How do I keep the screen awake during a gig?

Activate a keep-awake only while gig mode is on screen, and release it when the view unmounts — expo-keep-awake does this in two calls. Leaving it on app-wide drains the battery of a phone that is also the band’s backing-track player, and a dead phone mid-set is a worse failure than a screen that dims.

Should the app handle lyrics and chord charts?

Only after the setlist part is genuinely good. Chart display pulls in file storage, transposition, and scrolling behaviour, and it competes with mature apps built specifically for that. A setlist app that nails running time and stage readability is a complete product on its own, and charts can be a later addition rather than a version-one distraction.

How to Build a Band Setlist App with AI (2026)

What a band setlist app needs

Song library with key, tempo, and duration
Drag to reorder sets with a live running time
Gig mode with huge type and a persistent screen
Per-song notes for each player
Share a set with the band by link

The screens

Screen	What it does
Songs	The band library with key, tempo, and length
Setlists	Saved sets with total time and the gig they were played at
Edit Set	Drag to reorder, with the running total updating live
Gig Mode	Current song large, next song small, screen stays awake
Song Detail	Key, tempo, structure, and notes per player

The data model

Band: name, inviteCode
Song: bandId, title, artist, key, bpm, durationSeconds, structure, isActive
Setlist: bandId, name, venue, playedAt, targetMinutes
SetItem: setlistId, songId, position, setNumber, transitionNote
SongNote: songId, memberId, body

The build prompt (copy this)

Paste this into ShipNative and it becomes a working React Native app with these screens, navigable in a live preview, in about two minutes:

“A setlist app for a working band. The song library stores title, key, tempo, and duration, and duration is required because the whole point of the app is knowing whether a set fits the slot. Building a set is drag-to-reorder with a running total shown against a target length — a 45-minute slot with a set that runs 52 should be visibly over, not something the user has to add up. Sets can be split into multiple sets with a break between them. Gig mode is the screen that matters: the current song in very large type with its key and tempo, the next song smaller beneath it, a large tap target to advance, the device kept awake, and no other chrome — it is read from three feet away on a dark stage. Each song holds notes per band member, so the drummer sees the count-in and the guitarist sees the tuning, on the same song without cluttering each other. A band is joined by invite code and everyone sees the same library and sets. Screens: Songs, Setlists, Edit Set, Gig Mode, Song Detail. Works offline, because venues have no signal.”

Then iterate with small, screen-specific prompts (“make the primary button bigger”, “add an empty state”), preview on your own phone, and export the full Expo project whenever you want. The full method: how to build an app with AI.

How it makes money

Weak, and worth planning around: a band buys one copy and shares a login. Charge per band rather than per user ($3-5/month for shared sets and sync) and expect low volume, or treat it as a portfolio piece. The unmet need is genuine — most gigging musicians still use notes apps and paper — but the market is small and price-sensitive.

Implementation and the revenue math for every model: how to make money from an app. When you’re ready to ship: App Store and Google Play publishing guides.

Build it now

The prompt above is free to run at shipnative.dev — working band setlist app on your phone today, full code export, no credit card.

How to Build a Band Setlist App with AI