongSheet’s future. Having time (and brain space!) to work on it has made a &lt;em&gt;huge&lt;/em&gt; difference.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;2023&quot;&gt;2023&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In the first half of the year I was only able to release a single (small) update. In the second half of the year I released 14 updates! (The current version at the time of writing this blog post is 2023.15.)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Besides the usual fixes, etc, to keep SongSheet running well on modern iPads and iPhones, SongSheet has seen quite a few other changes:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;The minimum supported version of iPadOS/iOS was raised to 12. While this was forced by Apple themselves, being able to (finally!) drop support for iOS 9, 10, and 11 has given me a lot of opportunities to simplify SongSheet’s code.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;The sharing/export of data from SongSheet was completely reworked to seemlessly fit in with the latest OS patterns.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;I (finally!) implemented multiple file selection in the import browser.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;The code for driving the connection between SongSheet and the Remote app was completely rebuilt to improve reliability.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Support was added for opening SongSheet in multiple independent windows on iPads that are able to run iPadOS 13 or later.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You can see a full list of user-visible changes for the year in the &lt;a href=&quot;/manual/songsheet-pro-release-notes-2023.html&quot;&gt;2023 Release Notes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;whats-coming-early-in-2024&quot;&gt;What’s coming early in 2024&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That’s not all I’ve been working on, though. I have been doing a &lt;em&gt;lot&lt;/em&gt; of work behind the scenes to get SongSheet ready for two highly requested things:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Cloud-based sync. This means that if you use multiple devices you will be able to have the &lt;em&gt;same&lt;/em&gt; song library on all of them without having to manually send songs and set lists between them. I already have this working in a basic sense. However there are a few things yet to complete before it’s ready for public release. (e.g. being able to turn sync on/off, how duplicates are handled between devices, etc). I’m optimistic that I’ll release this sometime in the first quarter of 2024.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A version for macOS. Again, this is mostly working already, and I hope to release it at the same time (or shortly after) cloud-based sync is available.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I’m really looking forward to being able to show off what I’ve been working on there!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;looking-further&quot;&gt;Looking further&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There are lots of other things coming down the pipeline - one thing I’m really keen to do is add more formatting options for songs. Annotations. Paging mode. Song collections. There’s so much for me to do! (You should see my todo list… I’ve only scratched the surface here!)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;let-me-know-what-you-think&quot;&gt;Let me know what you think!&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As always, I’m always keen to hear what you think of SongSheet - what’s good, what’s bad, suggestions for a new feature or improvement? &lt;a href=&quot;/support.html&quot;&gt;Drop me a line!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">A retrospective of SongSheet's development in 2023.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">New sharing flows in version 2023.6</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2023/08/22/version-2023.6.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="New sharing flows in version 2023.6" /><published>2023-08-22T16:00:00+10:00</published><updated>2023-08-22T16:00:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2023/08/22/version-2023.6</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2023/08/22/version-2023.6.html">&lt;p&gt;For the 2023.6 release of SongSheet Pro, how songs and set lists are shared has been completely re-worked. The optimisations include:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;using the iOS share sheet for easy sharing of SongSheet format files&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;a single path for exporting your data in other formats&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;removal of confusing overlapping menu options&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;sharing-a-song&quot;&gt;Sharing a song&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Tap the share button in the song view, and you will go directly to the standard share sheet, from which you can immediately Air Drop, email, etc, your song in SongSheet’s  format.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Old: sharing a song&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;Tap the share button to see the share menu.
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-share-song-menu.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-share-song-menu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Previous song share menu in SongSheet Pro&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Select “Send Song” to see the format chooser.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Select the format to see the share sheet.
