Get the most out of Arco

Yes. Sheet music photos (beta) are available on every plan on current iPhone/iPad versions and the web. Choose Sheet music in chat: take or upload a photo on iPhone/iPad, or upload or drag one into web chat. Crop or rotate it if needed, then send it with an optional question. Arco reads the passage and offers practice advice using your lessons or broader musical knowledge. One photo per message is supported; PDFs and multiple photos in one message are not.

Free and Starter include 2 successful photo analyses per UTC calendar month. Pro, Studio, Studio Plus, and the Founder’s Circle include photo assistance subject to temporary usage limits. Failed or unreadable attempts do not use the allowance. Text follow-ups use saved musical observations and do not use another analysis. Open the thumbnail and choose Use this photo again when you need a new reading, then press Send; that starts another analysis. Deep Dive is optional and uses 1 credit. Credit top-ups do not increase the photo allowance.

Photos stay on the device or browser where you added them; the chat and musical observations sync. Settings shows photo storage and lets you clear saved photos without deleting the conversation. Arco cannot download those photos again after clearing them: reattach your own copy if another reading is needed. Photos can also become unavailable after browser storage is cleared or evicted. You can continue the chat using its saved observations.

Arco turns your music lessons into a searchable memory. Record or import a lesson and Arco gives you a clean transcript and practice-ready Lesson Notes, organizes everything into Spaces, and lets you ask questions grounded in your lesson history. Paid plans let chat search your full history; Free searches your 5 most recent lessons. It's made for teachers, students, parents, and schools.

Arco runs on iPhone and iPad, and as a full web app at arco.app/start for desktop and tablet browsers. Sign in to the same account to access your synced lessons, chats, Journal, and Spaces. Sheet music photos stay on the device or browser where you added them.

Not yet. Use the Arco web app on a computer or tablet, including Android tablets. Android phones cannot open Arco yet; an Android app is forthcoming.

Press record to capture a lesson — or import one you already have — and Arco turns it into a transcript and practice-ready Lesson Notes you can review. You don't even need a lesson to start: chat with Arco about technique, repertoire, and practice from day one, and once you add lessons it draws on your own history too.

Journal is a private place for your own observations, practice reflections, and teaching thoughts. Write an entry or record a voice entry, optionally attach it to a lesson or Space, and search it later. When relevant, My Lessons chat can use a Journal entry and clearly attribute the observation to your Journal. Journal entries are never shared with Space members.

Open the Journal tab in your Library and write an entry, or record a voice entry and Arco transcribes it for you. You can add a title, and choose the Space and lesson the entry belongs to. You can also open Journal from inside a lesson or a Space: a new entry starts attached to what you are looking at, and you can change it before saving. Journal opened from a Space starts filtered to that Space, and one tap shows all your entries. Everything is searchable, and filterable by Space, from the Library later.

Yes. Arco works across instruments, voices, and styles, and handles lessons in many languages. Its musical expertise is especially deep for violin, but it's not limited to violin — or to English.

Yes. Sign in on iPhone, iPad, and the web to access your lessons, uploaded audio, chats, Journal, and Spaces. Audio must finish uploading before it is available elsewhere. A local audio download is separate from the cloud copy, and sheet music photos stay on their originating device or browser. If something looks out of date, check your connection and pull to refresh or reload. An account is for one person; sharing a login is not supported.

On iPhone and iPad you can record without internet; the lesson saves locally and uploads when you reconnect. You can review already-loaded notes and chats, and listen to audio stored on the device. Online-only audio needs internet. Processing, syncing, and sending new chat messages also need internet. Browser recording does not have the same background guarantees as the iPhone/iPad app.

Yes, on iPhone and iPad. Arco keeps recording in the background even if you switch to another app or lock your screen.

No. Record a lesson for as long as you need — there's no length limit.

Yes. Import audio from anywhere — Zoom, Voice Memos, or any recording app — and Arco creates a transcript and Lesson Notes just like a live lesson. Arco's own recording captures the audio around you, so it's ideal for in-person lessons; for an online lesson over Zoom or FaceTime, record the call in your video app and import that file.

