Singing Start Guide
An app can score your pitch but it cannot teach breath support — Singorama’s 28 modules do the part the phone leaves out.
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Anyone writing a Simply Sing app review has to answer one question first: is this a singing teacher or a very polished karaoke game? It sits somewhere between the two, and knowing which parts are which will save you a lot of time. Simply Sing comes from the same family as Simply Piano and Simply Guitar, it listens to your voice through the phone microphone, and it tells you in real time whether the note you just sang was the note the song wanted.
How the pitch scoring works
You pick a song, the lyrics scroll, and a moving marker shows the target pitch as a line. Sing, and the app draws your actual pitch against that line. Land on it and the note lights up. Sit under it and you watch a stubborn little gap that will not close.
Detection is quick and accurate enough that you trust it. That matters more than it sounds, because the single hardest thing for a beginner is knowing whether you are flat, and almost nobody can hear that in themselves at first. Half an hour with visual pitch feedback teaches your ear something that a year of singing along to the radio does not. Our guide to singing in tune explains why that feedback loop works.
One practical caveat: it needs a reasonably quiet room and it prefers you not to use loud speakers, because the backing track bleeding into the microphone confuses any pitch detector.
The song-led approach
Simply Sing is organised around real songs rather than exercises. There are warm-ups and short vocal drills, but the centre of gravity is the song library, and the app pitches songs at your range once it has heard you sing a few notes.
This is genuinely clever motivation design. Singing an actual chorus is fun in a way that sirens on a five-note scale are not, and fun is what gets people to open an app on a Tuesday night. Beginners who have bounced off structured courses twice often stick with this one, which is worth more than any feature list.
Where it runs thin
The app measures pitch. It does not measure, or teach, most of what singing actually is. Nothing in it can tell you that you are lifting your shoulders to breathe, that your tongue is bunched at the back, or that the reason your voice cracks at the top of the chorus is a locked jaw rather than a missing note. It will just show you missed the pitch and move on.
Technique instruction is present but shallow: some warm-ups, some tips, nothing that resembles a sequenced curriculum on breath support, resonance or registers. If you use Simply Sing alone for six months you will get noticeably better at hitting notes and no better at producing a strong, unstrained tone. Pair it with the fundamentals in breath support for singing and you close most of that gap for free.
Simply Sing against the alternatives
| Tool | Teaches technique | Hears your voice | Fun factor | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simply Sing | Lightly | Yes, real-time pitch | High | Freemium subscription |
| Singorama | In depth, 28 modules | No | Moderate | One payment, around $67 at the time of writing |
| 30 Day Singer | In depth, video coaches | No | Moderate | Subscription |
| Singing Carrots | Some, plus range test | Yes, pitch games | Moderate | Free tier plus paid |
| Yousician (vocals) | Lightly | Yes | High | Freemium subscription |
The free version and the paid one
Simply Sing is freemium. You can install it and sing without paying, with limits on how much of the library and how many daily sessions you get, and the full experience sits behind a subscription. The details change often enough that quoting a figure here would be doing you a disservice; we keep the current picture in Simply Sing cost and answer the free-tier question properly in is Simply Sing free.
What we will say is that the trial is long enough to know whether the song-led format suits you. Give it four sessions before deciding.
Who it is for
- Nervous beginners who need proof they are not tone deaf. Watching your line snap onto the target is quietly reassuring.
- People who already sing casually and want to tighten their tuning.
- Anyone who has abandoned two structured courses and needs the practice to feel like play.
- Households with teenagers, because it survives being shared and turned into a competition.
It is not for you if you want to understand your instrument, if you are preparing for anything that matters, or if you already sing in tune and need help with tone and stamina.
What we would actually do
Use Simply Sing as the dessert, not the meal. Ten minutes of proper warm-ups and breathing work first, then open the app and sing two songs while it scores you. That order matters: your pitch accuracy on a cold voice is worse, and the app will happily tell you off for something a warm-up would have fixed in four minutes. Over a couple of months this combination produces a singer who is both in tune and not exhausted after one chorus, which neither half achieves on its own. If you would rather have one product doing both jobs, a full course is the better buy, and the comparison in 30 Day Singer vs Simply Sing lays out that choice. You can browse the rest of the field in singing apps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Simply Sing actually teach you to sing?
It teaches you to sing in tune, which is a large and useful part of the job. It does not teach breath support, registers or resonance in any depth, so treat it as a tuning trainer rather than a complete course.
Is the pitch detection accurate?
In a quiet room with headphones, yes, and it responds fast enough to correct a note while you are still holding it. Loud speakers, background noise or a phone across the room all degrade it.
Is it suitable for children?
The format works well for kids because it feels like a game, and the song choices skew popular. Just check the library for the songs your child actually wants to sing before subscribing, since motivation lives or dies on that.
Do I need it if I already use a singing course?
Not need, but it complements one well. A course gives you technique and no feedback; the app gives you feedback and little technique. Running both for a few months is a sensible pairing, especially while you learn where your range sits.
What to Read Next
- 30 Day Singer vs Simply Sing — depth against fun.
- Best singing apps — everything worth installing.
- Is Simply Sing free? — what you get without paying.
- How to sing in tune — the skill this app trains.
How we reviewed this (updated 16 October 2026): this page is based on the vendor’s official information, pricing and policies and on public user feedback. We have not hands-on tested Simply Sing.
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