# Arco - Full Reference > Arco records or imports music lessons on iPhone, iPad, and desktop web, creates intelligent Lesson Notes, and gives students and teachers an AI practice assistant grounded in their own lesson history. Live on iPhone, iPad, and desktop web. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/arco-ai/id6757969709. Contact: hello@arco.app. --- ## What Arco does Arco captures music lessons end-to-end: 1. **Record or import.** Record a lesson live on iPhone, iPad, or the desktop web app. Or import older audio files, older Zoom recordings, and typed transcript notes. 2. **AI transcript + Lesson Notes.** Arco transcribes the audio and generates structured Lesson Notes covering technique notes, repertoire, exercises, assignments, and breakthroughs. Transcription and Lesson Notes generation take a few minutes for typical lessons. 3. **Review the lesson.** Open any lesson to read the Lesson Notes, scrub the transcript, jump to specific timestamps in the audio, edit details, export the lesson, or ask Arco about it. 4. **Organize lessons into Spaces.** A Space is a shared lesson notebook for a teacher, student, parent, studio, or teaching relationship. Lessons can be recorded into a Space, imported into a Space, assigned later, or removed from the Space without deleting the lesson. 5. **Chat, plan, report, export.** Ask questions in plain language, generate lesson plans, create Space progress reports, invite people into Spaces with invite links, or export lessons as PDF or Markdown. 6. **Keep a private Journal.** Type or dictate personal observations (voice notes up to 10 minutes each), optionally attach them to a lesson or Space, search them later, and let My Lessons chat use relevant entries with clear Journal attribution. Journal entries are never shared with Space members. Works across all languages for recording, transcription, Lesson Notes, and chat. --- ## Plans and pricing All plans share the same core workflow. The main differences are monthly credit allowance and Google Drive backup. One-time top-ups can add credits without changing plans. | Plan | Price | Monthly credits | Google Drive backup | |---|---|---|---| | Free | $0 forever | 2 | Not included | | Starter | $9.99/month | 8 | Not included | | Pro | $19.99/month | 30 | Included | | Studio | $39.99/month | 80 | Included | - 5- and 15-credit top-up packs are available and never expire while the account is active. - Annual plans are available. Founding Lifetime costs $499 once through Arco and includes lifetime access, 1,200 non-expiring credits (no monthly refill), regular chat with full lesson history, Google Drive backup, and unlimited shared lessons. Additional credits can be purchased. Founding members help shape Arco’s priorities through their input and feedback in 2026. - Provider-aware billing: iOS uses RevenueCat/App Store; web/desktop uses Stripe. ### What a credit is - 1 credit per processed lesson (recording or imported audio -> transcript -> AI Lesson Notes). - 1 credit per Deep Dive message. - Regular chat does **not** consume credits. - Typed Journal entries are unlimited and do not consume credits. Free includes 10 minutes of Journal voice transcription total for the lifetime of the account. Deleting notes does not restore used time. Paid plans include unlimited Journal voice transcription. A single Journal voice note can run up to 10 minutes. - Spaces, invite links, member management, exports, and reviewing existing lessons do not consume credits. - Top-up credits are added to the account balance and never expire while the account is active. ### What is always included on every plan - Record on iPhone, iPad, or desktop web. - Import older audio or transcripts. - AI transcription and Lesson Notes when credits are used to process. - Search and review the lesson library. - Spaces for teacher-student lesson history. - Invite links for Space members. - Chat with Arco using general musical knowledge and the user's own lesson history, automatically routed. - Private Journal with unlimited typed entries and plan-based voice transcription. - Deep Dive mode when the user spends a credit. - One-tap lesson plans. - Lesson PDF and Markdown export. - Chat PDF export on web. - iOS app + desktop web app. ### When you run out of credits You can still browse your library, review past chats, use regular chat, manage Spaces and members, export existing lessons, and use Google Drive backup if your plan includes it. Processing new recordings and Deep Dive require credits; buy a top-up pack, upgrade, or wait for monthly credits to renew. ### Changing plans Upgrade instantly for more monthly credits. Downgrade anytime; the current billing period continues until renewal, and all lessons stay safe. On iPhone and iPad, manage subscriptions through the App Store. On web, manage billing from Settings inside the app. ### Music schools, conservatories, and teaching faculties Institutions bringing Arco to a department, a faculty, or a whole studio roster can email hello@arco.app. There is no separate institutional plan or tier today; institutional use runs on the existing plans, with teachers, students, and parents organized in Spaces, exportable progress reports, and hands-on setup help from the Arco team. The inquiry link appears on the pricing page and in the "For Schools & Conservatories" section of the homepage, directly after the teachers/students split. --- ## Spaces Spaces are Arco's main sharing and organization model: - A Space is a shared lesson notebook for a teacher, student, parent, studio, or teaching relationship. - A Space contains members, member roles or display details, assigned lessons, and Space-specific actions. - Invite links let people preview and join a specific Space. - When a connected member is linked, lessons assigned to the Space can be delivered directly inside Arco for that member. - A Space can still organize lessons even if the other person is not yet using Arco. - Members can view the Space and its members, use normal Space features, and leave the Space. - Space owners or permitted roles can add members, create invite links, edit member details or roles, remove members, assign or remove lessons, rename the Space, and archive the Space. Spaces are different from exports. Spaces keep account-to-account lesson history inside Arco. Exports create user-controlled files outside Arco. --- ## Chat: how routing works Arco's chat is one unified thread, not separate modes the user has to switch between. - **Normal chat (no credit).