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-export-song-share-sheet.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-export-song-share-sheet.png&quot; alt=&quot;Old - export share sheet&quot; width=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;New: sharing a song&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-song-share-sheet.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-song-share-sheet.png&quot; alt=&quot;New - share song&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Exporting the song in another format (e.g. ChordPro or PDF) is just as easy as before. From the action menu, select the “Export As” action, select your format, then how to send or export it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-export-song-format-chooser.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-export-song-format-chooser.png&quot; alt=&quot;New - export song format chooser&quot; width=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Did you know?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Instead of tapping a format to see the share sheet, you can long-press on it, which enables you to drag it to another app (e.g. Files). When you drop it, the song is exported to the selected destination as a file in the chosen format.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;sharing-set-lists&quot;&gt;Sharing set lists&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The same changes have also been made when sharing a set list.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In previous versions, when you select a set list and tap the share button, you would first see a menu with the options “Send Set List”, “Export Set List”, and “Print”.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Now you will see the share sheet, with “Export As” and “Print” actions. The share sheet enables you to Air Drop your set list to a nearby device, email it to another SongSheet user, save it to Files for cloud backup, etc.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Old: sharing a set list&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-share-set-list-menu.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-share-set-list-menu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Old - share setlist menu&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Tap Send Set List&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Choose the format&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Choose how to send it&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;New: sharing a set list&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-share-set-list-menu.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-share-set-list-menu.png&quot; alt=&quot;New - share setlist menu&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;exporting-your-song-library&quot;&gt;Exporting your song library&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The cleanup for sharing your song library is even more dramatic.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Previously, there were a plethora of confusing options. All of the options, however, led to three outcomes - sharing your songs in SongSheet’s native format, creating a PDF (for printing or exporting), or creating a CSV (comma separated values) file containing metadata for all your songs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The new interface cleans this all up, so that sharing by default will let you send/export your songs in SongSheet’s format.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Old: sharing your song library&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-share-songs-menu.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_old-share-songs-menu.png&quot; alt=&quot;Old - share songs menu&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;New: sharing your song library&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-share-songs-menu.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-share-songs-menu.png&quot; alt=&quot;New - share songs menu&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Selecting “Export As” enables you to share your song library as a PDF or list of song metadata in CSV format.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-export-songs-format-chooser.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2023.6_new-export-songs-format-chooser.png&quot; alt=&quot;New - export songs format chooser&quot; width=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Did you know?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
To control what is exported when you select the PDF option, open SongSheet’s built-in settings view (tap the gear icon in the Library view), and enable or disable “Include songs when printing set lists or creating set list PDFs”.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;send-vs-export&quot;&gt;Send vs Export&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You may be asking - in the older versions, why were there both “Send” and “Export” actions that seemed to mostly do the same things?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The first lines of code for SongSheet were written in late 2010 when iOS 4 was the new kid on the block and the original iPad was less than 6 months old. SongSheet went live on the App Store in November 2012, not long after iOS 6 became available. Back then, there was a difference between “sending” and “exporting” files. To export, you would open a sheet to open your file in another app, and “Sending” the file was via email only. Air Drop only became available when iOS 7 was released.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Over time, the iOS share sheet design evolved to be a comprehensive one-stop shop for sending and exporting your data, but SongSheet’s design maintained (for far too long) the old paradigm. As the share sheets gained more functionality, the distinction between “send” and “export” essentially disappeared. SongSheet’s new design finally reflects that.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;the-future-of-sharing&quot;&gt;The future of sharing&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;These changes not only bring SongSheet’s file sharing in line with modern iOS patterns, they also lay the foundation for other features.