Should the app include a metronome or tuner?

A metronome is a reasonable second-version feature and is straightforward with expo-audio. A tuner is not: reliable pitch detection needs real-time audio analysis and careful native work, and a bad tuner is worse than none. Ship the tracker, then add the metronome if users ask.

How do I keep the timer running when the phone locks?

Do not try to keep a JavaScript timer alive. Store the start timestamp, and when the app returns to the foreground compute elapsed time from the clock. That survives backgrounding, lock screens, and app kills, and it is a few lines instead of a background-task fight with both operating systems.

How to Build a Music Practice Tracker App with AI

What a music practice tracker app needs

Start/stop practice timer, assignable to a piece or a technique
Repertoire list with status: learning, polishing, performance-ready
Problem passages logged by bar number with a note
Weekly practice goal with a streak and a minutes-per-day chart
Practice log export to send to a teacher before a lesson

The screens

Screen	What it does
Practice	Big timer, current piece picker, quick note field
Repertoire	Pieces with status, composer, and total minutes invested
Piece Detail	Session history, problem passages, target performance date
Progress	Minutes per day chart, streak, goal completion
Settings	Weekly goal, reminder time, export

The data model

Piece: title, composer, status, targetDate, instrument
Session: pieceId, startedAt, durationSec, note, focus (technique | repertoire | sightreading)
Passage: pieceId, barsFrom, barsTo, note, resolved
Goal: weeklyMinutes, reminderTime

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 music practice tracker for students. The main screen is a large start/stop timer that assigns the session to a piece or to a technique category, with a note field for what was worked on. Users keep a repertoire list where each piece has a status of learning, polishing, or performance-ready, plus problem passages logged by bar range. A Progress screen shows minutes per day as a chart, the current streak, and progress against a weekly minutes goal. Practice logs can be exported as a summary to send to a teacher. Screens: Practice, Repertoire, Piece Detail with session history, Progress, Settings. Works offline and keeps the timer running in the background.”

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

Subscription ($3–5/mo) for charts, export, and unlimited pieces, with a free tier that keeps the timer and three pieces unlocked. The honest catch is that your users are often children whose parents hold the payment method — so the upgrade prompt has to make sense to a parent, and a family or teacher-studio plan usually earns more than individual seats.

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 music practice tracker app on your phone today, full code export, no credit card.