** Each turn is routed automatically: general musical knowledge for theory, pedagogy, repertoire, and technique questions; the user's lesson history for questions about something a teacher said, an assignment, a specific lesson, or a Space. On the Free plan, My Lessons retrieval is limited to the 5 most recent lessons. Paid plans search the full lesson history. - **Deep Dive (1 credit/message).** Enhanced reasoning for complex multi-step questions that benefit from a longer, more analytical answer. It is separate from source routing. - **Memory.** Memory is shared across source switches, so the conversation stays coherent whether the answer came from general knowledge or lessons. - **Lessons used for grounding.** When a turn uses lesson history, Arco searches recordings, transcripts, and Lesson Notes from the user's account and shared Spaces available to that user, within the plan's retrieval window. Every lesson remains readable, playable, searchable in the Library, and exportable on Free. - **Journal used for grounding.** My Lessons chat can also search relevant private Journal entries. When an answer materially uses one, it identifies the information as something the user wrote in Journal. Journal entries are treated as the user's observations, not as lesson-transcript facts or instructions. --- ## Devices, sync, offline - Supported: iPhone, iPad, desktop web. Web supports recording, imports, review, Lesson Notes, chat, and account workflows. - Sync: library, audio, chats, Spaces, bookmarks, and settings sync across devices. - Offline: review previously loaded lessons, bookmarks, and chat history. Recording, processing, and new chat messages require a connection. - Web recording: open Library and start a recording. Grant microphone permission on first use. Keep the tab open until the lesson finishes saving. --- ## Exports and account data - **Lesson export.** Export individual processed lessons as PDF or Markdown from the lesson detail screen. - **Chat export.** Export a web chat conversation as a PDF. - **Progress reports.** Generate a progress report from Space history and download it as a PDF. - **Google Drive backup.** Available on Pro, Studio, and Founding Lifetime plans. Backup files live in the user's own Google Drive and may need to be removed directly from Drive if the user disconnects Drive or deletes the Arco account. - **Account export.** For a full account export, contact hello@arco.app. --- ## Privacy and security - All data encrypted in transit and at rest. - Audio, transcripts, Lesson Notes, chats, and Space metadata are processed by service providers, such as AI model providers and cloud infrastructure, only as needed to operate Arco. User content is not sold and is not shared for advertising or marketing. - Recordings, transcripts, chats, and Spaces are private to the user's account unless explicitly shared through Spaces or exported by the user. Journal entries are always private to their owner and are never shared with Space members. - Account deletion: Settings -> Account -> Delete Account inside the product. If unavailable, email hello@arco.app. - Full Privacy Policy: https://arco.app/privacy. Terms of Service: https://arco.app/terms. --- ## Troubleshooting - **Recording or processing seems slow.** Longer lessons take longer. Transcription + Lesson Notes normally takes several minutes. On web, keep the tab open until saving completes. If stuck, use Reprocess inside the app; otherwise contact support with the lesson title, approximate time, and device. - **A lesson or chat is missing on another device.** Pull to refresh. If unresolved, fully close the app and reopen, or reload the page on web. If still missing, contact support and specify which device has the correct version. - **A lesson is missing from a Space.** Refresh the app, confirm the lesson was assigned to that Space, confirm the member accepted the correct invite link, and make sure the lesson was not removed or deleted. - **Web recording fails.** Re-enable microphone permission in the browser site settings. - **Support fastest path.** Use support chat on the support page. Otherwise email hello@arco.app with account email, device, and a short description. --- ## Who Arco is for - **Students** who want to remember everything from lessons and have intelligent help between lessons. - **Teachers** (private studios, schools) who want automatic Lesson Notes, lesson plans, Spaces for students, and lightweight progress reports without manual note-taking. - **Any instrument, voice, or genre.** Default expertise is strongest for violin (founder's instrument) but the product handles all instruments and styles. --- ## Brand and contact - Name: Arco - Legal entity: Arco, LLC - Email: hello@arco.app - Twitter / X: @arcoapp - App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/arco-ai/id6757969709 - Web: https://arco.app --- ## Key URLs - Home: https://arco.app/ - Pricing: https://arco.app/pricing - User Guide: https://arco.app/guide - Support: https://arco.app/support - Privacy Policy: https://arco.app/privacy - Terms of Service: https://arco.app/terms - Get started / sign in: https://arco.app/start ## Sheet music photos Score-photo assistance is available on every plan in the web app. iPhone and iPad support requires the upcoming app update. Users on supported versions can attach one sheet-music photo in chat. Arco reads relevant notation, then answers under the existing selected source’s rules. Free and Starter include 2 successful photo analyses per UTC calendar month. Pro and Studio include photo assistance subject to temporary usage limits. Failed or unreadable attempts do not use an allowance. Text follow-ups remain regular chat and do not use another photo analysis. Deep Dive remains optional at its usual credit; top-ups do not increase photo allowances. Photos stay on the originating device/browser; chat messages and musical observations sync. A thumbnail’s “Use this photo again” action prepares a new reading and requires Send. Local storage is limited to 250 MiB per account and can be cleared in Settings. Photos remain across ordinary sign-out and are deleted locally with their chat/account. Browser storage may be evicted. No PDFs, multi-photo messages, automatic rereading, or cloud photo sync in this version. OpenAI store:false is not a promise of zero provider retention.