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It listens through your phone's microphone and analyzes the rhythm of the music in real time using an on-device beat-detection engine. As it gathers enough of the beat, the displayed BPM stabilizes and a confidence indicator lets you know when the reading is reliable. The Mac, iPhone and Android builds run the same engine.

No. Your microphone audio is analyzed live on your device and then discarded: tempo detection never leaves the phone, and nothing is recorded or uploaded. When you identify a song, MagicBPM sends a compact acoustic fingerprint of the sound, never the audio itself, to Apple's Shazam service. The free version also serves ads through Google AdMob. See the Privacy Policy for both.

The microphone is the only way the app can "hear" the music it's measuring. Your phone asks for permission the first time you start detection. If you previously declined, you can re-enable it in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → MagicBPM, or on Android in Settings → Apps → MagicBPM → Permissions → Microphone.

A few things help:

• Move the phone closer to the speaker and reduce background noise.
• In Settings, choose the "Best accuracy" capture mode.
• Narrow the tempo range if you know roughly what to expect.
• Some tracks are genuinely ambiguous: a detector may lock onto half or double the "felt" tempo. Tap ½x or 2x on the rail under the reading to move it to the octave you meant, and it stays there. Tapping the beat on the Metronome tab is a good cross-check.

This usually means the input is too quiet or too noisy for a confident lock. Get closer to the source, make sure the microphone isn't covered, and confirm the app has microphone permission. If you're using a Bluetooth audio route (like a car kit), try the phone's built-in mic instead.

A full metronome. Set the tempo by tapping the pad in time, typing a number, or nudging it ±1, anywhere up to 300 BPM, then press play for a steady click. Pick from eight time signatures (2/4 through 12/8) with the downbeat accented, subdivide into eighths, triplets or sixteenths, and a beat indicator shows your place in the bar. It keeps playing even when your phone's silent switch is on. It also carries on when you leave the app or lock the screen, with the controls following it: a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on iPhone, a notification on Android. Both start it, stop it, and nudge the tempo by 1 or 5 BPM without going back into the app.

Pro is a one-time purchase (not a subscription). It adds automatic song identification while you listen, the Detected Songs history, the twelve extra metronome sounds, and removes every ad. Purchases are handled by the App Store on iPhone and by Google Play on Android.

Use Restore Purchases in the app to re-sync it with the account that bought it: your Apple Account on iPhone, or your Google account on Android. Make sure you're signed in with the same one. If it still doesn't appear, email us and we'll help.

We don't process payments, so refunds go through the store you bought from: Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com, or Google at Google Play order history. If something went wrong on our end, let us know and we'll do our best to help.

Yes, and the music does not have to stop. Play the track out loud, from the same phone or from a speaker, and start listening: MagicBPM mixes in alongside whatever is already playing instead of taking the audio to itself, so Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Deezer and the rest carry on while the tempo locks in. Headphones are the one case that cannot work, because the microphone has nothing to hear. Play it out loud instead.

Not by importing it. MagicBPM listens through the microphone, so play the file out loud on any speaker and point the phone at it: same reading, no import step. For something you cannot play out loud, tap the beat on the Metronome pad, or use the browser tap tempo tool.

Tempo detection does. Bluetooth and car routes deliver a lower capture rate than the built-in microphone, which the app handles. Song identification is switched off on CarPlay and Bluetooth hands-free routes: those microphones apply voice processing that music recognition cannot see through, so it would fail rather than guess. Switch back to the phone's own microphone to name a track.

English, German, Japanese, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Choose one under Language in Settings, whatever language the phone itself is set to. On iPhone the app switches straight away; the microphone prompt follows on the next launch.

MagicBPM runs on Mac, on iPhone, on iPad, and on Android phones, and the iPhone app includes a haptic metronome for Apple Watch. The current minimum OS version is listed on the store page for your platform: the App Store or Google Play.