User Guide

Getting Started

Arco works on iPhone, iPad, and the desktop web app. Your library, chats, Spaces, audio, summaries, transcripts, and settings sync across devices.

You can begin in two ways: record a new lesson, or open chat and ask a broader music question. Chat works from day one. Once you add lessons, Arco can also answer using your own lesson notes and recordings.

Recording and Importing

Tap Record, save when you are done, and Arco turns the audio into clear lesson notes with accurate music terminology.

Recording on iPhone or iPad

1. Open Arco and tap Record.
2. Choose a Space if this lesson belongs to one, or create a new Space while recording.
3. Set the device aside and focus on the lesson.
4. Tap Stop when the lesson is over.

You do not need to keep Arco open while recording. Lock the screen, switch apps, or read from another app on iPad; recording continues in the background.

Arco works in any language automatically. Speak naturally; there is nothing to configure.

Recording on desktop web

Open Library, click Record, and allow microphone access when your browser asks. You can record into a Space from the web app too. Keep the tab open while the lesson is saving; after the save finishes, processing can continue while you keep using the app.

Importing older lessons

Use Import to bring in older audio files or transcripts from the mobile app or desktop web app. Arco accepts common audio formats such as .m4a, .mp3, and .wav, along with pasted, manually entered, or uploaded text transcripts.

During import, set the lesson date and choose a Space if the lesson belongs in one. You can also create a new Space during the flow or move the lesson into a Space later.

Reviewing Lessons

Each processed lesson gives you a summary, transcript, audio player, and review tools in one place.

Summary

Arco creates a structured summary of what happened in the lesson: topics covered, advice given, exercises assigned, repertoire discussed, and moments worth revisiting. It is meant to feel like the notes you wish you had taken, with the musical detail preserved.

Summary remixes

You can generate optional Short, Youth, and Parent versions when another format would be more useful.

Transcript

The transcript is useful when you want the exact words, a specific explanation, or a detail that did not make it into the summary.

Audio player

Use the waveform to jump through the recording, zoom in on smaller passages, adjust speed from 0.5x to 2.5x, set A-B loops, and add bookmarks for important moments.

Editing

Summaries and lesson details are editable. If Arco gets a piece name, fingering, assignment, or technical term wrong, edit it so your library stays accurate.

Library and Spaces

The Library is your full lesson archive. Spaces are how you group lessons around a real teaching or learning relationship.

A Space is a shared lesson notebook for you and a teacher or student. It keeps everything organized.

Your Library

In the Library, you can open lessons, search your archive, star important lessons, edit lesson details, export files, and see whether a lesson belongs to a Space.

Lessons that are not in a Space still stay in your library. You can assign them to a Space whenever they become part of a teacher, student, family, ensemble, or studio history.

Creating a Space

Create a Space when you want lessons to stay together over time. Common examples are one Space per student, one Space for a teacher-student relationship, one Space for a family, or one Space for a studio or ensemble context.

When creating a Space, choose your role and add members as Teacher or Student. A member can be a named person who is not on Arco yet, or a linked Arco user added with a Connect Code.

Viewing a Space and its members

Open a Space to see its lessons, member list, member roles, linked status, and common actions. A linked member is connected to an Arco account. An external member is a named person you can organize around before they join Arco.

Assigning and removing lessons

You can record directly into a Space, import directly into a Space, or choose Assign existing lesson to move an older lesson into that Space. If a lesson does not belong there anymore, remove it from the Space; the lesson can remain in your own library unless you choose to erase it.

Normal Space features

From a Space, you can review its lesson history, record or import new lessons for that context, assign older lessons, create lesson plans, generate progress reports, and ask Arco questions about that Space's history.

Sharing Through Spaces

Spaces are Arco's main sharing model. Instead of sending a one-off link, you invite someone into a shared lesson notebook.

How shared lessons are delivered

When a Space member is linked to an Arco account, lessons assigned to that Space can be delivered directly into that member's Arco library, including the summary, transcript, and audio when available. The member does not need to download a file or manage a separate link.

If a member is not connected yet, the Space still works as an organizer for you. You can add the person by name, set their role, assign lessons, and link them later with a Connect Code.

Connect Codes

A Connect Code links a Space member to a real Arco account. Ask the other person for their Connect Code, then use Link Connect Code on the member. You can also add a new member directly with a Connect Code.

Roles and member details

Space roles are Teacher and Student. Roles keep the relationship clear and help the Space read correctly. You can update a member's display details or role when the Space changes.

Managing members

• Add members to include another teacher, student, parent, family member, or collaborator.
• Link members with a Connect Code when they have an Arco account.
• Edit member details or roles when a name or role changes.
• Remove members when they should no longer be part of the Space.

Managing the Space

• Rename space when the title should be clearer for you.
• Archive space when a teaching relationship or project is finished. You can choose whether to erase that Space's lessons from your own library.
• Leave space when someone else created the Space and you no longer need access. You can choose whether to erase the Space's lessons from your own library.

Exports

Exports are for user-controlled files. Use them when you want a document outside Arco.

• Lesson PDF export creates a polished lesson document from a processed lesson.
• Markdown export creates a plain-text lesson file that is easy to edit or archive elsewhere.
• Chat PDF export saves a web chat conversation as a PDF.
• Progress report PDF export downloads a report generated from Space history.

Exports are not automatically sent by Arco. You decide where the file goes.

Chat with Arco

Arco can move naturally between broad musical questions and your own lessons. Just ask naturally. Sometimes Arco answers from its broader musical knowledge, and sometimes it brings in your lesson history when that is what matters most.

