Navigate iReal b by using the Android buttons such as Home, Back and Menu.  In most Android devices these are always visible as hardware buttons, but with some devices they are virtual and will only be displayed when a single icon is tapped.
Browse the song library by scrolling through the individual songs or the playlists views.

Search for a particular song title or composer by tapping the search button in the menu at the bottom of the screen.

View a song chart - simply tap on the title of the desired song in the Songs or Playlists index. To return to the index, tap the BACK button at the bottom of the screen.
Note: song charts will display in portrait mode only.
By swiping left or right you can easily go to the previous or next song.

Tap anywhere on the screen or tap on the Android Menu button to reveal information about the current song chart at the top such as, the title, composer, style, current key and default key. A Menu also appears at the bottom.

This is where the following functions and links are located -

• Settings – set-up features and settings.  For further information, see the following section: Settings.
• Playlist – add the current song to an existing or new playlist
• Share the song
• via email
• by posting to Forums
• as an image in an email
• Transpose the song to a different key signature
• Editor
  • edit the current selected song
  • edit a copy of a currently open chart
  • create a new song with a blank chart or with a chart based on a template of common song forms
• the Player

Deleting a Song
Go to the Songs index, long press the song name, then choose Delete (to cancel, tap anywhere else on the screen).

Settings for iReal b can be accessed from the main list view or from the song view by activating the menu at the bottom of the screen – tap the Menu button.

Here you can control some basic settings -

• Global Transposition - choose global transposition (for horn players with transposing instruments)
• Minor Symbol - choose preferred minor symbol
• Color Scheme - set your text/background for the song charts from four color schemes
• Full Screen – turn on/off full screen display.  This is useful for devices which don’t have hardware buttons.

There are also links to -

• Tutorials - links to video tutorials
• www.iRealb.com - direct link to the iReal b website
• Forums – the online forums where you can find useful information about iReal b as well as download user-contributed songs as well as share your own
• Write a review – links to the Android Market (or Amazon Appstore)
• Tell a friend - generates an email on your device’s email app
• Facebook - links to the iReal b Facebook page
• Contact us – generates an email addressed to iReal b Support
• Report a problem - generates an email addressed to iReal b Support

In the iReal b Forums you can find help and useful information about all things iReal b and you can download a large number of user-contributed songs as well as sharing your own. To access the Forums from your device -

1. In the songs list view – tap the menu button, then tap Forums
2. In Settings – tap on Forums.

To import songs or playlists from the Forums to your device, navigate to the desired song or playlist and tap the link (it is not necessary to be a registered user).

Due to the Android web browser not being able to handle large lists without crashing, playlists should be limited to 300 or less songs.
Currently there is a playlist of 1200 jazz standards available on the Forums to download. If you look beyond the initial post of 1200 songs, you’ll find that these have been divided into smaller parts for Android users - Jazz 1200 Standards

To publish your own songs and playlists on the forums you do need to register.
Choose the song or playlist that you want to post and press the Share button in the Menu followed by the Post to Forums button.

From here you’ll be redirected to the forums on your web browser where you’ll be able to add your song/playlist to a post using the pasteboard.

 

Songs
In the Song View tap the screen to reveal the Menu at the bottom of the screen.
Choose the Share button.

Share the selected song -

• Email – an email containing the song code in a link format will be generated on your device’s default mail app.
  NOTE:
• when sending or emailing a song use the Gmail app
• to receive or open an email with a song, use the device’s default email app.
• Post to Forums- the song code will be saved in the pasteboard of your device. From here you’ll be redirected to the Forums on your device’s web browser, where you’ll be able to add your song to a post using the pasteboard.
  Notes:
• If you have trouble posting, try changing the style of the Forums (at the bottom of the page).
• When sending a song via email or posting to the Forums, any transpositions that are made will not be retained – the song will remain in its default key.
• Image – an email containing the song chart as an image (jpeg) will be generated on your device’s default mail app.

Any song chart can be transposed to any key signature. Tap anywhere on the song chart to reveal the Menu. The current key signature as well as other song chart information will appear at the top of the screen.  The button in bottom left corner allows you to choose from an index of key signatures.

All transpositions are saved, so next time you open iReal b the songs you’ve transposed will be in their new key.

If you play a transposing instrument you can change the global transposition in Settings to match the key of your instrument.

In global transposition mode, the transposition will be indicated at the top of the screen when you tap anywhere on the screen.  This will appear along with all relevant information about the song chart such as, composer, style, current key signature as well as default key signature.

• The Player function generates piano, bass and drums accompaniments for practicing.
• Includes an ever-increasing number of styles – see the Android page for current list.
• The Player generates accompaniments by reading the chord progression in the charts and also by following rehearsal instructions such as D.C. al Coda or D.S. al 2nd Ending.
• It plays most user-generated song charts as long as they follow some simple layout rules.
• It generates accompaniments with random rhythmic variations in the various instruments’ patterns, making each chorus sound different and spontaneous.
• It plays all of the times signatures available in the iReal b Editor including odd time signatures, such as 5/4, 7/4 and 7/8. It even allows mixed meters opening the possibility for many other time signatures.
• The songs can be transposed and will playback in the new key.
• Any song will playback in any of the available styles, although some styles obviously sound better with particular songs or time signatures.
• Sections in songs are recognized and marked with drum fills.
• Automatically generates an ending for all songs.

