Musician Builds App That Turns Sheet Music Pages
CueFlip, a free iOS and iPadOS app, listens to a performer and turns sheet music pages automatically.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Language Learning
Yuze Pan, a 15-year-old classical guitarist from Beijing, built CueFlip, an app that turns sheet music pages by listening to a performer. The app is available free on the App Store, with a Pro tier for additional features.
Why it matters
Page turns repeatedly broke up rehearsals for the Primal Guitar Quartet, since paper requires a hand off the strings and pedals, and winks or manual controls add another thing to remember. CueFlip is an attempt to remove that interruption from live playing.
CueFlip Pro costs $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year, while the free version automatically turns pages for one score. The app requires iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later, and its built-in dictionary covers more than 20,000 music terms.
The players
Yuze Pan
A 15-year-old classical guitarist from Beijing who developed CueFlip after page turns disrupted rehearsals with the Primal Guitar Quartet.
9to5Mac
An Apple-focused technology news publication that featured CueFlip in a spotlight article.
The details
CueFlip is taught a song through a live rehearsal or a shared recording, after which the user marks where the page turns occur. Beyond automatic turning, it supports winking with Face ID to turn pages forward or backward, works with manual Bluetooth page turners, and can pull dictionary terms from scanned scores. Pan's first attempt at building the app in 2025 did not work, and he restarted development in May 2026.
Timeline
2025: Pan's first attempt at building the app did not work.
May 2026: Pan restarted development, reading audio alignment research.
November 7, 2026: 9to5Mac published its CueFlip spotlight article.
Culture Shift
CueFlip repurposes Apple's Face ID hardware, originally built for device unlocking, as an input method for hands-free page turning. This reflects a broader pattern of musicians adapting consumer mobile technology to solve performance problems that traditional sheet music cannot.
Musicians who read paper scores can try the free version to test automatic page turning on one piece before deciding on a Pro subscription. Winking controls require Face ID hardware, so the feature is only available on compatible devices.
The takeaway
Hands-free tools built around a performer's existing habits can remove small interruptions that add up in rehearsal. CueFlip shows how a musician's own workflow problem can become a usable product when the builder understands the problem firsthand.
Further reading
For more on tools that support musical study, explore Language Learning coverage on Wisevoter.
Source note: This article includes information reported by 9to5Mac.
