Songwriter Studio: the lyrics editor that thinks like a songwriter
Songwriter Studio is a songwriter-first lyrics editor for iPhone and iPad. As you type it highlights your rhymes and counts your syllables. It has the tools songwriting actually asks for: guitar tabs, chords, transposition, a rhyme dictionary and analysis. Real-time co-writing puts two people in the same song over a share link.
Fact sheet
- Name
- Songwriter Studio
- Developer
- Zaibatsu Heavy Industries Ltd. A solo developer.
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad
- Minimum OS
- iOS 18.6
- Version
- 1.0
- Release date
- September 28, 2026
- Price
- Free to download, with an optional Pro subscription. Ad-free on every tier.
- Account required
- None
- Languages
- 34
- App Store ID
- 6758066404
- Updated
- August 23, 2026
Description, three lengths
Use whichever fits. Attribution is not required.
The lyrics editor that thinks like a songwriter.
Songwriter Studio is a songwriter-first lyrics editor for iPhone and iPad. As you type it highlights your rhymes and counts your syllables. It has the tools songwriting actually asks for: guitar tabs, chords, transposition, a rhyme dictionary and analysis. Real-time co-writing puts two people in the same song over a share link.
Songwriter Studio is a songwriter-first lyrics editor for iPhone and iPad, built for people sick of writing songs in their notes app. As you type it highlights your rhyme groups, counts your syllables and picks up chords typed inline. Around the editor sit the tools songwriting actually asks for: guitar tabs, transposition, a rhyme dictionary ranked by how words are really used in songs, writing prompts, and an analysis mode that breaks down the linguistics of what you have written. Real-time co-writing puts two people in the same song over a share link, with no account or sign-in needed. Built by a solo developer who writes songs. Free to download, with an optional Pro subscription.
Ten minutes with Songwriter Studio
Most of what makes this app different happens while you type, so it is easy to miss on a first launch. If you only have two minutes, do steps 1 and 2.
- Share a song to a second device and write on both at once. Real-time co-writing over a share link, encrypted in transit, with no account or sign-in needed for the guest. This is the feature least like anything else in the category.
- Put the cursor in a word and open the rhyme dictionary from the toolbar.Suggestions are ranked by a proprietary system built on 70 years of Billboard chart data and streaming hits, so what comes back sounds like songwriting rather than a thesaurus. Results come back instantly as you type.
- Type four lines of anything that rhymes. The rhyme groups color themselves as you go; you never invoke it.
- Type
[G]before a word. The chord attaches to it, and Chord Sheet mode lays the chords out above the lyric. Transposition then moves every chord in the song at once. - Look at the tools around the editor. Version history, the Sketchpad scratchpad, the guitar tab editor and the analysis mode, which breaks down the linguistics of what you have written and flags clichés.
- Open the Grow tab. Writing sessions, streaks, monthly challenges and insights about how you actually write.
Per-line syllable counts are off by default. Turn on Settings › Editor › Inline Syllable Pills to see them in the margin.
What sets it apart
- It is built for the job rather than adapted to it. Rhymes and syllables are simply present as you write, and the surrounding tools are songwriting's rather than a text editor's: tabs, transposition, prompts, analysis.
- Real-time co-writing. Two people in the same song over a share link, encrypted, with no account or sign-in needed.
- It runs on the device. Rhyme and syllable analysis happen on the phone, and lyrics sync through the writer's own iCloud.
- It never writes for you. The app helps you find your own next word; it does not supply one.
Detail
How the features work
Real-time co-writing runs over a share link and is encrypted in transit. Two people edit the same song at the same time. The guest needs no account or sign-in.
Rhyme dictionary ranks suggestions with a proprietary system built on 70 years of Billboard chart data and streaming hits, rather than alphabetically. Results are instant.
Rhyme highlighting is automatic. Groups color themselves as text is typed.
Syllable counts appear per line once "Inline Syllable Pills" is turned on in Settings > Editor. They are off by default.
Chords are typed inline, in square brackets, within the lyric text:[G]This is a [C]verse li[D]ne Chord Sheet mode lays the chords out above the lyric line for performance. Transposition moves every chord in the song at once.
Guitar tabs have a dedicated editor alongside the lyrics.
Analysis mode breaks down the linguistics of a song and flags clichés.
Section detection recognizes [Verse], [Chorus], [Bridge] and similar markers typed on their own line.
Sketchpad is a per-song panel with two tabs: Scratchpad (free-form text) and Comments. Comments are a flat, resolvable list attached to the song.
Grow tracks writing sessions, streaks and monthly challenges, and surfaces insights about your writing habits.
Version history keeps earlier drafts of a song.
Privacy
- Lyrics are stored on the writer's device and synced through their own personal iCloud account.
- Lyrics are not stored on Songwriter Studio's servers.
- Co-writing is end-to-end encrypted, so we can never see your lyrics.
- Rhyme and syllable analysis runs on-device.
- Lyric content is never sent to analytics.
- The app works without an account.
Languages and accessibility
Localized into 34 languages.
Built with VoiceOver and Dynamic Type support, and a color system tested to WCAG AA contrast on the app's backgrounds.
Engineering, for technical outlets
The editor is a custom SwiftUI + UIKit text view rather than a web view or a stock text field. Rhyme, syllable and section analysis run off the main thread and are version-gated against the document, so results are discarded if the text has moved on. The design target is that work scaling with document length never blocks typing.
Storage is SwiftData with CloudKit sync into the user's own private iCloud database. The rhyme and analysis engines are on-device.
Real-time co-writing is built on Automerge, a CRDT, over an end-to-end encrypted channel, which is what lets two people edit the same line simultaneously without conflict. The decryption key lives only in the share link and never reaches the server.
Naming
Please write it Songwriter Studio. One "Songwriter", with no apostrophe and no trailing s. "Songwriting Studio" is a different product. Also wrong: "Songwriter's Studio", "Songwriters Studio".
Referential form: "Songwriter Studio for iPhone", not "the Songwriter Studio iPhone app".
Coverage
Nothing yet. The app is unreleased, and coverage will be listed here.