Android Help

Band Central for Android requires Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) or later, which is API level 23 and above. Most phones and tablets made in 2016 or later qualify. On an older device you can still use the full app at www.bandcentral.com in any modern browser.

Open Band Central and sign in once — your account is created automatically the first time. You can sign in with Google or Email. Your email address is your account: signing in with any of those methods using the same address (for example banduser@gmail.com) always reaches the same account, so you never end up with duplicates. After signing in, create a band or join one to start adding songs and setlists.

If you sign in with Email, tap "Forgot Password" on the email sign-in screen to get a reset link. If you use Sign in with Google, there is no separate Band Central password — your sign-in is managed by Google.

A band is a shared workspace. Everyone in the band sees the same songs, lyrics, and setlists, and changes sync to all members automatically. The person who creates the band is the owner and is the only one who can add or remove members and hold the subscription that covers everyone.

Only the band owner can change members. Open the Bands page, tap the info button next to the band, and choose Edit; the member section is at the bottom. The person must already have a Band Central account — have them sign in once to create it, then search for them by email and add them. On Android, tapping Add User commits immediately — there is no separate Save for the member list (Save/Cancel only apply to the band name and details). There is no pending-invite step yet, so accounts are created first, then added.

Yes. Band Central (version 3.5 and later) lets you draw, highlight, and add typed notes right on top of any PDF chart or ChordPro lyric, using your finger or a stylus. Open a song, open its lyric or chart, then tap the three-dot menu and choose Annotate. Your marks save automatically and stay with that song — great for marking cuts, repeats, key changes, cues, and rehearsal notes.

The toolbar has four tools, a 10-color palette, and several line thicknesses:

• Pen — a solid line for writing and circling.
• Highlighter — a translucent line for highlighting chords or lyrics.
• Eraser — removes a whole stroke when you tap it.
• Text note — drops a typed, movable note box.

Your last-used tool, color, and sizes are remembered for next time.

Choose the Highlighter tool, pick a color, and drag across the chords or words you want to mark. The highlighter is semi-transparent so the text underneath stays readable. Pick a thicker line size for a wider highlight.

Choose the Text tool, then tap where you want the note and start typing. To move a note, drag it. To edit it, tap it. To delete it, tap it and use the X. You can also long-press anywhere on the chart to drop a note at that spot. Each note has its own size and color.

Use the Eraser tool and tap a stroke to remove that whole stroke. The Undo button removes your most recent stroke. To wipe every mark on the chart, open the tool menu and choose Clear all annotations.

Yes. Annotations are shared with the whole band per chart — everyone who opens that chart sees the same marks, and anyone can add to them. When you are online, changes appear on your bandmates' devices in real time; offline, your marks are saved on your device and sync the next time you have a connection. It is one shared set of markings per chart, not a private copy per person. (A song with several charts keeps a separate set of marks on each.)

No. Annotations are an overlay drawn on top of the chart — your original PDF and any file in Dropbox are never modified. If you want a marked-up file to send or print, use Share/Print, which creates a separate flattened copy and leaves the source untouched.

Both. You can draw and add notes on PDF charts and on ChordPro/text lyrics. On a ChordPro lyric the marks anchor to the line of text they sit on, so they stay in the right place when the text reflows, when you change the Text Size, or when you open the song on a different device or screen size.

Yes, for PDF charts. Open the chart, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Share to send a flattened PDF copy, or Print to print one. Band Central bakes your pen, highlighter, and text-note marks into the copy; your original chart and any Dropbox file are never changed.

No. You can draw with your finger. A capacitive stylus gives you finer control for small notes and precise highlighting, but it is optional.

Not yet. Drawing and markup is an iOS and Android feature. The website shows your lyrics and ChordPro charts but does not yet support PDF markup. Annotations you make in the apps are stored with the song, so they are there waiting whenever you open it on a phone or tablet.

Tap the info button next to a song and choose Lyric Versions (labeled "Lyrics" in versions before 3.5) to see every lyric the song has. Tap the info button next to a lyric to edit it. A single song can hold several lyric versions — for example plain words for a singer, chords-over-lyrics (ChordPro) for a guitarist, and a PDF chart for a horn player.

Open the song's Lyric Versions list and tap the + (add) button. There are two ways to get there:

1. From the song list: tap the info button next to a song — in your Songs catalog or inside a setlist — and choose Lyric Versions.
2. From the lyric view: while reading any lyric, tap the three-dot menu and choose Lyric Versions (version 3.5 and later).

