Tutorials

ArrangeUs is an app for dance teachers, choreographers, and directors who want a simple way to plan formations and transitions for their performances.

Instead of relying on paper or memory, you can design everything right in the app - move dancers around the stage, test different ideas, and instantly see how your formations connect.

Whether you're creating a small routine or a large-scale production, ArrangeUs gives you the right tools to bring your vision to life. Walk into rehearsals prepared and actually enjoy the planning process.

ArrangeUs is designed to be simple and approachable from day one - but the more you explore, the more it can do. When you're ready to dig deeper, it's capable of some truly amazing things that take your planning process above and beyond.

Trusted and loved worldwide ❤️

Yes - ArrangeUs is free to download and the free plan is genuinely powerful. You can run full choreography projects without spending anything:

• Create complete choreographies with unlimited formations each
• Add comments to formations to capture every detail
• Customise dancer names and colors to match your real cast
• Preview transitions and experience the full 3D view

When you're ready to go further, ArrangeUs Premium unlocks even more - music sync, custom backgrounds, props, curved paths, and much more.

ArrangeUs is built around a few simple elements:

• Stage - your main workspace, representing the area where your performance happens. Customize it to match your real venue.
• Dancers - the main elements you work with. Add them to the stage, move them around, and customize their appearance.
• Formations - a specific arrangement of dancers on stage. Each formation represents a moment or period in your performance.
• Transitions - the animated movement between formations. By default, dancers follow straight paths, but you can adjust them with curves for more natural motion.
• Choreography - your complete project. It holds all formations and transitions, dancers, stage setup, props, notes, and music in one place.

You start by creating a choreography, setting up a stage, and adding your dancers. Then you build your performance formation by formation until everything feels right. Along the way, it's easy to make small adjustments, fine-tune positions, and capture your ideas as they come. Do it at a coffee shop, in the dance studio, or on your way home - it's all possible with ArrangeUs.

The app is organised around a tab bar at the bottom of the screen with four tabs:

• Choreographies - your main library. All your active choreographies live here, along with Archive and Trash folders, tag filters, and search.
• Presets - a collection of formation layouts for inspiration, split into system presets and your own saved ideas.
• Crews - saved dancer rosters you can reuse when starting new choreographies.
• Settings - app-level preferences including language, backups, and feedback.

The Choreographies tab opens by default - that's where most of your work happens. The + button in the centre of the tab bar creates something new based on whichever tab you're on - a choreography, preset, or crew.

Tap the + button on the home screen, give your piece a name, and set the number of dancers. The stage size is automatically adjusted based on the number of dancers you select. You'll then choose how to place dancers for the first formation:

• Backstage - ArrangeUs places all dancers off-stage automatically and drops you straight into the formation editor.
• Manual - tap the stage to place dancers one by one. Press Let's Go and any remaining dancers would be moved to the backstage automatically.

Either way, the whole setup takes under a minute and you're ready to start choreographing.

You can also create a new choreography using a predefined list of dancers from your Crew, or reuse the stage setup from an existing choreography - we'll cover this later.

Yes. ArrangeUs saves your work automatically as you go - there's no save button and nothing to manually confirm. You can close the app or switch away at any point without losing anything.

Dancers are set when you create the choreography, but you can add more at any time from the bottom actions bar [Dancers → Add new].

To move a dancer, drag them to any position on the stage - they snap to the grid automatically when you release. If you drag dancer out of stage it will return to it's original position.

Tap a dancer to select them. Once selected, you can edit properties like color, shape, name, or short name. Names are set once per choreography, while colors and shapes can vary between formations, so you can visually highlight different moments. Select multiple dancers to move them together or update their properties at the same time.

If you work with the same group regularly, consider creating a Crew - a reusable roster of dancers. When you create a choreography from a crew you can skip writing all the names again.

Your choreography starts with one formation already in place - on stage or off stage, depending on what you chose at setup. To add the next one, tap Add Formation in the formations slider at the bottom of the editor.

Each new formation is a copy of the previous one, so all dancers keep their positions, colors and shapes. You only need to move or edit the ones that change somehow.