Yes, when the source app offers Open in Arco or Copy to Arco for a supported audio file. Arco opens its import form so you can check the lesson date and Space before importing. The available actions depend on the app holding the file. If Arco is not offered, save the audio to Files, then use Import inside Arco.

Common audio files work — m4a, mp3, wav, and more — up to 100 MB each. On the web you can also drag and drop them in.

On the web you can import up to three audio files in a batch and set a date and Space for each one. Repeat with another batch to bring in a larger archive.

Yes. Paste in or upload a transcript and Arco will create Lesson Notes like any other lesson — great for turning written notes into something searchable.

Yes. Pick the instrument when you record so Lesson Notes use the right musical context, or set a default in Settings.

Yes. The audio is ready to play as soon as you save, even while the transcript and Lesson Notes are still being generated.

Processing usually finishes within a few minutes; longer lessons can take longer. First let Arco finish saving and confirm that it is safe to leave. Then processing continues in the background. On the web, keep the tab open until saving finishes. If you recorded offline on iPhone/iPad, reconnect so upload and processing can begin.

Very. Arco's transcription is built for music lessons, so instrument terms, pieces, and techniques come through clearly. You can always tweak Lesson Notes if you want to refine them.

Yes. It's built for real lessons, where a teacher and student talk back and forth, and it handles normal room sound well.

Yes. Open the lesson, edit the Lesson Notes, and save — your changes sync across your devices.

Alongside the main Lesson Notes, Arco can make a short recap, a student-friendly youth version, and a parent-facing version — handy for sharing the right level of detail.

Open a lesson, choose the Full, Short, Youth, or Parent version you want, then use the language control to select an available language. Arco translates that version and keeps the original. Choose Original to switch back. Copying or exporting Lesson Notes uses the version and language you are viewing. Translation changes the notes, not the recorded audio or transcript.

Yes. From the lesson you can reprocess to regenerate the transcript and Lesson Notes; a reprocess uses 1 credit, like the first time. If a lesson genuinely failed or looks wrong, email hello@arco.app and we'll make it right.

A Space organizes related lessons and, when other people join, automatically delivers original lessons to all joined members. Each person has their own lesson copies and a private name for the Space. A group Space shares lessons with everyone in that group.

Open a Space, create an invite link, and send it to whoever you want to add. Each link admits one person and expires after 30 days. Current members can reopen it to reach their Space. You can cancel a link, and a replacement link for the same saved member cancels earlier unused links. Anyone with the link can claim it. When they accept, existing original lessons and future lessons added by members start showing up in their Arco. To share only future lessons, create a new empty Space. If earlier lessons cannot be queued, the Space shows a retry action and Arco also retries automatically.

Not right away. A Space keeps your lessons organized even before anyone joins, and the invite link helps the other person get set up. Once they're in, they start receiving the lessons you put in that Space.

They get the lesson right in their own Arco — the Lesson Notes, the transcript, and the audio — so they can read it, listen back, and chat with it like any of their lessons. New lessons you add to the Space show up for them automatically, so a student or parent can follow progress over time without managing your library.

When you add someone, you mark them as a Teacher or a Student. A Space can include several people — an ensemble, a family, or a studio — and you stay in control as the person who set it up.

A few ways: record or import straight into a Space, or add an existing lesson to one anytime. You can also move a lesson from one Space to another whenever you reorganize.

A lesson has one place in your Spaces at a time. You can move it between Spaces or keep it unassigned in My Lessons. Moving an original into a shared Space sends copies to its joined members. Moving a received lesson only organizes your copy; it does not forward it to anyone else. Other people keep copies already delivered to them.

No. Removing a lesson from a Space just takes it out of that notebook — it stays in your library. Deleting a lesson is a separate, deliberate action.

No. When you share through a Space, the other person gets their own copy — they can't change or delete anything in your library. You're always in control of your originals.