Give the version a name (new ones are numbered automatically — "Version 2", "Version 3"), then type or paste the words as plain text or ChordPro and save. You can also attach a PDF, DOCX, or image as a version instead of text. If a song has no lyrics yet, opening it also offers an Add Lyric button directly.

In the lyric view, tap the three-dot menu and choose Lyric Versions (version 3.5 and later). The song's full version list opens; tap the version you want — or tap + to add a new one — and you land right back on the lyric showing that version, with its own transpose, text size, and formatting applied. It works the same whether you opened the song from Songs or from a setlist. Switching this way only changes what you are viewing; your starred default lyric stays the same.

Different players need different views of the same song. Instead of duplicating the song, you add several lyric versions to it — plain lyrics, a ChordPro chord chart, a number/Nashville chart, a PDF — and each band member picks the one they want as their default. Everyone opens the same song and sees exactly the version they need.

Your default is the lyric that opens automatically for a song, marked with a star. It is saved per person, so each band member can have a different default for the same song. Adding a new lyric and starring it makes it your default and clears your previous one — you always have exactly one starred lyric per song. If you have never set one, the app shows the first lyric it finds.

ChordPro is a plain-text way to write chords above lyrics. Chords go in square brackets right before the syllable they fall on, like [G]Amazing [D]grace, and Band Central renders the chords positioned above the words. It is the standard shared by most chord apps. Learn more at chordpro.org.

Band Central understands the common ChordPro directives, including:

• Song info: {title}, {subtitle}, {artist}, {key}, {tempo}, {time}, {capo}, {comment} (or {c:})
• Section headers: [Verse], [Chorus], [Bridge], [Intro], [Solo], etc. on their own line (qualifiers like [Chorus (x2)] are fine)
• Chorus / bridge gutter: {start_of_chorus}...{end_of_chorus} ({soc}/{eoc}) and {start_of_bridge}...{end_of_bridge}
• Highlight: {soh}...{eoh} draws a highlight band
• Tab blocks: {start_of_tab}...{end_of_tab}
• Page break for printing: {pagebreak} / {new_page}

Use <b>...</b> for bold text — square brackets are reserved for chords.

Open a ChordPro lyric and tap the transpose control (the up/down arrows) to shift every chord up or down by half-steps. This is a display offset saved with that lyric — it changes what you see on screen but does not rewrite the chords in the text or change the saved key. Each lyric keeps its own transpose setting.

In the lyric viewer, tap the auto-scroll button to scroll the lyrics hands-free, and use the speed control to set the pace. The scroll speed is saved per lyric, so a fast song and a ballad can each keep their own pace. You can also start auto-scroll from a Bluetooth pedal.

Pinch to zoom on the lyric, or use the Text Size control in the menu, to make the lyrics bigger or smaller (roughly 50% to 300%). Your size is remembered per device and syncs across your devices, so a chart you sized up on your phone opens large on your tablet too.

On Android, the in-app Lyric Search looks up a song on the web (Google, Ultimate Guitar, Chordie, and more) and lets you save the result onto the song as a ChordPro lyric. This is rolling out to iOS; in the meantime you can paste lyrics into a new lyric or import a file.

Yes. Open a lyric, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Format Lyrics (Format Settings). You can style each part of the lyric separately — chords, lyric text, section headers, the title, subtitles, comments, highlights, tab, and the key/tempo line — setting the font, size, bold/italic/underline, text color, and background color for each. Your formatting syncs across your devices and shows on the website too.

Both, your choice. When you save Format Lyrics you can apply it as your personal default (just for you), as the band default (everyone in the band), or to that one lyric only. That way a guitarist can make chords big and bold for themselves without changing what the singer sees.

Yes. The song's key and tempo can show in the top corner of the lyric (for example "Key A" and "120 bpm"). Each line appears only if that value is set and its toggle is on, and the key/tempo text adapts to light and dark mode. You can restyle it like any other lyric part in Format Lyrics.

Yes — turn on Page Sections (Section View). Instead of one long scroll, each verse, chorus, or section fills the screen, and you flip through them by swiping up/down or with a foot pedal. The first page pairs the song header with the first section. It is a clean way to perform from large, readable text without scrolling.

Yes. Band Central follows your device's light or dark appearance, and the lyric view, chord colors, and key/tempo header all adapt so they stay readable on a dark stage or in bright sun.

Tap the "+" on the Songs tab and enter the title, artist, and any details you want — key, tempo, time signature, duration, genre, tags. From the song you can add one or more lyrics, attach a PDF or audio file, and set the tempo for the metronome.

Tap a song to open it, then tap the edit (pencil) icon to change its details, lyrics, key, tempo, or other fields. Changes sync to the rest of your band automatically.