To open the Player, first open a song that you’d like to play and tap the screen to reveal the Menu.  Press the ♫ button at the bottom, right.

When the Player opens you can simply tap the Play button to start the accompaniment.

The first large button allows you to switch Styles.

Below this, the Tempo of the chart is set by dragging the slider along and fine tuned with the – and + buttons.

You can choose a one, or two-bar Count In before playback.

Next to the Count In, you can nominate the Number of Choruses the Player will generate when pressing the Play button. Note: the more choruses, the longer it will take to generate the accompaniment.

At the bottom of the Player window you can control the Volume of the accompanying instruments and the amount of Reverb as desired.

A Default button at the very bottom right corner returns everything to the default settings.
 

During playback, each bar is highlighted in grey as it is played and a number in the top right corner indicates what chorus is currently playing.

If you change the tempo, the style or another setting during playback, the change won’t take effect until you regenerate the song. This is indicated by the Play button turning into a Refresh button.

The Player recognizes all the time signatures provided in the editor.

This is how they are interpreted -

• 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4 simply play as written in all styles
• 2/2 plays as 4/4
• 3/2 plays as 3/4 + 3/4
• 5/4 plays as 3/4 + 2/4
• 6/4 plays as 3/4 + 3/4
• 7/4 plays as 4/4 + 3/4
• 6/8 plays as 2/4 so a triplet based style like Afro 12/8 is recommended for this time signature
• 7/8 plays as 2/4 + 3/8 and does not work with triplet based styles like Swing and Afro 12/8
• 9/8 plays as 3/4 so a triplet based style like Afro 12/8 is recommended for this time signature
• 12/8 plays as 4/4 so a triplet based style like Afro 12/8 is recommended for this time signature

Time signatures can change within a song, for example, for each section and as often as each bar.  This allows you to create sophisticated compound time signatures.
Here’s an example of 9/4:

Note: 4/4 is the default time signature if none is chosen at the beginning of a song.

The player adheres to specific rules when it interprets the chord progression in a song chart.
Rather then simply reading from beginning to end it tries to decipher the form by recognizing repeat bar lines, 1st, 2nd and 3rd endings and other rehearsal marks such as D.C. al Coda or D.S. al 2nd Ending.

Rehearsal Marks
The in (intro) and V (verse) rehearsal mark indicate a section in the song that will only be played once at the very beginning. Subsequent choruses will start after the intro or verse indicated by the presence of an A, B, C or D rehearsal marks.

Repeat Bar Lines

The first 8 bars will play twice. Make sure in your charts to always pair an open repeat bar line with a closing one.
You can also add a text indication like 3x, 4x…Nx within the repeat section and it will be repeated N times.

In conjunction with repeat bar lines, 1st, 2nd and 3rd endings are also recognized.

Here’s a 3rd ending which needs an accompanying D.C. al 3rd ending or D.S. al 3rd ending to work correctly.

Rehearsal Indications
D.C. (Da Capo) indicates that the form goes back to the very beginning (including eventual Intro or Verse) of a piece and it needs to be paired with an indication of what to do after going back to the top.
D.C. al Fine also needs a Fine to indicate where the form ends. This results in an ABA form.

D.C. al Coda also needs a coda sign and an actual coda.  The Coda will be played in each chorus as part of the form resulting in an AABA form.

D.C. al 2nd ending also needs a Fine to indicate where to stop after going to the 2nd ending. This goes back to the top but then skips the 1st ending and goes straight to the 2nd ending.

D.S.
The previous three examples also apply to D.S. (Dal Segno) but with the inclusion of a Sign.
D.S. al Coda needs a Sign, a Coda sign and a Coda.

Coda
In the examples above we saw the use of Coda in conjuction with D.C. and D.S. which both make the coda a part of the form. If you would like to add a coda not as part of the form but as a coda only played at the very end of the song, don’t add any D.C. or D.S. indications. Simply add a Coda symbol within the song (not required) where you want it and then a Coda at the end of the chart (required).

In the above example only during the very last chorus take the Coda.

Commonly Used Rehearsal Text Indications
These are included in the editor to assist you.

The Player recognizes other special symbols such as N.C. (No Chord) which will result in the piano and bass dropping out for the duration of the N.C.

The Single and Double bar repeats:

Chord Qualities
The player recognizes all the chord qualities that are included in the editor but also recognizes a few of the commonly used custom chords such as 7+ (uses 7#5), m#5 (uses -b6) and more.

Chord Spacing in Bars
The player can read bars of different length, but the chords within the bar need to be properly spaced to indicate what beat they occur on.
Currently, supported note length values for chords are whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and (in 3/4 time signatures) dotted quarter notes.
If an error message appears about chord spacings when you play your own charts, this means that the player is not able to calculate the length of chord relative to the other chords in the same bar.  It is important to position the chords spatially so they clearly indicate their length.