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I have been working on cloud-based syncing as well as a macOS version. Additionally I have plans for other collaborative features such as band sync, and shared editing of songs and set lists. These last features will fit very neatly into the new share sheets.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;let-me-know-what-you-think&quot;&gt;Let me know what you think!&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As always, I’m always keen to hear what you think of these and other changes I have been making to SongSheet. Do you have a suggestion for a new feature or improvement? &lt;a href=&quot;/support.html&quot;&gt;Drop me a line!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">How you share songs and set lists has been reworked and simplified in SongSheet Pro version 2023.6.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">SongSheet Pro 2022.4 released</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2022/05/21/version-2022.4.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="SongSheet Pro 2022.4 released" /><published>2022-05-21T11:00:00+10:00</published><updated>2022-05-21T11:00:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2022/05/21/version-2022.4</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2022/05/21/version-2022.4.html">&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro version 2022.4 has been released on the App Store. It represents a major
overhaul of the Library view and how you can organise your songs:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;tags&quot;&gt;Tags&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The old icon-based tagging system has been replaced with new text-based tags. Now you can apply any tags you want to your songs. Create categories using tags, and see them on your Library screen.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When viewing a song, tap the new tag icon in the top navigation bar to edit the song’s tags:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2022.4_song-tags.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2022.4_song-tags.png&quot; alt=&quot;SongSheet Pro Tags Editor&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Genre has also been folded in to this new tagging system; any genres you specified previously will now appear as tags.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The Library view has been updated to add a new Tags section that lists all tags that have been created.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2022.4_library.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2022.4_library.png&quot; alt=&quot;SongSheet Pro Library View&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;p&gt;From this view you can rename tags, delete them, and create new tags. Drag and drop songs from the song list onto a tag to add that tag to those songs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Tags can be merged, too. Just rename a tag to the same name as another, and SongSheet will merge the two tags. This is especially handy if you discover you have accidentally created the same tag with different spellings.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;sorting-and-filtering&quot;&gt;Sorting and filtering&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The bottom filter bar has been removed and a new filter button has been added next to the Sort button. All filtering options are now available on iPhone as well as iPad.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The work here lays the foundation for a more advanced filtering system to come in future updates.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset=&quot;/assets/blog/2022.4_filter.webp&quot; type=&quot;image/webp&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/assets/blog/2022.4_filter.png&quot; alt=&quot;SongSheet Pro Filter&quot; /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;other-improvements&quot;&gt;Other improvements&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There are new “Favorites” and “Flagged” collections in the Library view. You can quickly flag or mark a song as a favorite in the song view, or by dragging songs from a song list into the relevant collection. Song lists now show when songs are flagged or favorited.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And a couple more:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;the Library view’s list of set lists no longer displays set list duration (this could slow down the responsiveness of the user interface when there were a lot of set lists, or set lists contained a large number of songs)&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;icons have been updated across the app to make them more consistent&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/support.html&quot;&gt;Let me know what you think!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">SongSheet Pro version 2022.4 has been released with a new tagging system and updated search and filtering.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">SongSheet Pro now comes with a free trial</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2020/08/20/free-to-try.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="SongSheet Pro now comes with a free trial" /><published>2020-08-20T14:30:00+10:00</published><updated>2020-08-20T14:30:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2020/08/20/free-to-try</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2020/08/20/free-to-try.html">&lt;p&gt;Since its first release in November 2012, SongSheet has required an upfront purchase in order to use.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Now, if you are completely new to SongSheet Pro, you can download it for free, and try it &lt;strong&gt;obligation free&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Note the “obligation free” part. When you start a trial, you are &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; committing to any kind of subscription or purchase. There is nothing to cancel, and no automatic charge to your credit card when the trial ends. Don’t like SongSheet Pro? Just delete the app and move on. But I hope you discover you like it :)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Add some songs, create a set list, practise with it, see how it goes in a live performance.