How it works
Metronome allegretto settings are 112 to 120 beats a minute in Wikipedia's list of common tempo markings, which dates that moderately fast sense to the mid-19th century. In early, 18th-century use, the article says, the word sat barely above andante.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space: the click runs at 119 until the next tap.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type one, or press minus and plus. Minus steps down towards 112, the slow end of the range; a single plus lands on 120, the fast end.
Questions and answers
What speed is allegretto on a metronome?
From 112 to 120 beats a minute in Wikipedia's list of common tempo markings. Its figures come with a warning: they are very rough, they assume 4/4, and they change between composers and pieces, so a number printed in the score outranks them.
Is allegretto faster or slower than allegro?
Slower, though only just. Allegretto stops at 120, the very figure where the list starts Allegro (120 to 156). Moderato, 108 to 120, contains all of it, and Allegro moderato covers its top half, 116 to 120.
Why is some allegretto music much slower than 112?
The word shifted. The Tempo article has it first implying a tempo a touch above andante and now one a little under allegro. Wikipedia's article on Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, written in 1811 and 1812, prints its Allegretto at quarter note = 76.
Is allegretto often played too fast?
Some think so. A footnote to the Tempo article's paragraph on the word cites the view that many works marked Allegretto are now taken too quickly because its two senses get confused.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Usually the phone is on silent at its ring switch, the volume is at nothing, or Bluetooth has sent the click elsewhere. The time is still kept in sight: the pair of dots on the pad take turns, beat by beat.