To preview a transition, tap any formation in the formations slider at the bottom - dancers will animate from their current positions to the new ones automatically.

You can also navigate between formations by swiping left or right on the stage, or using the Navigation section in the bottom actions bar.

There are a few ways to share your choreography depending on what the other person needs:

• ArrangeUs file - share a copy of the full project. The recipient can open it in the app and work on their own version. Changes on either side won't sync - it's a snapshot, not a live connection.
• PDF export - generates a document with all formations laid out. Useful for sharing with dancers or keeping as a reference.
• Screen recording - many choreographers record their screen while tapping through formations to share a quick visual overview as a video.

Real-time collaboration - where multiple people can edit the same choreography with synced changes - is currently in the works.

The sections below cover everything in more detail. A few areas worth exploring next:

• Customise Your Stage - all the settings for stage size, grid, backgrounds, and display options.
• Formations - duplicating, reordering, adding comments, multiple formation actions, and fine-tuning positions.
• Dancers - names, colors, shapes, and how they can be used to their full potential.
• Quick Position Actions - faster ways to adjust dancer positions without dragging one by one.
• Managing Your Choreographies - organise your library better with tags and learn best practices for sharing.

And when you're ready to go deeper, there are more advanced features to discover - Music Mode, Props, Transition Paths, and more.

The choreographies list is your home screen. It contains all your active choreographies along with the Archive and Trash folders, a tags filter row, and a search bar.

Each choreography card shows the name, a preview of the last formation, description, attached tags, number of formations and dancers, and the last edit date.

Tapping the button on a card - or long-pressing the card - opens all additional actions including sharing, duplicating, renaming, archiving, deleting, and more.

The search bar filters by choreography name only - it does not search inside formations, dancer names, or descriptions. Type any part of the name and the list narrows in real time.

Search only applies to your active choreographies - items in the Archive or Trash are not included. It can also be combined with tags, so keep in mind that active tag filters narrow results further and can cause your search to return nothing if no choreography matches both.

Tap the Filter button at the top of the list and select the Sort By row to pick a sorting option. Available options are:

• Last modified - most recently edited first (default)
• Last opened - most recently viewed first
• Date created - newest or oldest first
• Name - alphabetical A to Z or Z to A
• Formations count - by number of formations in the choreography
• Dancers count - by number of dancers in the choreography

Each option can be sorted ascending or descending. When a non-default sort is active, the Filter button is highlighted so you can tell at a glance that sorting has been changed. Tap it to open the menu and use the Reset button to quickly go back to the default.

Your preference is remembered and applied automatically each time you open the app.

The Archive is a built-in folder for choreographies you want to keep but no longer need in your main list - finished season pieces, past events, or work you've put on hold. Tap the button on a choreography card and tap Archive to move it there.

You can still open and edit archived choreographies or share them - but extended actions like duplicate and manage tags are not available in the Archive folder. To access those, unarchive first by tapping the button on the card and tapping Unarchive.

Deleting a choreography moves it to the Trash folder rather than erasing it immediately. Each card in Trash shows the time remaining before permanent deletion - items are automatically removed after 30 days.

To view a choreography's formations you need to restore it first. Open the Trash folder, tap the button on the card, and tap Restore.

To remove a choreography immediately, use the Delete action from the same menu. This is permanent and cannot be undone.

Yes. To enter multi-select mode, tap the button on any choreography card and tap Select. You can also activate it from the Filter button. Then tap cards to build your selection. An action bar appears at the bottom with bulk operations:

• Manage Tags - attach tags across all selected choreographies at once.
• Archive - move all selected items to the Archive folder.
• Share - send all selected choreographies at once.
• Delete - send all selected items to Trash.

Tap Done to exit multi-select without making changes.

