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Installation

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Lane Holloway edited this page Sep 28, 2026 · 3 revisions

Installation

Download the build for your platform from the Releases page.

Android

  1. Download fretboardtrainer-android-<version>.apk on the phone and open it. Allow installs from the browser when asked.
  2. Fretman appears in the launcher. There is nothing to configure; open it and pick your instrument in Settings.

Releases are signed with the same key, so a newer APK installs over the old one and keeps your progress. If you had a debug build from a development machine installed, uninstall it first.

iOS

iOS builds ship through TestFlight and the App Store rather than the Releases page. Until the store listing is live, the way to run Fretman on an iPhone is to build it from source with Xcode.

On iPhone and iPad the ring/silent switch mutes Fretman's sounds (they mix with other audio, so music keeps playing). Ear training needs the switch off.

macOS

The macOS build is the development target, but it is a complete app and is attached to every release.

  1. Unzip fretboardtrainer-macos-<version>.zip and drag Fretman.app to Applications.
  2. The build is not notarized, so the first launch is refused. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway (older macOS: right‑click the app and choose Open). This is a one‑time step.

It opens in a phone‑sized window. Widen the window past 840 points and the tab bar becomes a side rail.

Linux (x86‑64)

Three builds are on the Releases page (from 0.2.1).

AppImage (single file)

chmod +x Fretman-<version>-x86_64.AppImage
./Fretman-<version>-x86_64.AppImage

From 0.5.0 the AppImage is named Fretman-<version>-x86_64.AppImage (earlier releases: fretboardtrainer-linux-x64-<version>.AppImage) and carries update information, so AppImageUpdate or an AppImage manager such as Gear Lever can update it in place from the Releases page.

GTK 3 comes from your distribution (installed on any desktop). If it refuses to start with a FUSE error, install libfuse2 (Ubuntu 22.04 and newer: sudo apt install libfuse2) or run it with --appimage-extract-and-run. Settings and progress live in ~/.local/share/dev.laneholloway.fretboard_trainer/, the same place as the tarball build.

Flatpak

Brings its own GTK, so nothing else to install.

flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install --user fretboardtrainer-linux-x64-<version>.flatpak

Fretman then appears in your app menu, or run flatpak run dev.laneholloway.Fretman. Data lives under ~/.var/app/dev.laneholloway.Fretman/. From 0.3.0 the Flatpak asks for audio (PulseAudio) access, for the notes it plays.

Tarball

  1. Extract fretboardtrainer-linux-x64-<version>.tar.gz anywhere, e.g. ~/Apps/fretman.
  2. Run ./fretboard_trainer.

Needs GTK 3 from your distribution (Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libgtk-3-0; Fedora: sudo dnf install gtk3).

Upgrading

Progress and settings are kept on every platform. Android: open the new APK. macOS: replace Fretman.app in Applications. Flatpak: flatpak install --user the new file, it updates in place. AppImage: let AppImageUpdate update it (from 0.5.0), or replace the file. Tarball: replace the directory.

Fretman

Releases · Issues

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