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Once the trial is up (or before, if you decide SongSheet Pro is right for you) you can choose to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You don’t like subscriptions? You’re also covered - you can purchase a lifetime unlock instead!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Finally, once your trial ends or your subscription expires, you don’t lose access to anything you have added to the app. You can still view all your songs, export them, print them, etc. Without an active subscription (or lfietime purchase) you won’t be able to add new content, or edit existing songs and set lists.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;“What if I’m an existing user who paid up front for this app?”. Glad you asked - there is a &lt;em&gt;completely optional&lt;/em&gt; upgrade option, which will grant access to some &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; features as they are released. You still have access to all the features you love, and will still get new updates, without having to pay again.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you have any questions or comments about this, &lt;a href=&quot;/support.html&quot;&gt;please let me know&lt;/a&gt; and I’ll do my best to answer them!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">Download SongSheet Pro and try it for free before committing to a purchase.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">Introducing Subscriptions</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2020/06/26/introducing-subscriptions.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="Introducing Subscriptions" /><published>2020-06-26T14:30:00+10:00</published><updated>2020-06-26T14:30:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2020/06/26/introducing-subscriptions</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2020/06/26/introducing-subscriptions.html">&lt;p&gt;It’s been a while since I last wrote, but I haven’t been idle in that time!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Since my last blog post, when I announced that SongSheet Pro was becoming a universal app and the old iPhone version retired, SongSheet has gained:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;drag and drop reordering of songs on iPhone&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;search/filtering of songs on iPhone&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;the foundations for major new features with the song database updated to support song tagging and song collections&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Of course, there have been regular bug fix updates, too.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;However, progress has been much slower than I would have liked. There are so many things I’d like to add to SongSheet Pro, and many many feature requests from users of the app. The problem is, I cannot currently afford to make this my full time job.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In April last year (has it been that long already?!) I wrote on SongSheet’s mailing list asking for feedback on some changes I was thinking of making to SongSheet’s business model. Many generously took time to reply.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Today I’m announcing the changes that will be made, which will hopefully put SongSheet Pro on a much more secure footing. These changes will happen in two stages.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;stage-1&quot;&gt;Stage 1&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The app remains paid up front, but I’m adding an &lt;em&gt;optional&lt;/em&gt; monthly subscription. This subscription effectively functions as a “tip jar” which will help fund development of new features.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you don’t subscribe, you won’t lose anything. You will still have full access to all the features you currently use and love. You’ll still get bug fixes.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The subscription offered during this phase is what I call the “early bird” subscription, and will be cheaper for paid users than the subscription offered when SongSheet Pro reaches Stage 2 (sometime in the next few months).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;stage-2&quot;&gt;Stage 2&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro will transition from being paid up front, to free to try, with an ongoing subscription required for new users.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;How this will affect you will depend on &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; you first became a SongSheet Pro user:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you &lt;strong&gt;bought&lt;/strong&gt; SongSheet Pro up front:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;The subscription will &lt;em&gt;always&lt;/em&gt; be completely optional&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;You will not be locked out of any features you had access to before SongSheet became free, and you’ll still get all bug fixes.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Some &lt;em&gt;new&lt;/em&gt; features will only be unlocked via a &lt;em&gt;discounted&lt;/em&gt; subscription.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you become a SongSheet Pro user &lt;strong&gt;after it transitions to free to try&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;You won’t have to pay anything up front&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;There will be a trial period where everything will be unlocked. The trial period &lt;em&gt;will not&lt;/em&gt; automatically turn into a subscription. So no worries about being charged if you forget to cancel!