A few approaches depending on your situation:

• Use a Crew - if you work with the same group of dancers regularly, create a Crew once with their names. When starting a new choreography, pick the Crew and your roster is ready instantly - no re-entering names.
• Duplicate Stage - if you're choreographing another piece for the same venue, use Duplicate Stage on an existing choreography. You get a fresh blank piece with the stage already configured - size, background, backstage zones - and just pick your dancers.
• Combine both - Duplicate Stage and Crews work great together. Reuse the stage from a previous piece and populate it from a Crew - the whole setup takes under a minute.
• Keep a template choreography - create a "master" piece with your ideal stage setup, preferred starting formation layout, and your usual dancer list. Keep it untouched and duplicate it whenever you start something new. Unlike Duplicate Stage, this preserves your formations too - useful if you always begin from the same starting position.

Tag pills are shown in a horizontal, scrollable row below the search bar. Tapping a tag pill activates it, and the list immediately updates to show only choreographies that have that tag attached. The active tag is highlighted. To reset filtering, simply tap the All tag - this will clear any selected tags and show all choreographies again.

By default, only one tag can be active at a time. To filter by multiple tags, open Filter → Tags Selection and switch to one of two strategies:

• Match any (OR) - shows choreographies that have at least one of the selected tags. Great for broad browsing.
• Match all (AND) - shows only choreographies that have every selected tag. Ideal for narrowing down to something specific.

Tap the + button at the end of the tags row on the home screen. Type a name and tap Save. The tag is immediately available to attach to any choreography.

To rename or delete a tag, long-press its pill in the tags row to open more options.

Tap the button on the right side of a choreography card, select Manage Tags, and tap any tag in the list to attach or detach it. Previously attached tags are already highlighted. Changes apply instantly - no confirmation needed.

You can also select multiple choreographies and attach tags for all of them at the same time.

To detach a tag from all choreographies at once, long-press the tag pill in the filter row and select Detach from all choreographies.

When a tag is deleted it is automatically removed from all choreographies. When importing or restoring from a backup, tags are applied automatically - tags with the same name are merged rather than duplicated.

Long-press any tag pill and select Reorder Tags. Then hold the pill you want to move and drag it to a new position. When you're happy with the order, tap Done.

The order here determines how tags appear in the filter row - put your most-used ones first so they're always visible. If you have a lot of tags, an expand button will appear to give you more room, which makes reordering easier.

Tags are free-form, so you can organise them however fits your workflow. Common groupings - with emoji examples:

• Season / Event - 🌸 Spring Recital, ☀️ Summer Camp, ❄️ Winter Show
• Project status - 📝 Draft, 🔄 In Progress, ✅ Ready, 📦 Archived
• Age group - 🐣 Juniors, 👧 Teens, 👩 Adults
• Dance style - 🩰 Ballet, 🎷 Jazz, 🎤 Hip-Hop, 🌊 Contemporary
• Venue / Stage - 🎭 Main Stage, 🏠 Studio, 🌳 Outdoor

A few practices that keep tags useful as your library grows:

• Keep names short and consistent - "🔄 In Progress" is better than "Currently Working On This One".
• Avoid near-duplicates like "Done" and "Finished" - consolidate into one.
• You can also combine tags from different groups on a single choreography - so a piece can be "🌸 Spring Recital + 👧 Teens + 🎷 Jazz" all at once, making it easy to find no matter how you filter.

A Crew is a saved roster of dancers you can reuse when creating new choreographies. Instead of re-entering names and short names every time, you set up a Crew once and pick it at creation - the whole dancer setup is done instantly. Crews don't sync with choreographies you've already created, so updating a Crew won't affect existing work.

Crews are most valuable when you choreograph repeatedly for the same group of people. Some common patterns:

• One crew per class or group - keep a separate crew for each dance class, team, or age group you work with, so starting a new piece always takes seconds.
• Season crew - update the roster for any cast changes at the start of each season, and keep the previous season's crew for reference.
• Shared crew for co-choreographers - export and share the crew file with an assistant or co-director so you both work from the same dancer list.
• Audition crew - build a temporary crew of all candidates, create choreographies for audition pieces, then remove it once casting is final.

