Lodestone — a beautiful guitar tuner

Beautiful guitar tuner

A compass for your strings

The lodestone is the naturally magnetized rock early navigators used as a compass: the thing that finds north. This one finds your note.

No menus. No setup.

The whole screen is the instrument.

Open Lodestone and it's already listening. Play a string and the screen floods with that note's color, a big letter tells you where you are, and a field of particles tightens from a loose cloud into a solid ring as you lock in. You're looking at that same engine right above; it's Lodestone running in your browser.

🌈

Color is the reading

Every note has its own hue: low pitches glow red, high pitches violet. One trip around the rainbow per octave.

🎯

Tuned to a hair

A hand-rolled YIN pitch engine, validated to 0.05 cents. Rock-steady even on a low E, where cheap tuners get jittery.

✨

You feel the lock

The particles settle, the orb fills, the edges glow, and you get a soft tap the instant you're in tune.

🎸

Anything with strings

It's chromatic, so guitar, ukulele, bass, violin, banjo, mandolin and every alternate tuning are all covered, no instrument to switch.

🔒

Nothing leaves the device

Audio is processed live to find the note and is never recorded, stored, or sent anywhere.

🍃

Made with care

Zero ads, zero accounts, zero tracking. A small, independent app built because the free tuners deserved better.

Why I made this

I came to music late. For most of my life I figured it just wasn't for me. Being "a music person" felt like something you either were or weren't, and I wasn't.

Then a couple of years ago, something flipped. I decided I'd become someone who plays. I started with violin, stuck with it for a year, and got to a place I was proud of. Then a stretch of piano. Now I'm almost two years into guitar, and I play every day.

Here's what I found: anybody can play music. You just need a little space, some good coaching, and a bit of perseverance. That's really it. Music has become one of my favorite things, and I think more people should get to feel it.

So I made the tuner I always wanted, the one I actually love picking up every day. I hope you love it too. 🙏

peace,
Paul

Now on the App Store

Lodestone is live for iPhone and iPad. 99¢, once. No ads, no accounts, no subscription. Download it and play.