Support

Common questions, and how to reach us.

Email us

Write to support@thetotaltubist.com. Tell us what device you’re on and what you were doing when the problem happened. A screenshot helps.

Email support

Jump to: Getting started · Founding members · Lessons and masterclasses · Sound and microphone · Your music on every device · Reminders and widgets · Purchases and account

Getting started

Download The Total Tubist from the App Store and create an account. New Basic subscribers get the first 2 weeks free through the App Store. After that it’s $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year unless you cancel in Settings at least 24 hours before the trial ends.

  • Free: practice tracking, metronome, tuner, drones, and your teacher’s studio leaderboard.
  • Basic: adds the recorder, My Music, mock auditions, the audition prep plan, the scale generator, drum beats, the routine generator, and the global leaderboard.
  • Participant: adds every lesson and masterclass, the community board, play-along tracks, and the intonation map.
  • Pro: everything in Participant, plus weekly feedback from our teachers on a recording you send.

Full details are on the pricing section.

Founding members

Founding member plans are paid once on our founding members page and sold through November 14. They don’t renew on their own.

  • Your months start November 15, when lessons and masterclasses open, so you don’t lose any time.
  • Your free Founding Member T-shirt ships to the address and size you enter at checkout.
  • Use the same email to pay and to sign in to the app. Your plan switches on as soon as you sign in and confirm your email.
  • Plan not showing? Make sure you confirmed your email, then close and reopen the app. If you paid with a different email than your account, write to us and we’ll move it over.
  • When your founding months end, your account goes back to the plan it had before. You can keep going by subscribing in the app.

Lessons and masterclasses

Live masterclasses

There are 4 live masterclasses a month, one every week, and one of them each month is with a guest artist.

  • Upcoming masterclasses are on the Home screen. Open one to tap I’m going and add it to your practice calendar, Apple Calendar, or Google Calendar.
  • To perform, enter the lottery on the masterclass page. Entries close one day before. We’ll email you whether you’re performing, an alternate, or not picked this time.
  • If you’re picked and can’t make it, tap I can’t make it on the page so an alternate can take your spot.
  • You’ll get a reminder an hour before. Join on Zoom appears on the page 15 minutes before the start.

Private lessons

Tap Request a private lesson and pick an open time. When the teacher confirms, you’ll get an email with the time and a calendar invite, and the lesson appears under My lessons on Home.

Recording feedback (Pro)

Tap Submit Recording on Home and send one recording a week, audio or video, up to 10 minutes. Pick a take from the app’s recorder, a video from Photos, or record a new video. You’ll get a notification and an email when your feedback is ready, and it shows under My lessons.

Sound and microphone

  • Tuner or recorder not hearing you? The app needs the microphone. Open Settings › The Total Tubist on your iPhone or iPad and turn on Microphone.
  • Drones sound thin on the phone speaker. Low notes are too deep for a phone speaker. Headphones or a Bluetooth speaker bring back the full sound.
  • No sound at all? Check the volume, and that your device isn’t connected to headphones or a speaker you’re not using.
  • Video window over your music: the first time you use it, allow the camera and microphone. Videos are saved to your Photos.

Your music on every device

When you’re signed in, the PDFs you add to My Music and your markings on them, including markings on lesson PDFs, are saved to your private account and sync between your iPhone and iPad. Only you can see them. A piece added on one device shows up on the other with a cloud icon and downloads the first time you open it.

  • Recordings stay on your device. Deleting the app deletes them, so use Share on a recording to save it somewhere else. Mock audition lists are stored on the device too.
  • The one exception is a recording you send for feedback on Pro, which is uploaded so our teachers can listen.
  • To free up space, use the Storage card in Profile to clear old recordings and downloaded excerpts.

Writing on your music

  • Apple Pencil always writes on the page in the music viewer.
  • Finger drawing: tap the Markup button (the pen in a circle). This is how you mark up music on iPhone.
  • Pick pens, highlighter, and eraser from the toolbar, and use undo and redo for mistakes.
  • Markings are saved with each piece. On lesson PDFs your markings are kept separately, so the original stays clean.

Reminders and widgets

  • Practice reminders come at 6 PM on days you haven’t practiced. Pick their style in Profile: Playful, Straightforward, Drill Sergeant, or Off.
  • Widgets: touch and hold your Home Screen, tap Edit › Add Widget, and choose The Total Tubist. There are widgets for Start practicing, your streak, this week’s practice, and an audition countdown.
  • While the practice timer runs, it also shows on your Lock Screen.

Restore purchases

If you subscribed to Basic, Participant, or Pro and the app doesn’t show it, for example on a new device:

  1. Make sure you’re signed in to the App Store with the same Apple ID you used to buy.
  2. Open the upgrade screen in the app and tap Restore Purchases.
  3. If that doesn’t work, email us with the email address on your Total Tubist account.

Cancel or change a subscription

Basic, Participant, and Pro subscriptions are billed and managed by Apple, so we can’t cancel them for you. On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and choose The Total Tubist. Cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date to avoid the next charge. You keep your plan until the end of the period you’ve paid for.

For refunds, use Apple’s reportaproblem.apple.com. For a founding member plan bought on our website, email us.

Delete your account

In the app, go to Profile › Account › Delete account. This permanently deletes your account and the data we store for it, such as your practice history and lesson progress. You can also email us and we’ll do it for you.

Deleting your account does not cancel a Participant or Pro subscription. Cancel it in your Apple ID settings first.

Something else

Found a bug, have an idea for a feature, or a question about a post on the community board? (To report a post, tap … on it and choose Report.) Email support@thetotaltubist.com. You can also read our privacy policy and terms of use.