A few things to keep in mind: crew members store a name and short name only - dancer colors are set per formation inside the choreography, not in the crew. Crews also can't be duplicated directly - if you need a copy, export the crew and re-import it as a workaround. There is no archive for crews either, so if you no longer need one, you can only delete it.

You can create a new Crew from three places:

• Crews tab on the main screen - tap the + button in the centre of the bottom navigation bar.
• Your Dancers screen - open a choreography, go to settings, and tap Your Dancers. The create crew button is in the top navigation bar.
• New choreography screen - when creating a choreography, you either set a number of blank dancers or pick a crew - in which case the dancer count is set automatically to match the crew. On the crew picker screen, tap + to create a new crew and apply it right away.

In all cases, give the crew a name, then add dancers one by one - each with a full name and short name (1-3 characters shown on stage). Changes are saved automatically. There is no limit on the number of crews or dancers per crew.

To delete, rename, or share a crew, tap the button on its row in the Crews list. Choosing Delete will ask you to confirm. Only the crew profile and its roster are deleted - choreographies previously created from that crew are unaffected and remain in your library intact.

Open a crew and tap Add new member at the bottom of the screen. Fill in the full name and short name (1-3 characters shown on stage). Changes are saved automatically.

To edit a dancer, tap their row and update any field. Changes apply to the crew profile immediately - choreographies already created from this crew are not affected retroactively, since dancer details are copied at creation time.

To delete a dancer, tap the delete button directly on their row. Deleted dancers are removed from the crew roster but remain in any choreographies they were already part of.

Tap the button on the crew's row in the Crews list and choose Share. ArrangeUs generates a .aubkp file you can send via any messaging or email app. The recipient opens the file on their device and ArrangeUs imports the crew - including all dancer names and short names - into their Crews list. Sharing is one-way and point-in-time: later changes you make to your crew are not pushed to the recipient automatically.

Presets is a dedicated tab for saving formation ideas, references, and inspirations. Think of it as a sketchpad - a place to capture interesting layouts you might want to revisit later.

The tab is split into two sections: system presets provided by ArrangeUs (more will be added over time) and your own presets that you create yourself.

At the moment, presets only live on this screen - they can't be viewed or applied directly inside the choreography editor. It's purely a place for inspiration and saving ideas.

Open the Presets tab and tap + to create a new one. Presets don't have names - you arrange dancer positions on the stage and it's saved as-is. You can create as many as you need.

Tap any preset to open and edit it on a dedicated screen. To copy, share, or delete a preset, long-press it in the collection to reveal those options.

When planning, switch to the Presets tab to browse your saved layouts for ideas.

The editor is made up of several areas, from top to bottom:

• Navigation bar - shows the choreography name. Buttons here open a quick-start guide, the Previews screen, and the choreography settings.
• Hint label - a label just below the navigation bar. Shows how many dancers are currently selected, and may also display context hints depending on the current action.
• Context actions - when one or more dancers are selected, a row of quick-access action buttons appears below the navigation bar for common operations.
• Stage - the main area where dancers and props are placed. All dancers and props always exist on stage or in the backstage area - they are never hidden or absent without being explicitly placed there. Nothing appears from nowhere or disappears between formations.
• Toolbar - a row of controls above the timeline: undo and redo buttons, the edit/Music Mode toggle, and the orientation toggle.
• Timeline - shows either the formations slider (edit mode) or the music timeline (Music Mode), depending on the current mode.
• Actions bar - the bottom bar containing all editing actions, grouped into sections. The bar can be scrolled sideways to reveal all sections. When dancers or props are selected, relevant actions in the bar become active; others are dimmed.

Stage view

• 2D mode - the standard editing view. All changes to dancers, formations, and props are made here.
• 3D mode - a perspective view for previewing the choreography. All dancer colors, shapes, and names are shown as in 2D. Useful for getting a sense of depth and spacing on stage - how the formation looks from an audience perspective rather than a top-down plan. Viewing only - no editing in 3D.

