Mobile app

PianoKitty runs in your phone's browser — there is nothing to download from the App Store or Google Play. Adding it to your home screen gives you an app icon, a full screen without the browser bars, and practice reminders.

Why install it

  • An icon on your home screen — one tap instead of finding a bookmark.
  • Full screen — no address bar eating the top of the keyboard.
  • Practice reminders — a friendly nudge around the time you usually play. On iPhone and iPad this is the only way to get them; see below.

Everything else works the same either way. Your progress lives in your account, so installing changes nothing about your streak or your history.

Android

Use Chrome (Edge, Brave and Samsung Internet work the same way).

  1. Open PianoKitty in the browser and sign in.
  2. Tap the ⋮ menu in the top-right corner.
  3. Choose Add to Home screen (some versions say Install app).
  4. Confirm with Install. The icon appears on your home screen.

On Android, reminders also work in an ordinary browser tab — you do not have to install first. Installing just makes it nicer to open.

iPhone and iPad

You need Safari and iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or newer.

  1. Open PianoKitty in Safari and sign in.
  2. Tap the Share button (the square with an arrow pointing up).
  3. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen.
  4. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
  5. Close Safari and open PianoKitty from the new home-screen icon.

Step 5 is the one people miss. Apple grants notifications only to a web app launched from the home screen — in a Safari tab the option simply is not there, however many times you tap it. If you turn reminders on and nothing happens, check you are in the installed app and not a tab: the address bar is gone in the installed one.

Add to Home Screen also exists in Chrome and Firefox on iOS, but only Safari's version can receive notifications. If you already added it from another browser, delete that icon and redo it from Safari.

Turning on practice reminders

Once the app is installed (or, on Android, in any tab):

  1. Open Preferences → Notifications.
  2. Turn on Practice reminders on this device.
  3. Your phone asks for permission — tap Allow.
  4. Tap Send a test notification to check it arrives.

We never ask for permission on our own. The prompt only ever appears because you turned that switch on, and it is per device — turning it on on your phone does not turn it on on your laptop.

Under When on the same page you can pick the hour, or leave it automatic and we use the time you usually practice. Quiet hours are respected, with one exception: if your streak is still going, a short reminder can arrive half an hour before midnight. Reminder emails have their own switch and are separate from notifications.

If something does not work

The permission prompt never appeared

It appears once. If it was dismissed or declined, the browser will not ask again and you have to allow notifications in the phone's settings:

  • iPhone/iPad — Settings → Notifications → PianoKitty → Allow Notifications.
  • Android — long-press the icon → App info → Notifications, or in Chrome: ⋮ → Settings → Site settings → Notifications.

The switch turns itself back off

The page will tell you why, just under the switch. "Add PianoKitty to your Home Screen first" means you are in a Safari tab on iOS. Anything else is worth reporting — copy the gray line of text with the message.

Reminders stopped arriving

Deleting and re-adding the home-screen icon, or clearing the site's data, ends the subscription. Open Preferences → Notifications and switch reminders on again.

I practiced but still got a reminder

Reminders are canceled by practice on the device you practice on, as soon as it is online. If you practiced offline, or on a device that has since been closed, the day may not have reached us yet.

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