Smule is a singing app that lets you record videos of yourself singing. It’s basically a more sophisticated form of karaoke where you can sing solo or with friends or even over pre-recorded videos. The app also lets you live-stream your karaoke videos.
The singing app craze started with the app Musical.ly, but there have been many new entrants in the market. TikTok is also popular for recording videos, but it’s not really a karaoke app. Smule, on the other hand, is all about singing, and they dub the app as the number one singing app.
How Does Smule Work?
Smule is essentially an entertainment and social app that revolves around singing. The company, which is based in San Francisco, has really made the app unique with collaborations with pop stars and filters from popular Disney movies.
They are turning it into an authentic singing experience that’s both fun for the people making the videos and the people watching them.
Here’s how it works:
- You pick a song you want to record yourself singing (the library is pretty big, so chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for)
- Select if you want to sing solo, with another user
- You can also choose to sing over a pre-recorded clip from the real singer
- Hit play and record yourself
Once you’ve recorded the video, you can also edit it with visual features, similar to how you edit videos on Instagram or Snapchat. Similarly, you can also add effects to the audio.
Once the video is ready, you can choose to share it on your profile on Smule. Other users may be able to like, comment, and share your video on other social media platforms.
The app also allows freestyle singing without any song instrumentals in the background, so you can even record your originals to share with other music lovers.
How to Use Smule?
Smule is available on both iOS and Android. You can download from the App Store or Google Play Store create an account, and start using the app. The interface is pretty easy and similar to how other such apps are.
The app doesn’t have a Windows version or a website, so you pretty much can only use it on your phone. However, you can download Smule on PC, with the help of an Android emulator. It will basically work just how it works on the phone but on your PC’s bigger screen.
If you do record on PC, you’ll need a high-quality webcam and microphone to record a quality video.
The Good
So let’s get down to what makes Smule worth your while. First off, it’s a sophisticated app with clear-cut functionality and features. It’s user-friendly, so it doesn’t make one a lot of time to figure out how it works.
The company has poured a lot of money into the app, which basically resulted in a very rich library of songs. You can find plenty of popular as well as genre-specific songs to sing to.
More importantly, the instrumental songs are not bad, so you can actually sing close to how the real track sounds like, thanks to the music.
However, not all songs are available for free. What really makes this app great is its collaborative features. Not only can you sing with your peers like you do at the karaoke at your local bar, but you can also kind of collaborate with pop stars. The pre-recorded versions of singers singing with some bits left out for users to sing make this app a lot more fun.
There’s also a private message board, and people can comment on your videos. Whether those comments are positive or negative, that’s a whole other story. All in all, the app is great for recording yourself singing as it offers stellar editing and collaboration features, as well as your regular social features.
The Bad
Smule is not entirely free. Some of the songs, especially the popular ones, are only available for a paid subscription. You can subscribe on a monthly or annual basis to get access to the entire library.
For those who want to record themselves singing, it’s a great app, but for those simply looking for entertainment, not so much. Not all the singers are great, so the content is not always entertaining. Then there are the mean comments, which isn’t the app’s fault and is common on most social media platforms.
The Verdict
Smule is a great app for recording songs. The features are pretty neat, so you can make entertaining videos with collaborations from your friends to even Pixar animated characters. Most people use it to record videos then share it on their social media.
It’s a lot more sophisticated than recording yourself singing on Instagram or Facebook. It does have a subscription model, but it’s worth subscribing if you’re really passionate about singing.
