Are there any piano-playing apps that are actually any good?

[JustAnotherManicUsername]

DS2(9) is coming up to Grade 1 piano and has weekly lessons. He's keen on the idea of apps to supplement his usual practice because he loves anything computer-related. But so far he's only found things that are really frustrating - that promise lots but then require upgrades to payment levels before you get more than beginners stuff. We don't mind paying a reasonable sum for an app if it's good but we don't want to pay for things that turn out to be constantly hooking you in to pay more. Any recommendations for around Grade 1 level? His teacher is lovely and an excellent musician, but old-fashioned so this isn't the kind of thing she knows about.

Our music teacher loved piano maestro and my two got on well with it. I think the teacher had a subscription though so wee didn't have to pay. Not sure if there is a free version?

What does a piano-playing app do? Interested.

I like musictheory.net for practicing note recognition and location on the keyboard and things - which my grade 1 DS badly needs to practice. There is a paid for version but I didn't see any particular need for it. But have a feeling that's not quite the sort of thing you're talking about?

Thanks, justasec, I'll investigate. I'm not terribly clear what he thinks it will do myself but anything that encourages him to practice seems worth a try! The one he got frustrated with yesterday (because it claimed to be free but there was actually a paywall for anything beyond really beginners' stuff) seemed to work by putting it on the music holder bit and then it lit up the notes you needed to play next on the staves and showed you a keyboard with the right keys being pressed.

Does Vamoosh exist for piano? I think it does- choice of book with cd or iTunes app which you play along to on a real piano