You can start using chat immediately, even before recording a lesson. As your library grows, Arco becomes more personal because it can bring in things your teacher said, patterns across students, and ideas that have come up over time.

What Arco Already Knows

Arco has a broad understanding of technique, interpretation, repertoire, practice methods, and the teaching traditions behind them. That means you can ask big musical questions, troubleshoot a technical problem, or ask for practice ideas even when the question is not tied to a specific lesson.

The sample prompts below are worth trying verbatim. They give a good feel for the kinds of broader musical questions Arco can help with right away.

Try questions like:

• Technique questions — “My vibrato feels tight and mechanical. What should I adjust first?”
• Practice strategies — “How do I practice slow passages without them feeling boring?”
• Pedagogical approaches — “How does Galamian's approach to shifting differ from Flesch?”
• Practice plans — “Create a 45-minute practice plan for my audition repertoire.”
• Understanding concepts — “What's the relationship between arm weight and bow speed?”
• Diagnosing issues — “I have tension in my left shoulder. What might be causing it?”
• Exploring repertoire — “How should I approach a piece I've never heard before?”
• Exercises — “What exercises help with clean string crossings?”

These kinds of questions work from day one. Later, if you follow up with something like “What has my teacher said about this?”, Arco can bring your own lesson history into the same chat.

What Arco Can Find in Your Lessons

When your question is about something from your own teaching or practice history, Arco can look through your recorded lessons, transcripts, and summaries and answer from what was actually said.

To do that, Arco needs at least one processed recording or imported lesson in your library. If a student's lessons are organized in a Space, Arco can focus on that student's lesson history; you can also ask by date range or across your whole library.

Students might ask:

• Recalling specific advice — “What has my teacher said about improving my vibrato?”
• Reviewing assignments — “What pieces have we worked on in the last month?”
• Finding details — “What fingerings did my teacher recommend for the Brahms?”
• Practice strategies — “What practice strategies has my teacher suggested for difficult passages?”
• Identifying patterns — “What recurring issues has my teacher mentioned?”
• Planning practice — “Create a practice plan based on my recent lessons.”

Teachers might ask:

• Tracking a student over time — “What have I worked on with Sarah in the last three months?”
• Date-range review — “What did Sarah's lessons focus on between January and March?”
• Spotting patterns across students — “Which students have I discussed bow distribution with recently?”
• Preparing for a lesson — “Summarize where Alex left off last week and suggest what to cover next.”
• Building content from your teaching — “Consider everything in my lessons about intonation and organize it into a 1-hour workshop outline.”
• Reflecting on your approach — “How have I explained shifting across all my lessons? What analogies come up most?”

These answers can quote or paraphrase your own lesson history and point you back to the relevant passages, so it feels like searching your musical life without leaving the conversation.

A Natural Conversation

One of the best parts of chat is that you can stay in the same thread while the focus shifts. For example:

Deep Dive

Deep Dive gives Arco more room to reason through complex questions. It does not change what Arco can reference; it only changes the reasoning depth. Each Deep Dive message costs 1 credit. Regular chat does not use credits.

Lesson Plans and Progress Reports

Spaces make longer-term teaching history useful. From a Space, you can generate lesson plans and progress reports grounded in that Space's lessons.

Lesson plans

Create a lesson plan when you want help preparing for the next session. Arco reviews the Space history and suggests what to focus on now, what to watch over the next few weeks, and what longer-term goals may matter.

The plan opens as a chat so you can refine it: ask for a different emphasis, add repertoire, make it shorter, or turn it into a student-friendly plan.

Progress reports

Use Create Report to generate a progress report from a Space. Choose a time window, then Arco creates a parent- and family-friendly PDF covering progress, repertoire, technique, musical development, practice habits, focus areas, and next goals.

Reports download to your device. Arco does not automatically send them.

Credits and Plans

Everyone starts with a free plan that includes 2 credits.

• Each processed lesson recording or imported audio lesson costs 1 credit.
• Each Deep Dive message costs 1 credit.
• Regular chat does not use credits.
• Spaces and Connect Code invitations are organization and sharing features, not credit-consuming AI actions.

Current plan credits are Free (2), Starter (8), Pro (30), and Studio (80). One-time top-ups are available in 5-credit and 15-credit packs and do not expire.

iPhone and iPad billing uses the App Store. Web billing uses Stripe. The app shows the right billing actions for your account.

Privacy and Sync

Your lessons are private unless you share them through a Space or export a file yourself.

Arco uses lesson data to make the app work: transcripts, summaries, AI chat, search, Spaces, cloud sync, support, billing, and reliability. AI, cloud, payment, and support providers may process data as needed to operate Arco. Your content is not sold or shared for advertising.

If your plan includes Google Drive backup, backup files live in your own Drive. If you disconnect Drive or delete your Arco account, you may still need to remove files directly from Google Drive.

For the full policy, see the Privacy Policy.

Tips for Students

Tips for Teachers

For teachers, Spaces are the center of the workflow. Create a Space for each student or teaching relationship, then record or import lessons into that Space.

• Prepare faster by opening the student's Space before the next lesson.
• Share automatically by linking the student or parent with a Connect Code.
• Keep history organized by assigning older lessons to the right Space.
• Create lesson plans from the Space before a session.
• Generate progress reports for families, studios, schools, or your own records.
• Ask Arco about patterns across one student, one Space, or your full teaching library.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Sending Feedback

If something is broken, confusing, slow, or unclear, use Support to reach support chat or email.

When reporting an issue, include:

• What you were doing
• What happened
• What you expected
• A screenshot or short screen recording, if possible