&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;If not in a trial period or not subscribed, you will be able to view and export songs, but you will be locked out of creating and editing new songs and set lists and many other of SongSheet’s features.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;If subscribed, you will have access to all of SongSheet Pro’s features. I’m not planning to implement different levels of access in the app. (I like things to stay simple).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;so-why-subscribe-now&quot;&gt;So why subscribe now?&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;You will be enabling more rapid development of new features.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Some&lt;/em&gt; upcoming features will require a subscription.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;The subscription offered now will have early bird pricing.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you have any questions or comments about this, &lt;a href=&quot;/support.html&quot;&gt;please let me know&lt;/a&gt; and I’ll do my best to answer them!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">SongSheet Pro will transition to free to try with a monthly subscription in two stages.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">SongSheet Pro 3.5</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2019/10/21/songsheet-3_5-released.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="SongSheet Pro 3.5" /><published>2019-10-21T14:30:00+10:00</published><updated>2019-10-21T14:30:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2019/10/21/songsheet-3_5-released</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2019/10/21/songsheet-3_5-released.html">&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro 3.5 marks a major milestone in the history of SongSheet. Back when it was first released in November 2012, it was an iPad-only app. I did not envision that there would be any demand for such an app on the much smaller (at the time 3.5-inch) screens of the iPhone. Since that time larger iPhones were released, and I would receive the occasional email from a user puzzled as to why there wasn’t an iPhone version.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With the advent of split-view multitasking for iPad, I revisited the concept of an iPhone version. Doing the work to support split-view on iPad would have the benefit of getting the app most of the way to working on the iPhone. However, precisely because it was a lot of extra work, I decided to make the iPhone version a separate purchase.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet for iPhone launched just over three years ago, in September, 2016. At the same time, I launched an app bundle for the iPhone, containing SongSheet and my other app, &lt;a href=&quot;https://reversechord.com&quot;&gt;Reverse Chord Finder Pro&lt;/a&gt;. Predictably, despite there being far more iPhones out there than iPads, sales of the iPhone version were only ever a small fraction of those of the iPad version. I have also noticed that over time fewer and fewer apps offer separate iPad and iPhone versions. The truth is that people just expect an app to run on both iPhone and iPad. And with the advent of iOS 12 in 2018, in the App Store on iPad, Apple started showing iPhone-only apps alongside iPad apps by default. This meant that someone who searched for “SongSheet” on the iPad would see &lt;em&gt;two&lt;/em&gt; results. Which one was the right one to buy? It wasn’t immediately obvious. I’ve received not a few emails from people who have accidentally bought the iPhone version when they really wanted the iPad version.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Finally, from a development point of view, it is certainly easier to maintain one app, instead of two!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So, with version 3.5, released today, I’ve taken the step of officially retiring the standalone iPhone version. SongSheet for iPhone is no more. SongSheet Pro for iPad is now SongSheet Pro for iPad &lt;strong&gt;and&lt;/strong&gt; iPhone. It is finally a universal app! Purchasing it on one device will now make it available on &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; your devices.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I’m still an indie developer, trying to make a living on the App Store; nothing is for free. As this represents a change in the overall value proposition, I have also raised the price of SongSheet Pro slightly for new customers. If you are an existing customer, don’t worry: you won’t be charged again. This is a free update. If you have previously bought &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; versions of SongSheet, then I am extremely grateful for your support; you have helped SongSheet get to where it is today.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;dark-mode-support&quot;&gt;Dark Mode support&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet has always had a built-in theme engine, allowing the user to switch between built-in light and dark modes, as well as allowing custom themes to be created. Dark themes are especially useful when performing in a dark environment where you don’t want the iPad lighting up your face!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With iPad OS 13 and iOS 13, Apple has released an official system-wide Dark mode. It is now quite easy to flick your whole iPad, and all its apps, into Dark mode.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So it made sense to me to embrace the distinction between the iPad’s default and Dark modes.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet’s theme engine is still there, but it has been enhanced to recognise that when you as a user put your iPad into Dark mode, you specifically want a dark theme to be selected in SongSheet. So, if you currently have a light theme selected, then switch to Dark mode, SongSheet will automatically select a dark theme. If you switch dark themes in Dark mode, SongSheet will remember which dark theme you last used, and select that the next time you enter Dark mode.