Use the search bar at the top of the Songs tab to search by title or artist. Tap the filter icon to narrow the list by one or more tags. Use the A-Z index down the side to jump quickly through a large library.

Yes — from plain-text and ChordPro files (via Dropbox), and from your existing Setlist Helper library. See the Import & Export and Migration sections for the step-by-step.

Go to the Setlists tab, tap "+", give it a name (and optionally a date, venue, and notes), then add songs from your band's library. The same song can live in as many setlists as you like — a setlist references your songs, it does not copy them.

Tap Reorder (Arrange) to unlock dragging, then drag songs into the order you want and tap Done. Reordering is behind an explicit mode on purpose, so a song can't get dragged out of place by accident mid-show. Your order saves automatically.

Yes — add a Break row anywhere in the set (for a between-sets pause or banter). Band Central adds up each song's duration to show the total running time, and break rows show the running time up to that point so you can pace the set. Setlist total time does not include break length.

Yes. Inside a setlist you can override a song's key, tempo, or notes for that set without changing the master song. Handy when you play a number in a different key for a particular gig or singer.

Yes. Setlists are shared with everyone in the band and update in real time, so the whole band is reading from the same set during the show.

The best printed setlists come from the website at bandcentral.com: open the setlist, choose Print, and you get 1-, 2-, or 3-column layouts, adjustable font size, and Save as PDF. Breaks print as clear dividers.

Open a song and tap the metronome icon. It uses that song's tempo (BPM) and time signature, accents beat 1 of each measure, and shows a beat indicator. Tap play to start the click. Because the tempo lives on the song, every song clicks at its own speed automatically.

Edit the song and enter the BPM, or use Tap Tempo — tap the button in time with the song and Band Central works out the BPM for you. The metronome supports roughly 30 to 300 BPM.

Yes. Set the time signature on the song (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, and so on) and the metronome accents the downbeat to match. You can also choose from several click sounds and adjust the size of the on-screen metronome.

Yes — there is a free online metronome at bandcentral.com/tools/metronome, along with a Tap Tempo tool, no account needed.

Edit the song and choose Add Audio. You can pick a file from your device or from Dropbox. Supported formats include MP3, M4A, WAV, and AIFF — useful for reference tracks, backing tracks, or click guides.

Open a song that has audio attached and tap play; you get play/pause and a seek slider, plus lock-screen controls. Per lyric you can choose whether the player shows, whether audio starts when you open the song, whether it stops when you leave, whether auto-scroll or the metronome start with playback, and whether it moves to the next song when the track ends.

Attach a PDF (or image, or DOCX) to a song as one of its lyrics. The most reliable way to bring charts in for a whole library is to import them from Dropbox — see the next answer. Once attached, the chart opens in the lyric viewer where you can zoom, auto-scroll, and annotate it.

Put your charts (and any audio) in one Dropbox folder, then in Band Central open your band and tap Import and connect Dropbox when prompted. Band Central links the files to your songs. Dropbox is the supported cloud — other services go through the generic file picker and are less reliable.

Song data syncs automatically, but the actual PDF/audio files download per device. On the second device, open Songs and choose Update Dropbox Files to pull the files down locally. Tip: run the original import on one device only — the others fill in through sync, so importing on several devices is what makes everything look doubled.

Not currently. PDF, DOCX, image, and audio attachments work in the iOS and Android apps; the website shows text and ChordPro lyrics but cannot display or play attached files yet.

Band Central for Android works with standard Bluetooth page-turner pedals that act as a keyboard (Bluetooth HID), which is most pedals sold for music use. They let you turn pages, move between songs, and start auto-scroll hands-free.

1. Pair the pedal with Android first, in Settings > Connected devices > Bluetooth.
2. Open Band Central and use the Detect Pedals / pedal settings screen to confirm it and choose what each button does.

Most pedals send arrow / page keys and work as soon as they are paired.

You can assign actions such as scroll up, scroll down, next song, previous song, and start auto-scroll. Pedals with their own configuration app let you change which keystroke each button sends; Band Central maps those keystrokes to actions.

Android can power down Bluetooth to save battery. If your pedal drops out, turn off battery optimization for Band Central (Settings > Apps > Band Central > Battery), keep the screen awake, and make sure the pedal is charged and still paired.

Open Tags and tap "+" to make a tag like "Rock," "Acoustic," "Set 1," or "Learn." Assign tags when you edit a song. Then on the Songs tab tap the filter icon and pick tags to show only those songs — handy for pulling up a genre, a mood, or songs you are still learning.