Timeline mode

• Edit mode - formations slider at the bottom: a row of pills, one per formation, with an add button at the end. Tapping a pill makes that formation active on stage. Tapping the active pill again opens the formation actions menu.
• Music Mode - the formations slider is replaced by a music timeline showing a seconds ruler, the waveform, and formation and transition blocks. Each block's width represents its duration - drag block edges to adjust. Scrub the playhead or press play to navigate; when the playhead is inside a transition block, the stage shows intermediate positions between the two surrounding formations. A compact mode is also available, showing a single track line with a thumb scrubber and colored sections reflecting formation colors. Compact mode is for navigation only - duration editing requires the default waveform view.

Screen orientation

• Portrait - standard layout with stage, timeline, and actions bar all visible.
• Landscape - three levels of compactness: standard (everything visible), compact (actions bar hidden), and stage-only (only the stage is shown).

All three dimensions - stage view, timeline mode, and screen orientation - are independent and can be combined freely. For example, you can use 3D mode with Music Mode in landscape.

View

• Pinch - zoom the stage in or out. Display only - doesn't affect dancer positions or stage size.
• Double tap - toggle between zoomed in and fully zoomed out.
• Drag empty space - pan the stage when zoomed in.
• Swipe left or right (when fully zoomed out) - switch to the previous or next formation.

Selection

• Tap a dancer or prop - select it. Tap again to deselect.
• Tap empty stage space - clear any current selection.
• Long press empty space, then drag - draw an area rectangle to select all dancers within it.

Actions

• Drag a dancer - move the selected dancer, or the whole group if multiple are selected.
• Two-finger rotate - rotate a group of selected dancers around their center.
• Long press a dancer - jump directly to the Dancers section of the actions bar.
• Drag a transition path knob - reshape the curve of a transition path (knobs must be enabled first).
• Drag prop resize handles - resize a selected prop. Use the rotation knob to change its rotation.

Tap the ↩ Undo or ↪ Redo buttons in the editor toolbar to step backwards or forwards through your changes.

What is tracked in the undo stack:

• Dancer position changes, including all quick position actions
• Dancers added or removed
• Dancer color or shape changes
• Formation added, duplicated, color changed, reordered, or deleted
• Formation or transition duration changed
• Transition curve changes
• Prop added, removed, or duplicated
• Prop position, size, rotation, color, or transparency changed

What is not tracked: stage settings (size, grid, backgrounds), dancer name changes, and music track addition or removal.

If you undo several steps and then make new changes, the undone steps are lost - they get overwritten by the new history branch.

The undo stack only lives while the choreography is open. Closing the choreography or the app clears it entirely - there is no undo across sessions.

By default, any edit you make affects only the current formation. Certain actions support applying to a range of formations - these are marked with a finger icon indicating you can long press them to get a scope selector. Supported actions include:

• Dancer color and shape change
• Prop color and transparency change
• Formation color change
• Paste positions (dancers and props)
• Swap 2 positions and flips

Open choreography settings from the button in the navigation bar. Settings here are per-choreography - they don't affect other choreographies in your library.

• General - edit the choreography name and description.
• Your Dancers - a list of all dancers in the choreography where you can edit names and short names.
• Dancers display - settings for how dancers and ghost dancers appear on stage: name visibility, inner text mode, ghost dancer options, and transition path visibility.
• Stage - all display and size settings for the stage: size, backstage zones, background, grid, and overlays. Covered in detail in the Customise Your Stage section.
• Actions - duplicate, share, or delete the choreography directly from settings.

We recommend configuring the stage before you start creating formations. If you change the stage size later, all dancer positions will shift proportionally - but they may no longer align perfectly with the grid and could need some manual fixes.

Open Choreography Settings and focus on these three things first:

• Stage size - set the width and height to match your real venue. As a guideline, 1 unit equals approximately 1 meter. It's best to configure this early if you need an accurate stage layout.
• Backstage config - adjust the off-stage areas to match how much wing space you actually need.
• Custom background - if you have a floor plan or venue photo, add it now. You can also take advantage of our standard backgrounds like basketball field or cheerleading mats. Each default background has its own recommended size, so we got you covered there.