Only names travel between copies. When a lesson names composers or mentions a piece Arco couldn't name, it shows a short list to check. Whoever reviews that list first fixes those names in every copy of the lesson, except where someone already changed that spot in their own notes. Any other edit changes only your copy. You can turn the list off in Settings. On iPhone and iPad, it arrives with the next app update.

Once you've joined a Space, new lessons your teacher adds show up in your library automatically, and you'll get a notification. If something hasn't appeared yet, pull to refresh.

Anyone can leave a Space, regardless of role. Your lesson copies stay in My Lessons unless you choose to erase them. If the creator leaves or closes the Space, sharing stops and each remaining member keeps a separate personal Space they own, including their lesson copies and private Space name. No one else remains a member of that personal Space.

Anything about music — technique, repertoire, interpretation, practice — or about your own lessons, like what you worked on last week or how a piece has progressed. Arco draws on expert musical knowledge and your own lesson history as needed.

Yes. Ask what your teacher said to recall your lesson history, then ask what Arco thinks of that advice or how it compares with broader teaching approaches. Arco can add perspective while distinguishing recorded advice from its own assessment. Say “Use only my lessons” to keep the answer within your history, or “Do not use my lessons” for a broader musical answer. Deep Dive changes reasoning depth, not access to sources.

Open Ask Arco from a lesson or Space, or identify the lesson, person, topic, or date range in your question. Arco searches the lesson history available to your account and plan. You do not need to attach a lesson manually; there is no manual lesson-attachment picker in chat. To ask about an audio file, import it as a lesson first. Chat uses processed transcripts and Lesson Notes, not direct listening to the audio.

Deep Dive turns on deeper reasoning for complex, multi-step questions. It costs 1 credit per response; regular chat is free.

Yes. Just ask naturally — like "what have I worked on with Sarah over the last three months?" Arco can focus on one lesson, one student, or a date range. On Free, My Lessons chat searches your 5 most recent lessons; paid plans can search the full library.

Yes, when they help. On a question about your own lessons, Arco can bring in a relevant Journal entry alongside your transcripts and Lesson Notes, and it will say the observation came from your Journal rather than from a lesson. Your Journal is still private — using it in your own chat never shares it with Space members.

Yes. Your chats are grouped by date, and you can search, rename, or delete any of them.

Open a Space and choose Lesson Plan. Arco uses that Space’s lesson history to generate a plan for the next session. Preview it, save it, or share it as a PDF. This action creates a document, not a chat. You can also ask ordinary practice-planning questions in Ask Arco.

Pick a date range — last 30 days, 3, 6, or 12 months, or all time — and Arco turns that student's lessons into a progress report you can save and share as a PDF.

Yes. From a lesson you can export a PDF (or Markdown on the web), or copy the Lesson Notes or transcript to your clipboard.

Yes. On both the iOS and web apps you can select multiple lessons and download them together as PDFs or Markdown files.

Yes. On the web you can save an Arco response as a PDF, with the option to include your question.

Processing a lesson uses 1 credit — that covers both the transcript and the Lesson Notes — and each Deep Dive response uses 1 credit. Regular chat and Journal do not use credits. Typed Journal entries are unlimited on every plan. Free includes 10 minutes of Journal voice transcription total for the lifetime of the account. Deleting voice entries does not restore used time. Paid plans include unlimited Journal voice transcription.

Every plan includes the full Arco workflow, a private Journal with unlimited typed entries, and regular chat. Free includes 10 minutes of Journal voice transcription total for the lifetime of the account. Deleting voice entries does not restore used time. Paid plans include unlimited Journal voice transcription. Plans also differ in monthly credits (Free 2, Starter 8, Pro 30, Studio 80, Studio Plus 215), lesson-history search, Google Drive backup, and received shared-lesson limits.

Studio Plus includes the same features as Studio and 215 credits each month. On the web it costs $99/month or $990/year. Annual billing still refills credits monthly; unused monthly credits do not roll over. Through Apple, Studio Plus is monthly only, at $113.99/month in the US with localized prices elsewhere. Subscribers can use Arco on both web and iOS regardless of where they subscribe. Manage your subscription through the provider you purchased from.

