# Troubleshoot Follow

Resolve a disabled Follow button, a startup error, a dropped session, drift, a wrong page, or early and late turns.

> Type: Troubleshooting · Status: Beta · Platforms: iPadOS 17+ · Last reviewed: 2026-07-18

Start with the symptom you can observe. Manual page turning keeps working during every test, so you can stay in the piece while you narrow the cause down.

> **Important**
> Follow listens through the microphone and runs over a network connection for the whole session, not only at start. Without either one, the session cannot begin or ends with a message.

## `Follow` is greyed out

This only happens on a score you imported yourself. A score opened from the catalog can start Follow immediately — no preparation is required.

An imported score needs three things before Follow can track it. The `SmartScore`, `Takes`, and `Calibrated` chips at the bottom of the `Trainer` show exactly which one is missing. Tapping the greyed-out `Follow` button takes you straight into the `Trainer`.

1. Open `Trainer` and read the three chips.
2. `SmartScore` not done: run `Create Smart Score Layer` so the app has a machine-readable score to follow.
3. `Takes` not done: record at least one take of the piece (`Recording Studio` in the Toolbox).
4. `Calibrated` not done: complete calibration in the `Trainer` — the chip turns done once the score's systems are mapped or a take carries calibration anchors. `Open the Tuning Calibrator` is the entry point.

When all three chips are done, `Follow` becomes available.

## The `Follow can't start` alert appears

The alert names the specific reason. Read it before retrying — the button shows `Retry` after an error, but retrying without fixing the cause produces the same alert.

1. If the message mentions microphone access: open the iPadOS **Settings** app and allow microphone access for the app, then return and tap `Retry`.
2. Confirm the iPad has a working network connection.
3. Stop any other audio activity in the app — take playback or a recording in progress — then start again.
4. Reopen the prepared score version and tap `Follow` again.

## Follow stops in the middle of a session

After a brief connection drop, Follow restarts itself silently: the button keeps reading `Stop` and the marker resumes without any action from you. Only when reconnection fails repeatedly does the session end, with a message beginning `Follow stopped:` and the button switching to `Retry`.

If you see `Follow stopped:`, check the network connection, then tap `Retry` to start a new session from the current page.

## The marker does not move, or drifts

- Move the iPad away from loudspeakers, speech, and mechanical noise — the tracker follows whatever the microphone hears most clearly.
- Confirm the active score version matches the edition you are playing. A different edition's repeats or ornaments will pull the marker off.
- To correct a drift in the moment: tap the anchor button at the top right, then tap the note you are actually on. The marker snaps there, and the tracker learns from the miss.
- To jump rather than correct — a repeat, a cut, practicing another section — tap the pin button instead, then tap where you will play next.
- Correcting constantly in the same spot? Hold the anchor button to keep anchor mode on: every tap re-anchors, and you turn pages with the on-screen arrows.

> **Note**
> If the same passage fails every session, the cause is in the score data, not the live tracking. Fix the conversion (`Fix a Wrong Conversion` in the Toolbox) or redo the calibration for that page instead of re-anchoring each time.

## The wrong page or system appears

For a PDF score, open the System Calibrator and check every system band:

1. Each translucent band must cover one complete system — not half a system, not two.
2. The page order must match the printed source.
3. Recalibrate after changing versions, cropping, or rearranging pages — the old bands no longer match the new layout.

For a Smart Score, compare measures, repeats, and jumps against the PDF. A conversion error here is fixed with `Fix a Wrong Conversion` in the Toolbox, not by recalibrating.

## Turns are early or late

Both controls live in the side panel — open it with the chevron next to the `Follow` button:

- `Turn at` sets how far into the last system of the page the turn happens. Later if turns come too early; earlier if you reach the bottom before the turn. This is the same setting as the calibrator's `Turn at` slider — changing it in either place changes both.
- `Confidence` sets how certain the tracker must be before it acts. Raise it if the marker jumps around; lower it if it hesitates behind confident playing.

Change one control at a time and repeat the same page boundary to compare.

> **Limit**
> A setting that works for one score, instrument, or room is not proof for another. Loud rooms and quiet instruments genuinely need different values.

If the issue persists, note the device, iPadOS version, score version, page, passage, and the exact alert text before contacting [Support](/docs/support).