Other stage settings won't affect existing dancer positions, so they can be adjusted at any time without disrupting your work.

Open Choreography Settings → Edit stage size and adjust the width and height. As a guideline, 1 unit equals approximately 1 meter - so a 10×8 stage represents a roughly 10m wide by 8m deep performance space.

We recommend setting the stage size before you start placing dancers. If you change it later, existing dancer positions will scale proportionally - but they may no longer align cleanly to the grid and could need some manual adjustments.

Dancer positions are stored as proportional coordinates, so they scale relative to the new dimensions - a dancer at the center stays at the center, a dancer at the left edge stays near the left edge. However, because the grid stays fixed in unit size, dancers may no longer sit exactly on grid intersections after resizing. Select affected dancers and use Dancers › Resnap positions to fix this quickly.

Open Choreography Settings → Edit backstage config. You can set the depth of the front and back edges independently, but the left and right sides share a single value - they are always equal.

Backstage depth is set in whole units only. Normally the backstage area does not add extra grid cells - it is carved out of the existing stage space. If you want a visible stage of a given size plus backstage wings, increase the total stage size accordingly. However, if a background image is set, backstage works the opposite way: it is added as extra grid cells around the image rather than taken from within it.

Dancers placed in backstage zones are considered off-stage and are shown with a dimmed appearance, making it easy to plan entrances and exits as part of your formation sequence.

Open Choreography Settings → Change stage background. All changes are shown in a live stage preview. You can also toggle grid visibility and adjust stage width and height directly on this screen to find the best combination with your background.

Background options:

• Default grid - plain grid with no background image. Selecting this removes any previously set background.
• Standard backgrounds - built-in templates like basketball court, cheerleading mat, and others. Each has a recommended stage size so the proportions match automatically.
• Custom image - import any photo or floor plan from your device. Three display modes are available: Fill, Fit, and Stretch. When the image proportions match the stage size exactly, all three modes produce the same result. You can also add backstage space around a custom image - adjust the backstage depth in Edit backstage config.

All backgrounds support an opacity setting. Reducing opacity makes the background more subtle - useful when you want it as a reference guide rather than the main visible element.

When sharing a choreography, a custom background image is included in the .arrus file - the recipient sees it automatically when they open it.

• Show Grid - toggle grid visibility. Available in the Stage settings section of the actions bar and in Choreography Settings. Hiding it gives a cleaner view when presenting or recording. Snap to grid still works regardless of whether the grid is visible.
• Cell Size (Edit stage grid cell size in Choreography Settings) - controls how large each grid square is in stage units. Minimum value is 1; only whole unit values are allowed. Opens a dedicated screen where you can preview how different cell sizes look on your stage, with a subdivisions toggle so you can try both settings together before confirming.
• Subdivisions (Show subdivisions) - shows an additional grid layer inside each cell using less prominent lines, giving you finer visual reference and snap points without making the main grid harder to read. Available in the Stage settings section of the actions bar and in Choreography Settings.

All overlays are toggled from the Stage settings section of the bottom actions bar, or in Choreography Settings.

• Distance markers (Show distances) - numeric labels along the stage edges showing grid unit values. Useful for calling out positions in rehearsals or aligning dancers to real-world reference points. Work best with an even stage width - on an odd-width stage labels fall on every 0.5 unit rather than whole values.
• Center markers (Show helper indicators) - visual indicators at the midpoint of each side and at the center of the stage. Useful as a symmetry reference when positioning dancers.
• Scene direction labels (Show directions) - show Backstage and Audience on the top and bottom edges to indicate orientation. Use Invert directions to swap the two labels if your stage has the audience at the top rather than the bottom.

Use Stage settings › Flip stage in the bottom actions bar. This is a true structural flip - not a display-only change. It flips the stage orientation, backstage config, all dancer positions, all prop positions and rotations, and transition paths across all formations in one step.

This is different from the dancer flip actions, which only move selected dancers. Flip stage handles everything together - doing this manually with individual dancer and prop flips would be error-prone and wouldn't correctly handle backstage zones or transition paths.