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This means that all you need to do in order to get ready to perform on stage is switch your whole iPad to Dark mode, and SongSheet will be ready to go!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you have automatic updates turned on, you’ll get the new version automatically. Otherwise go to the Updates tab in the App Store app on your iPad and find the update there! And don’t forget to go download it on your iPhone, too!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;comments-welcome&quot;&gt;Comments welcome&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As always, I’m always keen to hear from my customers - what you like, don’t like, what you think would make SongSheet better for however it is you use it!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Until next time!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;– &lt;em&gt;Gabriel&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Developer of SongSheet Pro&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name>Gabriel Hauber</name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">SongSheet Pro 3.5 has been released as a universal app. SongSheet for iPhone has now been retired. The update also includes official support for dark mode.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">SongSheet Pro 3.4 released</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2019/04/16/songsheet-3_4-released.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="SongSheet Pro 3.4 released" /><published>2019-04-16T14:30:00+10:00</published><updated>2019-04-16T14:30:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2019/04/16/songsheet-3_4-released</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2019/04/16/songsheet-3_4-released.html">&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro 3.4 has been released. This is a minor update with a focus on usability improvements in the Library and Song views.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;There is now a confirmation step when deleting songs and set lists in order to make it more difficult to accidentally delete them&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;The Library view has had a slight facelift and now also supports dynamic type so you can use larger (or smaller!) font sizes according to your iPad’s settings&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;In the song view, I changed the keyboard shortcut for closing the song and returning to the Library view to ⌘W&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;I also fixed some bugs around the timeline view at the bottom; for example, it is now much easier to drag the auto scroll/backing track progress slider!&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;You can also (using a bluetooth foot pedal) step song auto scrolling forward or backward by 10 seconds&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Finally, there were also the usual bug fixes. &lt;a href=&quot;/en-US/manual/songsheet-pro-release-notes-2017-2019.html&quot;&gt;Check out the full release notes&lt;/a&gt; for more information!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you have automatic updates turned on, you’ll get the new version automatically. Otherwise go to the Updates tab in the App Store app on your iPad and find the update there!&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name></name></author><category term="update" /><summary type="html">SongSheet Pro 3.4 has been released. This is a minor update with a focus on usability improvements in the Library and Song views.</summary></entry><entry><title type="html">SongSheet Pro 3.1 supports drag and drop on iOS 11</title><link href="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2017/09/28/songsheet-3_1-drag-and-drop.html" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="SongSheet Pro 3.1 supports drag and drop on iOS 11" /><published>2017-09-28T14:30:00+10:00</published><updated>2017-09-28T14:30:00+10:00</updated><id>https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2017/09/28/songsheet-3_1-drag-and-drop</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://songsheetapp.com/en-US/blog/2017/09/28/songsheet-3_1-drag-and-drop.html">&lt;p&gt;iOS 11 is finally here, introducing what is in my opinion a game-changing feature to your iPad: drag and drop. The 3.1 update to SongSheet Pro integrates drag and drop support across the app, making working with songs and set lists even easier than before!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;importing-songs&quot;&gt;Importing songs&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Using the new Files app, it is quite easy to just drag and drop the songs you wish to add to SongSheet Pro. You can either drag in a whole folder full of songs, or do so one at a time.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This works also if the song file is an attachment to an email, or in another application. If it is one of SongSheet’s supported formats, and you can drag it, then you can also drop it into SongSheet’s library.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro supports importing files in any of the following formats:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Plain text&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/manual/chordpro-support.html&quot;&gt;ChordPro&lt;/a&gt; (multiple versions)&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;PDF (only PDFs that contain text that can be copy and pasted as SongSheet first converts the PDF to text prior to importing)&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;OnSong&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dsbsoft.com&quot;&gt;DSBsoft’s SongSheet 5 for Windows&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The video below demonstrates how to import songs and folders into SongSheet Pro via drag and drop:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;videoContainer&quot;&gt;
  &lt;video controls=&quot;&quot;&gt;
    &lt;source src=&quot;/assets/video/blog/SongSheet Pro 3.1 DnD Importing Songs (720p).mp4&quot; type=&quot;video/mp4&quot; /&gt;
    Sorry, your browser doesn't support the video tag.