Yes. Upgrade anytime for more credits right away, or downgrade and keep your current plan until it renews. Your lessons, audio, Lesson Notes, Spaces, and chats are always safe and remain available. On Free, My Lessons chat searches only your 5 most recent lessons; upgrading restores full-history chat search.

Monthly plan credits reset each cycle and don't roll over. Top-up credits are different — they don't expire while your account is active and stack on top of your plan credits.

Yes. One-time top-ups add 5 or 15 credits without changing your plan, and they don't expire. Top-ups need a paid plan, so on Free you'd upgrade first.

Arco warns you as you get low, so it's never a surprise. Even at zero you can still chat, browse and search your library, manage Spaces, and export lessons. Processing new lessons and Deep Dive come back when your credits renew, you upgrade, or you buy a top-up.

Yes. Your plan and credits are tied to your account, so they work on iPhone, iPad, and the web no matter where you bought them.

The Founder’s Circle is a limited-time, one-time membership for teachers and musicians who want to help shape Arco. Members get a direct line to the team building Arco, a say in what we build next, and first access to new features. It includes 1,200 credits that never expire. There’s no subscription to lapse, so chat across your whole lesson library, Google Drive backup, and unlimited Journal stay on; when you need more credits, add a top-up. It was previously called Founding Lifetime, and existing memberships are unchanged.

You can subscribe either way, on any device. Subscribing directly through Arco is the lower-priced option; subscribing through Apple goes through your App Store account. Either way you get the same plan and credits everywhere — pick whichever you prefer.

If you subscribed through Apple, manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. If you subscribed directly through Arco, manage it in Settings. You can change or cancel anytime.

On iPhone or iPad, tap Restore Purchases on the paywall to re-sync with Apple. If it still doesn't show, email hello@arco.app and we'll sort it out.

For purchases through Apple, refunds are handled by Apple under their App Store policies. For purchases through Arco, email hello@arco.app within 7 days and we'll help with unused subscription time.

Promo codes are for eligible new or lapsed accounts and apply only to Pro Monthly, not top-ups, annual plans, or the Founder’s Circle. A code starts a free Pro trial with the whole trial’s credits up front, then renews as Pro Monthly unless canceled. On the web, Stripe shows the exact price and trial end before you confirm, and we'll email you 7 days before the first charge. On iPhone or iPad, use Redeem a code in Settings; Apple shows its price and renewal terms before you confirm. Earlier fixed-access promo grants keep their original end date and do not become subscriptions.

Yes. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, with strict access controls and regular security reviews to keep your lessons protected.

Only you, unless you choose to share. Your lessons are private to your account unless you add them to a Space or export them. Journal entries are always private to you and are never shared with Space members.

No. Arco doesn't use your recordings, transcripts, Lesson Notes, or chats to train its own AI models, and we don't allow our AI providers to use your lesson content to train their general models either. They only process what's needed to do the work you ask for.

Never. We don't sell your information or share it for advertising. Your data is only used to run Arco's features for you.

Your account, uploaded lesson audio, transcripts, Lesson Notes, chats, Journal, and Spaces are stored securely in Arco’s cloud on servers in the United States. On iPhone/iPad, recordings first save on your device. Sheet music photos stay on their originating device or browser; their chat and musical observations sync. Optional Google Drive backup stores separate copies in your own Drive.

This requires Arco 1.2.20 or later on iPhone/iPad. In versions with these controls, open a lesson’s menu and choose Remove Audio from This iPhone/iPad. For selected lessons, use Library → Edit → More; for a broader cleanup, use Settings → Data & Storage → Lesson audio → Free up space. Arco checks the cloud copy before removing local audio. Lesson Notes, transcripts, bookmarks, cloud audio, and other people’s copies remain. Listening then needs internet unless you download the audio again. Delete Recordings is a separate action.

This requires Arco 1.2.20 or later on iPhone/iPad. Settings → Data & Storage → Lesson audio includes Keep new audio on this iPhone/iPad, on by default. Turn it off to remove new microphone recordings’ local audio after Arco has safely saved them online and confirmed processing can continue. The setting applies to your account on this device only. Existing recordings, imports, restored lessons, and explicit offline downloads are kept. Turn it back on to keep future recordings; it does not download previously removed audio.