An example of unclear chord length.

While this will play successfully.

If you leave the first beat or beats of a bar empty they will simply be ignored. For example, if you want the the first two beats of a bar to continue playing the chord from the previous bar, add slashes to those two beats.
This will play correctly:

while this:

will sound like:

Note: Blank bars are ignored completely, this includes empty space (no bar lines) anywhere in a system, for example, the empty space before a 2nd time bar where it starts mid-system to line up vertically with the 1st time bar. This means you’ll have to add the % (repeat bar) sign if you want the chord from the previous bar to repeat.

Note on Error Messages
After pressing the Play button, the audio begins to construct before it starts playing. If there are problems with your chart, error messages tell you what is wrong and the bar number of the error. It counts from the first bar and keeps on counting up through any repeated sections.
For example, if a song has a repeated A section of 8 bars, then a B section of 8 bars and an error is found in bar 18, this is the 2nd bar of section B
(A8 + A8 = 16 + B2 = Bar 18)

END Charcter
A special END character controls the functioning of the Player.
While playing the last chorus, the Player will end the song with a Fermata at the bar indicated by the END character. This is useful for a song that includes a turnaround at the end that goes to a chord that is not the final chord.
If no END character is present, the Player will look at the final chord; if it’s the root or the dominant of the key signature it will play a root chord, otherwise it will simply end on the last chord.

The Editor has two main areas -

• Editing area – the upper half of the screen is where you see the song being edited and can be scrolled up and down to reveal the whole song. A blinking cursor indicates the location being edited. To move the cursor simply tap anywhere you want it to move to.
• Tool area – the bottom half of the screen where you’ll find the editing tools to add chords, symbols and text to the song chart.  Note: on devices with smaller screens, swipe across the screen to navigate the full tool area.

Note: to keep charts readable on small screens a maximum of 12 staves is allowed and to avoid any squeezing of the layout at all, one should use 9 or less staves.

Chords
There are two ways to input or edit chords in the Editor -

1. Type the chord manually via the keyboard that appears when inputing in the text field, then tapping Enter (note: this will move the cursor two cells, so you may still need to tap on the screen to get to the desired location).
2. Using the SYMB button next to the text field to first choose the root, then tapping again, to display a list of available qualities (only possible if you have already chosen a root).

The REG button will let you switch between inserting regular chords and alternate chords when the button will display ALT. The chords will be added in small font above the regular chords.

The SIZE button allows you to change the size of the chords – S, small and N for normal – starting at the current position of the cursor until the next chord size marker.

INS - inserts a beat (a blank cell), shifting the following part of the chord progression one beat/cell forward.

DEL - removes a beat (the current cell), moving the rest of the chord progression backwards one beat/cell.  To delete the whole beat you’ll need to tap DEL four times (if that’s how many cells were used for the bar).

Symbols
Symbols can be added or removed with this set of buttons.

The top row contains bar lines generally including, single open and close, double open and close, repeat open and close and final.

The second row contains the one bar repeat, two bar repeat, no chord (N.C.), Fermata, Coda, Segno and Invisible Root symbols.

The 4/4 button allows you to change the time signature.

The three red arrow buttons allow you to add vertical space between staves as required.

The END button adds a marking for the Player to indicate where it should stop playing in the last chorus.

Following are the ending numbers - 1st, 2nd and 3rd ending plus an empty ending mark that can be used for custom repeat indications by adding your own text (e.g. “Open”, “On cue”…)- see the following section, Text.
Note: Custom ending indications are not interpreted by the Player.

This is the Undo button

The Rehearsal Marks are letters or abbreviations inside a black box. You can select from V (verse), in (intro), A, B, Cor D.

Text
To add text at the current cursor position simply type it in the text field after you have tapped on Staff Text

If you press the TEXT button which appears next to the text field after tapping Staff Text, a list of commonly used texts will be displayed for you to choose from.
There will also appear an UP and a DOWN button, which will allow you to move the text up or down.

Song Info
Various buttons above the Staff Text button allow you to edit information about the song chart -

• Song Title
• Composer
• Style
• Key 

At this time, there is no built-in print feature on Android.  One workaround is to find another app that allows you take screenshots of your song charts for printing.

Creating a New Playlist
There are two ways to create a new playlist -

1. Open the Playlists index, tap on Menu and then tap on New Playlist.
2. While viewing a song chart tap on the screen to display the toolbar, tap on Playlist then select New Playlist.

1. While viewing a song chart tap the screen to display the toolbar-> select the Playlist icon-> tap an existing playlist name or create a new one by tapping New playlist.
2. In the Songs index long press the song name-> select Add to Playlist -> tap an existing playlist name or create a new one by tapping New playlist.

Note: You cannot add a song more than once to a playlist.

Deleting Songs in a Playlist
Go to the Playlists index, open the playlist you would like to edit.  Long press the song you want to delete and select Remove (to cancel, tap anywhere else on the screen or select No when prompted).
Note: deleting songs from a Playlist does not delete the song from your library nor any other playlist.

Changing the Song Order in a Playlist
Go to Playlists index, open the playlist you would like to edit.
Then you can either,