How to use it

Tap the power button, allow the microphone, and play. After a few seconds of steady playing the big number locks onto your tempo and tracks it live. Set a phone or laptop somewhere it can hear everyone — the middle of the jam circle works fine — and glance at it the way you’d glance at a tuner.

The target: your rushing-and-dragging mirror

Type the tempo you’re trying to hold into the Target box and the meter turns into an honest friend: the big number reads green when you’re holding it, amber with Rushing when you’re ahead, blue with Dragging when you’re behind — with the drift in BPM either way. The strip below the readout graphs your tempo through the song, with the min, average, and max underneath. Most bands discover they don’t rush the whole song, they rush somewhere: going into the chorus, coming out of a break, behind an exciting solo. Seeing where is the first step to fixing it. Between songs, hit Clear — the graph and stats start fresh so each tune gets its own picture, and you can type the next tune’s target.

Count the band in — then see if you held it

With a target set, Count-in clicks two bars at that tempo like a bandmate counting off — the big digits count along — and the moment the count ends, the meter starts listening. No more guessing the kickoff tempo and getting graded on the guess. And if the phone is propped across the room, tap the ⤢ button by the Target box for the big display: digits you can read from the far side of a jam circle.

Why the number might read double (or half)

Every groove has two natural counts — the foot-tap pulse and the quarter-note pulse, one exactly twice the other. Bluegrass players count the foot tap; most of the internet quotes the quarter note. If the meter locks onto the other one, hit ÷2 or ×2 to flip it — or just set a target, and the meter automatically reads in whichever convention your target uses.

Record a pass and see where you rushed

Hit Record while the meter is running, play the song, and stop. You’ll get your recording back with the tempo graph drawn right above the waveform on a shared timeline — tap anywhere on the picture to jump the playback there and hear the moment the tempo moved. Gaps in the green line are honest: they mark stretches where there wasn’t a confident pulse to measure (a break, talking, a rubato ending), not zero tempo. Download graph saves the picture as an image you can drop into the band’s group chat.

One iPhone note: if playback of your take is silent, check the ringer switch on the side of the phone — iOS mutes browser audio when it’s flipped to silent. The meter itself doesn’t care (it only listens), but playback does.

Practicing with a live BPM meter

• Hold one tempo. Pick a comfortable target, play a song all the way through, and try to keep the drift readout green. Harder than it sounds.
• Find your rush spots. Record a pass, then read the graph: where did the line climb? Tap that spot, listen back, and drill the transition slowly.
• Check the jam tempo. Somebody kicks off a tune — glance at the meter to learn what tempo the jam actually settles into, and what that tune feels like at that number.
• Pair it with the metronome. Practice a passage with our metronome, then turn the metronome off and let the meter tell you whether the time stayed with you when the click left.

Tips for a good reading

The meter beats on the attack of notes — pick hits, strums, chops — so steady rhythm playing locks in fastest. Rubato intros, long fiddle sustains, and between-song noodling will read as searching (the readout says so rather than guessing). In a full band the collective pulse usually locks in better than a single instrument. If it won’t lock, get the device closer to the guitar or bass — the boom-chuck is the meter’s favorite food.

Questions about live BPM meters