In Arco 1.2.20 or later on iPhone/iPad, an online-only lesson shows Online only · Internet required and a Download action. Download while connected before you need offline access. You can cancel a download or retry if it is interrupted. Advanced Player requires a local download for its loops, bookmarks, and offline playback. Downloading audio does not use a processing credit.

The audio-storage controls require Arco 1.2.20 or later on iPhone/iPad. They keep audio that is still uploading, in use, cannot stream in its format on the device, or whose cloud copy cannot be verified. Connect to the internet and let uploads and playback finish before trying again. The result shows how much space was actually freed and whether some audio was kept.

Yes. You own your recordings, transcripts, Lesson Notes, and notes. Arco only stores and processes them to provide the service, and you can export or delete them anytime.

Files already saved to your Google Drive stay in your Google account — they're yours. If you move to a plan without Drive backup, new automatic backups stop, but nothing already saved is affected.

You can delete your account anytime in Settings → Account → Delete Account. We lock it right away and remove your Arco data, with cleanup finishing in the background. Files already in your own Google Drive stay there, and we keep only minimal records the law requires.

It depends where you subscribed. A subscription bought directly through Arco is canceled when your account is deleted; an Apple subscription must be canceled separately in your App Store settings. It's worth exporting anything you want to keep first.

Yes. You're responsible for getting consent from anyone you record, and many places legally require it. For young students, that usually means a parent or guardian's OK first.

Web recording needs microphone access. Make sure your browser has allowed the mic for arco.app — if you blocked it before, re-enable it in your browser's site settings, then reload and try again.

Keep the recording tab open and the device awake while recording and saving. If the browser stops or the page closes, reopen Arco in the same browser and account. If Unsaved recording recovered appears, use Retry Save to upload the recovered audio. Recovery depends on audio already saved in that browser and may be incomplete. Do not clear browser storage while trying to recover it. Contact support if saving still fails.

Make room on your device before recording or downloading more audio. In Arco 1.2.20 or later on iPhone/iPad, Settings → Data & Storage → Lesson audio → Free up space removes eligible local audio while preserving verified cloud copies and lesson content. Clearing score photos is different: those photos cannot be downloaded again from Arco.

A few minutes is normal, and longer lessons take longer. If one seems stuck, open it and tap Reprocess if that's offered. If it still won't finish, email us the lesson title, the device, and your account email.

Check that both devices use the same account and have an internet connection. Let saving and upload finish on the original device, then pull to refresh or reload the other one. If it is still missing, contact support with the lesson title or chat name and tell us which device has it. Avoid deleting the original while investigating.

Check your connection if the audio is online only, and let a new recording finish uploading. On the web, reload the page after saving is complete. In Arco 1.2.20 or later on iPhone/iPad, use Download for offline playback or Retry after an interrupted download; make room on your device if storage is insufficient. If it still will not play, contact support with the lesson title and device.

Invite links work once and expire after 30 days, so an old or used link won't open. Just open the Space and make a fresh one.

Free accounts can receive up to 5 shared lessons. Moving, removing or deleting a received lesson doesn't make room for another. Past that, new ones show as unavailable until you upgrade. If you've already upgraded and they're still locked, refresh and then contact support.

First refresh, since deliveries take a moment. If you're the recipient, double-check you used the right invite link. If you're the owner, make sure the lesson is actually in that Space and wasn't removed. Still wrong? Email us the Space name, lesson title, and your account email.

Your account email, whether you're on iPhone, iPad, or web, what you expected, and what actually happened. A screenshot or short screen recording helps a lot.

Email hello@arco.app, or reach support from the app's Settings or at arco.app/support. We read every message and reply as quickly as we can.

Yes. If you're setting up Arco for a studio, school, or teaching team, email hello@arco.app and we'll help. Arco supports multiple teachers, students, and parents through Spaces, with exportable progress reports.