This is useful in a few situations: switching your planning perspective (e.g. you prefer to view the stage from the audience's side rather than the performer's side), correcting a piece that was designed from the wrong orientation, or creating a mirrored version for a second group performing on the opposite side of the stage.

Note that a background image is not flipped - it stays as-is. If you need the background to match the flipped layout, you'll need to flip it manually outside the app and re-import it.

In edit mode, the formations slider shows a row of formation pills. Tap any pill to switch to that formation. You can also swipe left or right on the stage area to step through formations one at a time. Tapping a formation in the previews screen selects it and closes the previews screen.

In Music Mode, scrub the playhead along the waveform timeline to move through the choreography. When the playhead is inside a formation block, the stage shows that formation. When scrubbing through a transition between two blocks, dancer positions are shown at the intermediate point - so you see them mid-movement rather than snapping between states.

The Navigation section in the bottom actions bar has four actions: Go to start, Go to end, Previous, and Next. In edit mode, Previous and Next simply switch to the neighbouring formation. In Music Mode, they step to the center of the neighbouring transition or formation - letting you move through the piece in precise increments including the in-between states.

The previews screen shows all formations as thumbnail cards in a scrollable grid, giving you an overview of the entire choreography at a glance. Tap any card to jump to that formation and close the previews screen. It's useful for finding a specific formation in a long piece, checking the overall visual flow, and reordering formations.

Pinch to zoom in or out and adjust how many thumbnails are visible at once. You can also use the ⋮ button in the top navigation for zoom actions. Zooming out is useful for a bird's-eye view - you can check how colors are distributed, spot repeated patterns, or scan for a specific formation without scrolling.

Long press a formation card to access individual actions: Duplicate, Rename, Delete, Add comment, or start reordering. The ⋮ button also has an option to start reordering.

Tap the Add formation pill at the end of the formations slider. This works in both edit mode and Music Mode. A new formation is added after the current one, copying the dancer positions from it as a starting point. From there you can move dancers into the new arrangement.

Formation actions are available by tapping the active formation pill in the slider, tapping a formation block twice in Music Mode, opening the Formation actions section in the bottom actions bar, or long pressing a card in the previews screen. Color is not available from the previews screen.

• Copy - inserts a copy immediately after the current formation. Inherits dancer positions, colors, shapes, and formation color. Comments and the custom name are not carried over.
• Rename - set a name like "Verse 1" or "Final pose". Names appear in the previews screen and in PDF exports.
• Color - assign a color that appears as the pill/block background in the slider and Music Mode, and as a border in the previews screen. Supports a formation range selection.
• Add comment - add a note to the formation. See the Comments subtopic for full details.
• Delete - removes the formation immediately. Tap Undo right away if deleted by mistake.

In the formations slider, long press a formation pill and drag it to a new position. In the previews screen, first enable reordering mode (via long press on a card or the ⋮ button), then drag cards to rearrange them. Reordering is not available in Music Mode.

If you have curved transition paths or Music Mode block durations set, be aware that reordering can leave curves in unpredictable positions and change which transitions the durations apply to - review both afterwards.

Use the Color formation action. The chosen color appears as the background of the formation pill in the slider and the formation block in Music Mode, and as a border on the card in the previews screen. You can select a formation range to apply the same color to multiple formations at once.

Giving all chorus formations one color and all verse formations another makes the structure of the piece immediately readable at a glance.

Music Mode lets you attach a music track to your choreography and sync formations to specific timestamps in the song. Instead of guessing how long each formation should last, you can see the waveform and position each formation exactly where it needs to land relative to the music.

This makes it much easier to plan transitions that hit on beats, build up to a drop, or hold through a slower section. When you play back the choreography, dancers animate in sync with the track - so what you see is close to what you'll experience in a real rehearsal.

The toggle between edit mode and Music Mode is always visible in the editor toolbar as a note icon. If no track is attached yet, tapping it will prompt you to add one first.

