A looper app for guitar and vocals, right on your phone

Your phone can be a loop pedal for guitar and vocals. Record a guitar part from the mic, it keeps looping in time, and on top you sing, add a harmony, tap a beat on the body. In ten minutes you have a band where you play every part. Each mic take lasts as long as the loop, 8 bars at most. All you need is the phone, wired headphones and, if you like, a foot pedal.

From tempo to pedal: your first loop

1. Set the BPM (the tempo, in beats per minute) and the loop length. Decide now: once your voice is in the loops, the tempo is locked.
2. Get the mic ready. In the LOOP tab, tap the mic on an empty track (tracks are the layers of your song). The first time, on the speaker, the app offers a ten-second check that puts the mic in time: do it. Then plug in wired headphones: they keep a separate delay value, which you tweak if needed.
3. Record the guitar. Choose With the beat in the background or With the beat muted and play after the count-in.
4. Sing on top. Tap the mic on another empty track. For a new layer on the same track, tap its red mic.
5. Switch to your feet. A Bluetooth page turner works right away: Page Down records, Page Up undoes the last layer.

Want drums under the guitar? Play them on the pads, or start one of the Ready beats (loading them is part of the full version, included in the trial).

How do you want to hear the beat?

Every time you tap the mic, the app asks how you want to record:

• With the beat in the background: you hear the other tracks while you play. With wired headphones the loop comes out clean. On the speaker the beat would bleed in, and the app warns you.
• With the beat muted: everything else goes quiet and only the click remains to keep you in time.

A level bar shows the mic signal: speak or clap and it should move. The take lasts as long as your loop: 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars.

From then on it's a microphone track, and a small mic icon on its number says so. The red mic (or REC) on that track records again on top, layer by layer. REC while recording saves what you just played and carries on from the next loop.

Two rules to remember: the mic records on one track at a time, and once your voice is in the loops the BPM stays put.

Wired headphones, speaker or Bluetooth?

Wired headphones are the best choice. You hear the beat, the mic doesn't pick it up, and only your instrument goes into the track.

Bluetooth headphones add a delay that cannot be removed, between 100 and 300 milliseconds. You hear everything a moment late, which makes playing in time awkward. On the speaker the delay disappears, but the beat ends up in the recording: there, go for With the beat muted, knowing the click tick can still get in.

Why your layers land in time

Every phone has a delay between the sound coming out and the sound going into the mic. Left alone, layers land slightly behind the beat. The click test measures it in about ten seconds, and the first time you record with the mic the app offers it on its own.

The delay is stored separately for speaker, headphones and Bluetooth. With headphones or Bluetooth the click never reaches the mic: there you fine-tune it by hand with Latency tweak, with that output connected.

When to redo it: if mic layers come in late, for example after switching phones or headphones. Calibrate by tapping does the same for hits played on the pads.

Hands on the guitar: foot pedals

Bluetooth page turners. Sheet-music pedals work as soon as they're connected: Page Down records, Page Up undoes the last layer. If yours sends arrow keys instead, map it by hand.

MIDI pedals and controllers. USB ones connect on their own when you plug them in with the app open. Bluetooth ones are found with Search Bluetooth devices in MORE → MIDI. Notes, Control Change or Program Change: all of them work.

In MORE → MIDI → Foot switch & controller, tap Assign next to a command and press the pedal. There are six commands: Record / overdub, Play / stop, Undo last layer, Next track, Previous track and Mute the track. The "Last heard" line tells you right away if the pedal is getting through.

The REC pedal does what the REC button does: on a vocal track it records a new layer on top. Two actions still need a tap on the screen, for safety: starting the first mic recording and, with the confirmation on (as it is by default), removing the last remaining layer of a track. All the details are on the loop station with a pedal page.

Tips for the stage

• Name your tracks. Tap the name and type "guitar", "vocals", "harmony": on stage a number tells you nothing.
• Use mute in time. In MORE, set Mute in time to 1 bar or End of loop: tap a track number and it drops in or out right on time.
• Pick your count-in. One bar of clicks by default; in MORE make it two bars or turn it off.
• Rehearse at home first, with the phone and headphones you'll use, and check your pedal shows up under "Last heard".

One track for guitar and one for vocals is enough to start, and those 2 mic tracks stay free forever. In the full version harmonies, percussion and everything else get their own track, up to 16, and you can use all of them during the 7-day trial. For how the looper works in general, see the looper app page.

Recording your set

Record performance captures up to 30 minutes live, with or without the click, mistakes included: like recording a gig. It holds what comes out of the app: loops (mic ones too), pads and effects. When you stop, the share sheet opens, and if you don't send it, it's offered again next time.

Just want the clean song? Export in the LOOP tab makes an MP3 or WAV of the loops, or one WAV per track to mix on a computer. Both belong to the full version and work during the trial: that's how the song you looped leaves the phone. To sing over a ready-made beat, read the guide to recording vocals over a beat.

Live looping questions

Is there a looper app for guitar on Android?

Yes. PadLoop runs on Android and iPhone and records from the phone's mic onto tracks that loop in time: one for guitar, one for vocals, more for harmonies and percussion. A Bluetooth page turner or MIDI pedal runs it with your feet.

Can I use my phone as a loop pedal without an audio interface?

Yes. PadLoop records from the phone's microphone: an acoustic guitar goes straight in, an electric through the sound of its amp. Sit close to the phone and wear wired headphones so only the instrument gets recorded.

Can I loop my voice too?

Yes. Any empty track records from the mic, so your voice, a harmony or beatbox each get their own track, all in time. The mic records one track at a time.

Why does my recorded voice come in late?

Every phone has its own delay between the sound and the microphone. Run Calibrate latency (click test) in MORE, on the phone speaker: about ten seconds, and after that your layers land where you played them.

What foot pedal works with the looper?

A Bluetooth page-turner pedal works right away: Page Down records, Page Up undoes the last layer. If your pedal sends other keys, or you have a MIDI pedal, map it in MORE → MIDI → Foot switch & controller.

Can I use Bluetooth headphones?

You can, but they add a delay that cannot be removed, somewhere between 100 and 300 milliseconds. For playing live, wired headphones or the speaker work much better.

Is the looper app free?

The 2 free looper tracks record from the microphone too, forever. You get everything free for 7 days; after that, a single one-time purchase, no subscription, gives you up to 16 tracks and Record performance: a whole arrangement and the recording of your set.

Can I record my whole live set?

Yes, with Record performance: it captures up to 30 minutes of what the app plays, loops, pads and effects included, and opens the share sheet when you stop. It's part of the full version and included in the 7-day trial.

Last updated: 21 October 2026