  &lt;/video&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Also, with drag and drop, adding songs to SongSheet Pro from websites has also just become much easier. All you need to do is open Safari, find the lyrics and chords for the song you are after, then select the song and drag it into SongSheet.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This video demonstrates how easy this can be:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;videoContainer&quot;&gt;
  &lt;video controls=&quot;&quot;&gt;
    &lt;source src=&quot;/assets/video/blog/SongSheet Pro 3.1 DnD Safari Drag and Drop (720p).mp4&quot; type=&quot;video/mp4&quot; /&gt;
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  &lt;/video&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;editing-set-lists&quot;&gt;Editing set lists&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Drag and drop makes creating and editing set lists easier as well.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To create a set list:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Start dragging the first song you want to include in the new set list.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Tap to select any more songs you want to add.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Drag the group of songs to the set list entries. You can choose where the new set list will be inserted.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Drop the songs to create the set list.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To add songs to a set list form the library view:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Start dragging the song you want to add to a set list.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Hover over the set list you want to add the song to. It will open automatically.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Now drag the song to the position in the set list you wish to insert it and then drop it.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You can also drag and drop to re-order songs in a set list now without first going into set list editing mode.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Here’s a video demonstrating the above features:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;videoContainer&quot;&gt;
  &lt;video controls=&quot;&quot;&gt;
    &lt;source src=&quot;/assets/video/blog/SongSheet Pro 3.1 DnD Set Lists Editing (720p).mp4&quot; type=&quot;video/mp4&quot; /&gt;
    Sorry, your browser doesn't support the video tag.
  &lt;/video&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;exporting-and-sharing-songs-and-set-lists&quot;&gt;Exporting and sharing songs and set lists&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SongSheet Pro allows you to share (via Mail, AirDrop, etc) or export (to Files, open in other apps) via the Send and Export dialogs. For example, to email a song in ChordPro format to someone, you could tap the share button, then Send Song, then tap on the ChordPro option, then Mail. You would then get a pre-populated Mail sheet with the song attached.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;But what if you wanted to attach the song to an email you were already composing? Or you wanted to send a set list to all your bandmates in both SongSheet and PDF formats (because not everyone has an iPad with SongSheet on it)?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Drag and drop makes this process much easier, too. In every Send and Export dialog, each icon representing a format choice is also a drag source. Just select and drag all of the formats you wish to share or export into Files, an email you are composing in Mail, or anything else that accepts file drag and drops.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Of course, you can easily drag and drop songs and set lists in SongSheet’s format just by dragging them out of the library and into Files, Mail, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This video demonstrates some of the possibilities:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;videoContainer&quot;&gt;
  &lt;video controls=&quot;&quot;&gt;
    &lt;source src=&quot;/assets/video/blog/SongSheet Pro 3.1 DnD Sharing Songs and Set Lists (720p).mp4&quot; type=&quot;video/mp4&quot; /&gt;
    Sorry, your browser doesn't support the video tag.
  &lt;/video&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;drag-and-drop-text-snippets-into-the-song-editor&quot;&gt;Drag and drop text snippets into the song editor&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Finally, you can also drag and drop a snippet of text from an email, a website, Notes, etc, straight into a song you are currently editing. This is often easier than using copy and paste, as you can drop at the precise location you wish to insert the text into your song.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&quot;other-improvements-in-songsheet-31&quot;&gt;Other improvements in SongSheet 3.1&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While drag and drop support in the Pro version of SongSheet was the major new feature in SongSheet 3.1, there are other new goodies available to those of you who haven’t yet upgraded to iOS 11 or are running SongSheet on your iPhone:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;PDF was added to the list of formats available in the export song/send song format chooser. This removes the need to always go via the Print / PDF view in order to share PDF versions of your songs, if you have already set things up to your liking.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Sharing and exporting set lists was simplified to use the same choose format browser introduced for sharing of songs in SongSheet 3.0&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;There were some more tweaks to margins, spacing, and overall layout of songs&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Finally, there were also the usual bug fixes. &lt;a href=&quot;/en-US/manual/songsheet-pro-release-notes-2017-2019.html&quot;&gt;Check out the full release notes&lt;/a&gt; for more information!&lt;/p&gt;</content><author><name></name></author><category term="update," /><category term="drag" /><category term="and" /><category term="drop" /><summary type="html">SongSheet Pro 3.1 adds iOS 11 drag and drop support on your iPad. You can now drag and drop to import and export songs and setlists, as well as use drag and drop to create new setlists and edit them.</summary></entry></feed>