How it works
A whole note metronome clicks once a bar, on beat one: the note lasts four quarter notes, all of a 4/4 bar, by Wikipedia's Whole note article. The number still counts quarter notes: at 100, a click every 2.4 seconds.
Read the full guide
Start
Press the pad, or Space. The large dot is the click; the light then crosses three rings without a sound before the next one. Press again to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type your piece's quarter-note tempo, or nudge it with minus and plus. The click keeps to beat one at every speed.
Questions and answers
How do you count a whole note with a metronome?
Say one on the click and hold it through two, three and four. Open Music Theory's chapter on simple metre brackets the beats of a long note that are not spoken, so a whole note reads 1 (2) (3) (4): the pad's rings.
How do I set a metronome whole note mark, such as whole note = 60?
Type four times the figure. The number here counts quarter notes and a whole note holds four, so 60 becomes 240 and the click then sounds 60 times a minute. A mark of whole note = 50 becomes 200.
Is this a metronome on every 4th beat?
Yes: it sounds one beat in four. The first click comes as you press and the next four beats later, on beat one each time. The three beats between are drawn and lit, so you can watch each of them go by.
Why practise with a metronome that clicks once a bar?
Wikipedia's Metronome article names, as a typical exercise of modern metronome technique, holding a tempo while the click is muted for longer and longer stretches. Here three beats of every four are already muted, and a lower number widens the gap.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Give it a bar: the clicks are far apart by design. If none arrives, see to the phone's ring switch, its volume and any Bluetooth headphones. The dot and its three rings keep the time without sound.