Do chord chart apps work without wifi?

The native ones generally do, because the library sits on the device: SongBook ChordPro, OnSong and JustChords all read a chart with no connection. The library-style apps are the ones to check, since their base tier expects a connection and offline access is a paid add-on, sometimes with a cap on how many charts you can hold at once.

What does “works offline” actually mean in an app store listing?

One of three things. The whole library lives on the device from the start; or a paid tier lets you download a set number of items in advance; or whatever you have already opened stays available. All three are described the same way, and only the first is true for a song you have never opened on that device.

How do I make sure my setlist works with no signal?

Open every song in the set at least once, on the device you are taking, while you still have signal — then turn the wifi off at home and check the same songs again. That last step takes thirty seconds and is the only one that proves anything, because it is the one that tests what your app actually meant by offline.

Does Strumfolio work offline?

Yes, once a song has been opened: it is cached and stays readable with no signal, on the free plan and every plan above it. What it does not have is a bulk “download my songbook” button, so a song you have never opened is not on the device. Opening tonight’s set once before you leave covers it, and costs about thirty seconds.

Best offline chord chart apps (no wifi)

"Works offline" gets printed on a lot of app store pages, and it means at least three different things. Sometimes it means the whole library lives on the device from the start. Sometimes it means a paid tier lets you download a fixed number of items in advance. And sometimes it means whatever you already opened stays open — which is real, but only for what you remembered to open before the signal dropped.

Those three are not degrees of the same promise. The first keeps working on a device that has never seen a network; the third keeps working only for songs you touched while you had one. Both are honestly described as offline, and the difference between them is the difference between a set that happens and a set that does not.

A basement rehearsal room, a festival field, a venue that has never had reliable wifi: the apps below, sorted by which of those three you are actually getting.

Built offline-first

SongBook ChordPro. Reads its files off the device, full stop. No account is even required to use what you already have on it — sync through Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud or SongBook Cloud is there if you want it, not a requirement to read a song. iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and macOS, bought per platform. Full comparison.

OnSong. The library sits on the device once it is in your account, and everything that makes it a stage rig — hands-free scroll, the foot pedal, backing and click tracks, MIDI — keeps working with no connection, because none of it was ever calling out to a server mid-set. iPhone, iPad and Mac only. Full comparison.

JustChords. Same story for the sheet itself — transposing, capo, diagrams, the metronome and tuner all run locally. One real exception: the audio tracks feature streams from Spotify or Apple Music, so that one feature needs a connection even though the chart it plays along with does not. iPhone, iPad and Mac. Full comparison.

Offline as a paid add-on, with a cap

Ultimate Guitar Pro. The base app is a tab library that expects a connection. Pro adds offline downloads capped at 100 tabs at a time; Pro+ removes the cap. Fine if you plan the set list a day ahead and download it deliberately — not fine if you are relying on the free tier and assuming "Pro" already covers you.

Songsterr Plus. Offline here means "previously opened tabs stay available," with cache size set in the app's settings — the same shape of promise the browser-based apps below make, gated behind a $9.99-a-month subscription rather than free. Prices as listed in August 2026.

Cache-as-you-read, and what that actually promises

Strumfolio. No install and no per-platform purchase — the same URL is the app everywhere — and once a song has been opened, it is cached and stays readable with no signal, indefinitely, on the free plan and every plan above it.

The honest caveat, stated plainly rather than left for a reader to discover on stage: this is cache-as-you-read, not a bulk "download my songbook" button. A song that has never been opened is not on the device, and no signal means no first look at it. The fix costs nothing and takes thirty seconds — open every song in tonight's set once, while there is still a signal to open it with, ideally the night before rather than in the car park. How ChordPro sheets get into Strumfolio in the first place if the set is not in the app yet, and the ChordPro converter if you would rather try the conversion before signing up for anything.

What does not make this list

A tab site that only exists as ads-supported pages in a browser tab is not on it, however good the chords are, because closing the tab or losing signal loses the page. That is a different failure from anything above: it is not a cap or a feature gate, it is the absence of an offline mode at all.

Picking one

You want to buy an app once and never touch a settings menu for it: SongBook.
The set needs a foot pedal, backing tracks or MIDI, with or without signal: OnSong.
You are already paying Ultimate Guitar or Songsterr and just need to remember to download: do that a day ahead, not at soundcheck.
The room has mixed devices and you would rather open every song once tonight than manage a download list: Strumfolio.

The five-minute check before you leave the house

Whichever one you pick, the habit matters more than the app. None of these can keep a promise about a song nobody ever opened, so the routine is the same in all of them:

Open tonight's set, song by song, on the device you are taking. Not the list — the songs. Opening a setlist is not the same as opening what is in it.
Do it on the device that goes to the gig, not on the laptop where you edited the sheets. Caches are per device, and so are downloads.
Then turn the wifi off and look again. Thirty seconds, at home, where being wrong is free. This is the only step that actually proves anything.
Charge the thing. An offline chart on a dead tablet is a printed setlist you did not bring.

Step three is the one people skip and the one that catches everything: a wrong assumption about what "offline" meant in your app is very cheap to discover in the kitchen and very expensive to discover in the room.

See also: the full six-app round-up this list is drawn from, and the pick for a solo performer if there is no band to worry about syncing.

Questions people ask

Do chord chart apps work without wifi?: The native ones generally do, because the library sits on the device: SongBook ChordPro, OnSong and JustChords all read a chart with no connection. The library-style apps are the ones to check, since their base tier expects a connection and offline access is a paid add-on, sometimes with a cap on how many charts you can hold at once.
What does “works offline” actually mean in an app store listing?: One of three things. The whole library lives on the device from the start; or a paid tier lets you download a set number of items in advance; or whatever you have already opened stays available. All three are described the same way, and only the first is true for a song you have never opened on that device.
How do I make sure my setlist works with no signal?: Open every song in the set at least once, on the device you are taking, while you still have signal — then turn the wifi off at home and check the same songs again. That last step takes thirty seconds and is the only one that proves anything, because it is the one that tests what your app actually meant by offline.
Does Strumfolio work offline?: Yes, once a song has been opened: it is cached and stays readable with no signal, on the free plan and every plan above it. What it does not have is a bulk “download my songbook” button, so a song you have never opened is not on the device. Opening tonight’s set once before you leave covers it, and costs about thirty seconds.