StageMate

The last bar on the page arrives at the worst moment, with both hands busy and none left to turn it. StageMate, a sheet music reader for phones and tablets, turns the page when you blink on purpose or turn your head. The front camera watches for the gesture, and the privacy page says its images are analysed on the device and never kept as face profiles.

Scores come in as PDFs, images or camera scans of paper sheets. The app can crop pages and raise the contrast of a faded copy. Fingerings and practice notes go on top in handwriting or typed text, on the iPad also with an Apple Pencil. An online AI service reads the title and artist from a score to save typing. Pieces for a concert go into setlists, and band members can join a shared one with a QR code.

The iPhone and Android versions run separately: libraries and shared setlists stay on the platform where they were made, and so do purchases. Gesture sensitivity can be tuned to the light and your playing position. Glasses and lighting can still affect detection, so the maker advises testing gestures in that position before a show and keeping touch turning as a fallback.