Creative skills 🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany Since 2014 4.7 · 66K ratings

flowkey

Piano app that listens as you play, with 1,500+ songs and step-by-step courses.

Visit flowkey.com Try flowkey free All companies
registered users, according to flowkey
15M+
songs in the library
1,500+
Premium for a year in the US
$149.99
on the App Store in the US, 65.5K ratings
4.7

About flowkey

flowkey is a Berlin company that makes a piano learning app for iPhone, iPad, Android and the browser. The app listens to an acoustic piano through the device microphone or connects to a digital piano over MIDI, USB or Bluetooth, and waits until the right notes are played. The library has more than 1,500 songs in up to four difficulty levels, plus courses on sheet music, chords and improvisation. In the US, Premium costs $24.99 a month or $149.99 a year, Classic $16.49 or $99.99, and Family $37.49 or $224.99; there is no lifetime plan. On Trustpilot flowkey has 4.0 from 409 reviews, and the App Store in the US shows 4.7 from 65,550 ratings.

flowkey teaches piano with songs and step-by-step courses. A learner opens a song, watches a pianist play it on video and follows the notes on a scrolling score. The app hears the piano through the microphone or a MIDI cable and stops until the right note or chord is played.

Jonas Gößling, Alexander Heesing and Ahmed Hassan started flowkey as students at the Technical University of Berlin. Gößling recorded the first 50 songs, Hassan programmed a web app, and flowkey GmbH was registered in Berlin in February 2014. The company raised €300,000 through the Seedmatch crowdfunding platform in 2014 and took money from four business angels. It has not taken venture capital.

flowkey has made a profit every year since 2017, €1.8 million in 2021. Yamaha gives buyers of its digital pianos and keyboards three months of Premium. In September 2026 flowkey added official ABRSM exam pieces for Grades 1 to 8.

History

  1. 2013 The founders file the flowkey wordmark in October.
  2. 2014 flowkey GmbH is registered in Berlin on 27 February with €25,000 capital.
  3. 2014 A crowdfunding campaign on Seedmatch raises €300,000.
  4. 2015 The iOS app goes live on the App Store on 21 August.
  5. 2015 The founders pitch on the German TV show Die Höhle der Löwen in October and take no deal. Cash flow turns positive after the broadcast.
  6. 2017 First annual profit, €216,339.
  7. 2021 Profit reaches €1.8 million with 45 employees on average.
  8. 2022 flowkey is one of three German apps that present to Apple CEO Tim Cook in Berlin in September.
  9. 2024 Co-founder Ahmed Hassan steps down as managing director in October.
  10. 2026 Adds official ABRSM exam pieces for Grades 1 to 8 in September.

flowkey funding and investors

about €300,000 disclosed
  1. Beta phase, before 2014
    Business angels Amount not disclosed

    Rüdiger ZarnekowHans Ulrich HelzerHeinz AckermannMarcel Risker

    Source: OMR
  2. 2014
    Crowdfunding €300,000

    Seedmatch crowd investors

    Source: OMR

Only the Seedmatch amount is public. Four business angels hold about 4% to 4.58% each, according to OMR; their investment was not disclosed. flowkey also received a startup grant from the Centre for Entrepreneurship at TU Berlin. The company has declined private equity offers.

Leadership

  • Jonas Gößling Co-founder, CEO and managing director
  • Alexander Heesing Co-founder and managing director

Co-founder Ahmed Hassan programmed the first web app and left the managing director role in October 2024. The careers page lists 45 people across engineering, content production, marketing, operations and customer support.

How flowkey lessons work

songs
1,500+
difficulty levels per song
4
free songs on a free account
8
  • Wait Mode
  • Just Play mode
  • Video of a pianist
  • Scrolling sheet music
  • Full sheet music view on tablets
  • Slow motion
  • Loop a section
  • Select a hand
  • Microphone note recognition
  • MIDI, USB and Bluetooth

Song library and courses

Song genres8

  • Classical
  • Pop
  • Rock
  • Jazz
  • Film and TV
  • Video game music
  • K-pop
  • Kids’ songs

Courses9

  • Introduction to the piano
  • Reading sheet music
  • Playing with both hands
  • Chords
  • Time signatures
  • Accompaniment patterns
  • Improvisation
  • Scales and arpeggios
  • Sight reading, 8 lessons

ABRSM exam pieces8

  • Initial Grade
  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2
  • Grade 3
  • Grade 4
  • Grade 5
  • Grade 6
  • Grade 8

flowkey gives the library as more than 1,500 songs on its Yamaha page and in other places as thousands. Each song comes in up to four arrangements from beginner to pro. Licensed pop songs can leave the library when a licence ends; flowkey warns users in advance. Classical and public domain pieces stay.

Products

  • flowkey app Songs with a video of a pianist, a scrolling score and Wait Mode, which waits for the right notes. Works with acoustic pianos through the microphone and with digital pianos over MIDI, USB or Bluetooth. Open flowkey.com
  • Courses Step-by-step courses for beginners and advanced players, from reading notes to chord progressions and improvisation. Online piano lessons
  • ABRSM exam pieces Official pieces from the ABRSM piano syllabus with feedback, slow mode, looping and hand separation. More than 20 pieces at launch, new ones monthly. Read the announcement
  • flowkey for Teachers Piano teachers share a discount code with students and get a share of the revenue. Public and private schools book an intro call. Become a Teacher Partner

How much is flowkey?