No. Once you have signed in and opened your songs, lyrics, and setlists at least once, they are cached on the device and available with no wifi or cell signal — performing on stage never needs a connection. A connection is only used to sync changes between bandmates or pull down something brand-new, and that happens automatically in the background. For rooms with flaky wifi, turn on Cache Mode in Settings so the app won't even try to reach the network during the show.

Band Central syncs your songs, setlists, lyrics, and settings through the cloud whenever you are online. There is no Sync button — changes you make are queued and sent automatically, and your bandmates' changes arrive in real time when the app is open.

Yes. Offline you can keep editing songs, lyrics, setlists, text size, and scroll speed as usual — every change is saved to a local cache. When you are back online, open Band Central and give it a moment; queued changes sync within a few seconds. Don't uninstall the app while changes are pending, as that discards the local cache before it can sync.

Band Central uses last-write-wins: if two people change the same song at once, the most recent save is kept. For big edits it helps to coordinate with your bandmates so you are not overwriting each other.

Follow the step-by-step Migration Guide. In short: sign in at bandcentral.com, create a band, and use Import to bring in your Setlist Helper songs, lyrics, and files. Run the import on one device — your others fill in through sync.

Plain-text (.txt) and ChordPro (.cho, .chopro, .chordpro, .crd, .pro) files as lyrics, PDFs and images as charts, and MP3/M4A/WAV/AIFF as audio. Lyric and document files come in through the Dropbox import; audio can come from your device or Dropbox.

Yes. From the Songs list, open the menu and choose Export to save your catalog as ChordPro (.chordpro) files. The export is compatible with Setlist Helper, OnSong, SongBook+, and other ChordPro apps. For spreadsheet-style exports (CSV) of song and setlist lists, use the website.

No. Every feature — ChordPro, PDF charts, annotations, transpose, auto-scroll, metronome, audio, pedals — is available on every plan, including Free. A subscription only raises the limits on how many bands, members, songs, and setlists you can have.

Only the band owner. When the owner subscribes, every member of that band gets the higher limits — bandmates never pay. You only need your own subscription to own more than one band, add members beyond the free limit, or keep more than 50 songs in a band you own.

• Free — 1 band, 1 member, up to 50 songs, up to 5 setlists.
• Solo/Duo ($14.99/yr) — 2 bands, 2 members, unlimited songs & setlists.
• Small Band ($29.99/yr) — 5 bands, 6 members.
• Medium Band ($59.99/yr) — 10 bands, 20 members.
• Large Band ($79.99/yr) — unlimited bands, 100 members.
• Extra Large ($99.99/yr) — unlimited bands, 500 members.

Member counts are per band. Full details are on the Plans & Subscriptions page and the pricing page.

Subscriptions are purchased inside the Android app and billed through Google Play, so you manage or cancel them in your Google Play account. Your paid limits then apply everywhere you sign in, including the website and your other devices.

Upgrades take effect right away and are prorated. Downgrades take effect at the next renewal, so you keep your current limits until then. It is a single subscription you change in place — no need to cancel and re-subscribe.

Band Central runs on cloud infrastructure — real-time sync, storage, and accounts — that costs money every month, so it is sold as a low yearly subscription rather than a one-time fee. The classic Setlist Helper app is still available and your old purchase there still works.

Open your profile from the menu to edit your display name and see your email, subscription, sign-in method, and member-since date. Your display name is what bandmates see in the band member list.

If you signed up with Email, you can send yourself a password-reset link. If you signed in with Google, your sign-in is handled there; you can still add an email/password later if you want a second way in. One email address is always one account, no matter how you sign in.

Deleting hides the item right away but keeps it on the server for 30 days before it is permanently removed, rather than erasing it instantly. Deleting also clears that item's attached document and audio files from the "Update Dropbox Files" list on everyone's devices, so files for deleted songs stop showing up. This matches how the website and both apps work.

We have a complete, screenshot-by-screenshot guide. See the Setlist Helper to Band Central Migration Guide for everything: getting the apps, importing at bandcentral.com, syncing your Dropbox files, and what carries over.

Song data syncs automatically, but the PDF/audio files download per device. Open Songs and choose Update Dropbox Files on this device to pull them down. Only run the original Dropbox import on one device — the rest fill in through sync.

Make sure you have an internet connection — sync needs one. If you are connected but a change isn't appearing, force-close and reopen the app to nudge the queue, and confirm both devices are signed in to the same account. Remember there is no Sync button; syncing is automatic.

Close and reopen the app, and make sure you are on the latest version from the Google Play Store. If it persists, clear the app cache (Settings > Apps > Band Central > Storage > Clear Cache) and sign back in.

Use our contact page to send a support request. Include your device model and Android version so we can help faster.