The Best Free Guitar Tuner & Metronome App for iPhone (2026)

A Tuner and a Metronome That Are Actually Free

Pick up the guitar, reach for a tuner app, and you know the routine: it works fine for standard tuning, then asks for $3.99 the second you try Drop D — or it flashes a full-screen ad right as you're bending a string into tune. The metronome apps play the same game.

So here's the short version: Trending Music has a built-in Tuner & Metronome that's free, with no tuning locked behind a paywall. It's a real chromatic mic tuner with plain-English tune-up/tune-down guidance and every common tuning, plus a proper metronome with tap tempo — and it happens to live inside a full free music, radio, and podcast app. This guide shows how it works and how it stacks up against the paid tuner apps.

Why Most 'Free' Tuner Apps Aren't

The tuner-app market runs on two tricks:

- The tuning paywall. Standard EADGBE is free; Drop D, Open G, half-step-down and the rest are 'Pro.' But those are exactly the tunings you reach for when you're learning a song — the moment you actually need the tool, it asks for money. - The interruption ad. A tuner is a 10-second interaction. Wedging a full-screen video ad into it is maddening, and some apps do it every single time you open them.

What you actually want is simple: hear the note, know instantly whether to tune up or down, switch tunings without paying, and get out. That's the bar we built to.

How the Tuner Works — Just Play a String

Open the tuner, tap Start Tuning, and pluck a string. Using your iPhone's mic it detects the pitch and snaps to the nearest string in your selected tuning, then tells you exactly what to do:

- Too flat — tune up ↑ - Too sharp — tune down ↓ - In tune — hold there

The string turns green and gives a little buzz the instant it's right, and a row of string dots fills in as you go — so tuning all six is a glance, not a guessing game. When every string is set you get an All strings in tune 🎸 confirmation. It's a true chromatic tuner, so it works for bass, ukulele, and drop tunings too — not just standard guitar.

Every Tuning, Not Just Standard

Tap the tuning name (or the sliders icon) to open Tune Settings and pick from the full list — all free:

- Standard (E A D G B E) - Drop D, Drop C#, Drop C, Drop B, Drop A - Half-step down and Full-step down - Open G, Open D, Open C, Open E, Open A, Open F

Each one shows its note layout so you know what you're tuning to. This is the part paid apps charge for — here it's just a list you tap.

The Metronome: Tap the Tempo and Go

Switch to the Metronome tab and you get a clean, readable practice tool:

- A big BPM readout with the tempo name (Largo, Andante, Allegro… all the way to Presto) so you learn the vocabulary as you go. - A swinging pendulum and pulsing beat lights so you can feel the beat visually, not just hear it — the downbeat is accented. - Set the tempo with the slider, the +/− buttons, or Tap Tempo — tap along to a song and it matches your speed. - Choose beats per bar (2, 3, 4, or 6) for waltzes, marches, and odd time.

One big play button starts and stops it, and it's sample-accurate so it won't drift on you during a long practice session.

How to Find It on iPhone

1. Download Trending Music free from the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trending-music-player/id1139055265 2. Open Settings (the gear), scroll to Audio Tools, and tap Tuner & Metronome. 3. Use the pills at the top to switch between Tuner and Metronome. 4. That's it — no account, no sign-in, no 'unlock tunings' prompt.

The tuner needs microphone access (to hear your strings); everything runs on-device.

Free Tuner & Metronome Apps Compared

Honest rundown of the popular options:

- GuitarTuna — excellent tuner, but alternate tunings, chord/scale tools and an ad-free experience are gated behind a subscription. - Fender Tune — clean and accurate; the polished extras and some tunings push you toward Fender's paid ecosystem. - Pro Metronome / dedicated metronome apps — good, but it's a second app to install and many paywall the useful presets. - Trending Music — the tuner *and* metronome are both free with every tuning included, and they sit inside an app you'd already use for listening — so it's not a single-purpose app taking up a home-screen slot.

If you want the most feature-dense standalone tuner and don't mind paying, the dedicated apps are great. If you want a genuinely free tuner + metronome without the paywall dance, this is the easy pick.

One App for Practice and Listening

The quiet advantage of a tuner built into a music app: it's right next to everything else you do with music. After you tune up, the same app has your background audio for jamming along to backing tracks, an AI DJ that can spin an endless mix in the style of any song you're learning, offline downloads so your practice playlist works with no signal, and live radio and podcasts.

It's all free, no subscription — the same reason the tuner has no paywall is the reason the rest of the app doesn't either.

Common Questions

Is it really free — even the tunings? Yes. Every tuning (Drop D, the open tunings, step-downs) is included at no cost, and there's no 'Pro' upgrade for the tuner or metronome.

Does the tuner work for bass or ukulele? Yes — it's a chromatic tuner, so it reads any pitch and maps it to your chosen tuning. Bass, uke, and drop tunings all work.

How accurate is it? It analyzes the pitch in real time and shows fine cents deviation, so you can get dialed in, not just 'close enough.'

Do I need internet? No. The tuner and metronome run entirely on your device.

Does the metronome drift? No — it's sample-accurate, so it stays locked even over long practice sessions.

Tune Up in the Next 30 Seconds

Grab Trending Music free on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trending-music-player/id1139055265), open Settings → Audio Tools → Tuner & Metronome, and pluck your low E. You'll see 'tune up' or 'tune down' immediately — and when it turns green, you're set.

No paywall for Drop D, no ad between strings, and a metronome waiting one tab over. It's the free tuner your guitar case has been missing.