OnKey
Ranked 2 of 7 music learning apps by recommenders
Recommended as a fun, beginner-friendly way to see where your singing is off-key and compare against songs; the most common caveat is that pitch tracking is sometimes wrong.
Recommended as a fun, beginner-friendly way to see where your singing is off-key and compare against songs; the most common caveat is that pitch tracking is sometimes wrong.
27 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 23
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 23 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful for beginners and learning
“This kind of app is great for getting started and getting a taste of what singing involves”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “I like the idea, I definitely think there is potential in apps helping with teaching music”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “Looks nice, I sing so badly that I never dare to try if not alone.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” - Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key”
Praised as brilliant and great
“Wow, this is brilliant, thanks for sharing it!”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “Awesome, I'm checking it out right now.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “This is great. Thank you, I love this.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” - Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key”
Scores your take against original songs
“You built the scoring feature of karaoke that I failed to build a few years ago, this is awesome!”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “listen back to your take along with the original and see how you're tracking score wise”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “i love the feature where you can select a song to compare to.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” Lets shy singers practice privately
“I will definitely send the link at least to those who know themselves that they are terrible at singing”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key” “Looks nice, I sing so badly that I never dare to try if not alone.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: OnKey – I'm a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I'm off-key”
Other music learning apps people recommend
The four most recommended other music learning apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piano by ear memory game | 35 | 17 | 67% | 4 | — | Approved |
| OnKeyThis page | 23 | 4 | 85% | 1 | — | — |
| Music Theory for Programmers | 13 | 4 | 76% | 2 | — | — |
| Soundslice | 9 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Vocal Guide | 7 | 4 | 64% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
23 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This is great. Thank you, I love this.”
“it’s limited to Apple Silicon Macs, M1 or later,”
“i love the feature where you can select a song to compare to.”
“You built the scoring feature of karaoke that I failed to build a few years ago, this is awesome!”
“listen back to your take along with the original and see how you're tracking score wise”
“it feels like it can me misleading to people to think they sing good”
“I think these kinds of tools can be helpful, but the number of rhythm students I have seen who need to break out of the dependence on a visual metronome is rough.”
“Wow, this is brilliant, thanks for sharing it!”
“I really appreciate this level of transparency.”
“I like the idea, I definitely think there is potential in apps helping with teaching music”
“I will definitely send the link at least to those who know themselves that they are terrible at singing”
“Switching from songs loaded in Apple Music to songs loaded in Spotify doesn't work too well at the moment.”
“There are definitely some issues I haven't been able to solve yet and it creates terrible pitch tracks for some songs.”
“This kind of app is great for getting started and getting a taste of what singing involves”
“There seems to be a bug on my machine. When I press the Play button in the Library, the song screen opens, but the previous song performance is still open there and nothing happens.”
“It could be so small and smooth in swift with just a small change to the prompt.”
“Awesome, I'm checking it out right now.”
“OnKey has you covered on these.”
“I think my daughter will love this.”
“This is a great learning tool!”
“A singing app, for learning to sing, and Anthony Kiedis used as the model.”
“Looks nice, I sing so badly that I never dare to try if not alone.”
“I love that the song doesn't have to be programmed in by the developer.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.