Sibelius brings professional music notation to iPad and iPhone, putting the workflows used by countless composers, orchestrators, and arrangers at your fingertips. Seamlessly move between iPad, iPhone and desktop, and from studio to coffeeshop to scoring stage, and write anywhere inspiration strikes.
# Work on scores anywhere
Sibelius for mobile puts the #1 selling music notation program at your fingertips—literally. Work with the same tools and features used by countless composers and production houses every day on your iPad and iPhone. Whether writing down ideas, creating full-blown compositions, or reviewing scores, you have the freedom to create wherever you’re comfortable.
#Take your portfolio to go
Forget having to bring and break out your laptop when meeting with clients and collaborators. Instead, you can conveniently take the world’s most powerful notation toolset and your entire music portfolio with you wherever you go—ideal for those unexpected opportunities. And for tandemly working through last-minute revisions.
# Hear your music in stunning detail
Sibelius includes a high-quality sample library filled with a variety of musical instrumentation, so you can hear what your music will sound like when performed by real musicians. The Espressivo advanced notation interpretation even lets you adjust rhythm and swing to create a more humanistic feel.
# Speed your workflow
Sibelius for mobile is designed to take full advantage of Apple Pencil and iPad touch capabilities. Its elegant, streamlined interface provides the most intuitive and efficient workflows possible while supporting the same keyboard shortcuts you know and love from working on the desktop version, so you’ll feel right at home.
# Get innovative note entry
Experience the pen and paper workflow reimagined. Enter notes with the onscreen Keypad or a keyboard, and Sibelius takes care of all note layout. Touch a note and drag up or down to change its value, or drag left or right to add a flat or sharp. With an Apple Pencil, tap a note and tilt up or down to add a flat or sharp, or tilt left or right to choose the note value.
# Have everything you need
In addition to the Keypad, Sibelius for mobile features a Create menu that’s optimized for iOS, making it easy to add clefs, key signatures, time signatures, barlines, symbols, text styles, and more to your score from searchable galleries. You can also quickly search through all Sibelius commands using the Command Search, putting the entire app at your fingertips.
# Move tiers to meet needs
Sibelius is designed to grow with you to support your creative aspirations and project needs. From the introductory (and free) Sibelius First to the industry-standard Sibelius Ultimate, you can add more notation capabilities and instrument parts to take on more creative opportunities by simply upgrading your subscription tier.
# Have everything on one creative platform
Seamlessly move from desktop to tablet and back without ever having to import or export files. That’s because whether on mobile or desktop, you’re always in Sibelius. With files saved to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or other iOS-supported cloud service, you have easy anywhere access to all your ideas and scores.
# Enable a hybrid workflow
While Sibelius for mobile is fully featured, providing many of the same tools as its desktop counterpart, there are some notation and layout features only available in the desktop version, making it an integral part of a complete workflow (compare versions). Plus, the mobile version comes free with the desktop version, enabling you to work where and how you want.
I’d like to see the ability to save as musicxml in the ultimate version. Also would like to see better quality sounds. I like the way you can write using a mouse. It’s like what you do on a desktop. Makes it so much easier since I’m used to it. Still getting used to where everything is since it’s all hidden. I’m used to having everything on screen. If you can implement an option for everything to be visible that would be awesome. Also exporting as an audio recording would be great, but only if you add better quality sounds. 900mb sounds is not very good. But I could work around that if you bring the ability to export as music xml. But this is the closest thing I’ve found to writing music in a quality program outside the computer. For when I travel I can keep writing music. Sure I could go with staffpad but it doesn’t recognize my handwriting most of the time. So, if you brought the sound quality and ability to save as music xml you would have an awesome app on your hands. It’s definitely got potential and I’d like to see pro tools come to iPad next.
A wee little rant
allofthenamesiwantaretaken
By god this is the most annoying app i have ever used in my god forsaken life. I try to write one simple note, to which it responds by placing another in a location i did not remotely put it in; i try to select a note to go back and edit it and it places another on top; and to top it all off, once i finally think i got the app to work, it randomly closes and loses my file. I finally got somewhere after about 2 hours of working through fits of screaming matches, and i go to click play and it refuses to play the one part i actually want to listen to. For the moments where it actually works (in between my mental breakdowns,) i like to remember that it does offer more than other apps for free, but then i remember how every time i think i have it figured out, something random like the page glitching out of my view or removing necessary pages/measures happens, and i then recall how much mental gymnastics this game has put me through. the only good thing about this app is the price of the free version. I can only sum up this app in one way and that would be as an emotionally abusive ex boyfriend whom gaslights you on the daily as if he were in one of sabrina carpenter's songs. if you have the patience of a saint and an extremely stable mental health, i recommend this to you. As for me, i will likely continue to use it despite my very public breakdown-esque review due to the fact that this causes slightly less breakdowns than other apps and i am too broke to pay for another.
Has potential and a mean streak!
Windsurfer320
I have Sibelius on my iMac and MacBook Pro, and finally now on my iPad Pro. I was so excited about this app and the mobility of the Sibelius product on my iPad. I really like Sibelius, but…I was working on a Big Band piece for a couple of days while visiting the grandkids out of town. I was constantly saving my progress. On day 2, the app just shut down completely, with no sign of my work anywhere. I probably had about 7 hours of work invested in this piece. That is very frustrating when you know that you are constantly saving your work and it totally disappears to never be seen again!This is a major show stopper! If you don’t have the confidence that your work won’t be lost, then how can you invest time in this version of the app????I do think the app has potential once the bugs are worked out. Don’t go spending days on charts without taking screenshots. I took one screenshot, and it was of only the first page of my work. I had complicated drum parts, guitar parts, and of course horn parts as well. So, 4 pages vaporized.Bummer!!!
Developer Response
Thanks for taking the time to report this bug. We've addressed all known saving issues in our latest (2022.8) release. Please check out the newest version and let us know if the issue has been resolved for you.
Frustrated and un-jolly
janeontour
Ugh, had this app for a couple years now and I pay the 5.99 Sibelius artist subscription. I use it to write basic lead sheets and easy piano arrangements for my students. It’s convenient as I don’t use a desktop anymore. Now, in the middle of December some weird mercury in retrograde crap happens and I don’t have my regular access. Apple says there is nothing wrong on their end and that my subscription is still active. However, the app says I’m only a Sibelius first and I have to upgrade… when I try it states that already have it, and I am logged in on 5 devices and have to log out (it’s only on my iPad and iPhone) or my subscription expired. I’ve updated my iPad, I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times, and even upgraded to the ultimate… nothing helped at all, but contribute more to the holly-jolly stress in my life. Also contacted avid, they said it’s an apple thing, contact apple, they say it’s an Avid thing… I feel like a ping pong ball right now. Mercury in retrograde ends Jan. 2nd… I don’t think I can wait that long… may check out Dorico in the meantime. Sibelius… do your best to convince a longtime supporter to stay with you. I’m running out of patience.
What's new in Sibelius 2026.2
- Bar rests are now automatically hidden within cross-staff passages
- Cross-staff beaming has been significantly improved
- Two-note tremolos are now compatible with long-duration notes
Version 2026.2
Subscriptions
Sibelius Ultimate for iOS
Monthly subscription for iOS & iPadOS
Free Trial
Sibelius Artist for iOS
Monthly subscription for iOS & iPadOS
Free Trial
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