  • Classic $16.49/mo $16.49, billed monthly
  • Classic yearly $8.33/mo $99.99 a year, billed yearly
  • Premium $24.99/mo $24.99, billed monthly
  • Sold in the App Store too Premium yearly $12.50/mo $149.99 a year, billed yearly, 7-day trial
  • Family $37.49/mo $37.49, billed monthly
  • Family yearly $18.75/mo $224.99 a year, billed yearly

Is flowkey free?

A free account gives selected lessons and 8 songs with all learning tools, without a time limit. Yearly plans start with a 7-day free Premium trial. flowkey gives a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Discounts forYamaha buyers get 3 months of Premium, until 31 March 2027

US prices from the flowkey help center, article updated 4 August 2026, checked on 7 October 2026. Prices differ by country; the web app shows the local price or charges in US dollars or euros. Classic and Family are sold only in the web app, Premium also in the App Store and Google Play. No lifetime plan.

How to cancel flowkey

Help center
  • flowkey web app ↗
    1. Log in on a laptop or PC/Mac
    2. Click the gear icon in the bottom left corner to open Settings
    3. Click Account, then Unsubscribe
  • App Store ↗
    1. Open the App Store and tap your profile image
    2. Tap Subscriptions
    3. Select flowkey and cancel
  • Google Play ↗
    1. Open Google Play and tap the profile icon
    2. Choose Payments and subscriptions, then Subscriptions
    3. Select flowkey and tap Cancel subscription
  • Cancel at least 24 hours before renewal. Access stays until the end of the paid period.
  • A yearly plan is paid upfront for 12 months.
  • Premium from a Yamaha code or a gift voucher ends by itself and needs no cancelling.
  • Store purchases follow Apple and Google terms, so refunds for them go through the store.

Refund rules

Money-back
flowkey gives a 14-day money-back guarantee.
EU
14 days to withdraw from a web purchase. flowkey can keep a share for the service already used.
After renewal
A renewed web subscription can be ended any time with one month notice. If a charge started less than 48 hours before the end of the period, flowkey refunds it.
Price changes
flowkey emails price increases at least 30 days ahead, and the user can terminate from that date.
Family
No refunds for partly used months when the user cancels.

From the flowkey help center and terms of service of June 2026, checked on 7 October 2026.

flowkey for teachers and schools

For Teachers
  • 01Teachers get a personal discount code for students and a revenue share on each subscription.
  • 02Students practise at home with the same songs and courses.
  • 03Public and private schools book an intro call for a school offer.
  • 04Teacher partners write to partner@flowkey.com.

No public price for schools on 7 October 2026.

App ratings

4.0Trustpilot · Great 409 reviews · company profile claimed in July 2025

App details, App Store US

Current version
2.117.0, released 18 September 2026
First release on iOS
21 August 2015
Requires
iOS 15.6 or later, Android 11 or later
Size
115 MB
Age rating
4+
App Store categories
Education, Music
App interface languages
English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese
Price
Free to download, subscription inside

Is flowkey worth it?

What learners like

What learners criticise

What learners write in reviews, not our rating. A free account has 8 songs; Premium in the US costs $24.99 a month or $149.99 a year.

flowkey reviews

  • look i am 70..and I want to learn piano…
    “So many programs I tried were for kids, and/or did not focus on being able to read.”
    Frank Hansen · 23 September 2026 · App Store
  • Songs get removed
    “I’d invested a lot of time (nearly a year) in a piece when it was suddenly removed - this has happened twice now.”
    Maya Malik · 28 September 2026 · App Store
  • Unfair auto-renewal trap and zero customer support
    “I purchased a one-year subscription to Flowkey last year but had no intention of continuing it.”
    Mika Tuomola · 24 February 2026 · App Store

Latest news

  1. Practice ABRSM exam pieces with flowkey
  2. ‘There’s joy I haven’t felt for years’: The Guardian on learning piano with flowkey
  3. flowkey makes €1.8 million profit for the first time, deutsche-startups.de
  4. How flowkey grew without venture capital, OMR

Contacts and company data

Legal entity
flowkey GmbH, Alt-Moabit 103, 10559 Berlin, Germany
Commercial register
Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 156653 B
Registered
27 February 2014
Managing directors
Jonas Gößling, Alexander Heesing
VAT ID
DE293912857
LEI
391200GS6XA8ZE3OCV97
Profit 2021
€1.8 million, annual accounts reported by deutsche-startups.de

Programs and documentsAffiliate partner programTeacher partner programYamaha: 3 months of PremiumGift voucherImprint

Alternatives to flowkey

How we built this profile

  1. Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
  2. Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 7 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
  3. Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
  4. Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.

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flowkey FAQ

In the US on 7 October 2026: Premium costs $24.99 a month or $149.99 a year, Classic $16.49 or $99.99, and Family $37.49 or $224.99. Prices differ by country, and the app shows the local price before payment.

No. The yearly plan is the longest flowkey sells, according to its help center.

A free account gives selected lessons and 8 songs with all learning tools, without a time limit. Yearly plans start with a 7-day free Premium trial.

Classic has all courses plus classical and public domain pieces. Premium adds pop, rock, jazz, film, TV and video game music. Family is Premium for up to five profiles.

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