Tap the note icon in the editor toolbar to switch to Music Mode. If no track is attached yet, the music selection screen opens automatically. There are three ways to import a track:

• Import from Files - the recommended way. Pick any audio file stored on your device or in iCloud Drive. On Mac, the file must be saved in a local folder rather than a cloud-only location to be accessible.
• Import from iTunes Library - browse tracks from your iTunes library. The track must be downloaded locally on the device. Tracks purchased from the iTunes Store work fine. Apple Music subscription tracks and other streaming services are DRM-protected and not accessible.
• Extract audio from video - import a video file and ArrangeUs will extract the audio track from it.

Supported formats: MP3, AAC, M4A, WAV, and AIFF. Once loaded, the waveform appears in the timeline.

Open Settings › Change music from the bottom actions bar. This opens a list of tracks you've previously imported - tap one to switch, or import a new file. Your existing formation timestamps are kept, so if the new track has the same structure you may only need minor adjustments.

To rename or delete a track from the list, swipe the row.

If you remove the music entirely, the waveform timeline is replaced by the standard formations slider and you can no longer scrub through formations. All block durations are preserved though - they will still be there when you attach a new track.

ArrangeUs supports one track per choreography. If your performance uses multiple songs or you need a specific section of a track, you'll need to prepare the audio beforehand - combine or trim it in a separate app like GarageBand, then import the result into ArrangeUs.

ArrangeUs does not currently support trimming or setting a start offset within the app - the full track plays from the beginning. If you need playback to start from a specific point, trim the audio in an external app like GarageBand before importing.

No - music is not included in shared .arrus files or backups for legal reasons. The choreography file contains the formation data and timestamps, but the music track itself must be shared separately. The recipient will need to have the same track on their device and attach it manually.

Tap a formation or transition block in the Music Mode timeline to select it - a selection frame appears with draggable left and right edges. Drag either edge to extend or shorten the block. The block can snap to the playhead, which stays fixed at the center of the timeline - scroll the timeline to bring the playhead to the beat you want to align to, then drag the block edge to meet it. Zoom in first for more precise adjustments. Tapping a block that already has the selection frame opens the formation actions menu instead.

The minimum duration for any formation or transition block is 0.1 seconds. There is no maximum limit. At maximum zoom, short blocks are easier to select and fine-tune precisely. At minimum zoom, more blocks are visible at once - useful for getting an overview of the full sequence structure.

Dragging the left edge of a block always behaves as non-ripple - it adjusts the start of the selected block and shares the change with the preceding block. The right edge has a toggle between the two modes. The toggle is on the right edge handle itself - a single arrow means non-ripple is active, an arrow with a parallel line means ripple is active. Tap it to switch.

• Ripple mode - extending or shortening a block shifts all following blocks along the timeline. Useful when adjusting overall structure and you want everything downstream to stay in sync.
• Non-ripple mode - the change is shared between the selected block and its neighbouring block. Making a formation longer shortens the adjacent transition, and vice versa. Useful for fine-tuning timing at a specific point without moving anything else on the timeline.

Deleting a formation - the block is removed and its duration is added to the transition time of the previous formation. All other formations stay exactly where they were on the timeline.

Inserting a formation - a new block is inserted with default durations of 5.0 seconds for the formation and 2.0 seconds for the transition. This shifts everything that follows, so if your timings are already set, using Split Formation is a better option - it divides an existing block without affecting anything else on the timeline.

Split Formation divides one formation block into two at the position of the playhead. The dancer positions in both halves are identical - it's the same snapshot split in time. The transition between the two new blocks is set to the minimum 0.1 seconds. This is useful when you realise a formation needs to hold longer in one part, or when you want to insert a transition in the middle of what was originally one static moment.

To split, position the playhead over the formation you want to divide, then use Formation actions › Split Formation from the bottom actions bar. You can then adjust the duration of each half independently and move dancers in either one without affecting the other. Unlike inserting a new formation, splitting does not shift anything else on the timeline.

• Play - tap the play button to start playback from the current playhead position. Formations and transitions animate in sync with the music track.
• Playback speed - use Settings › Change music speed from the bottom actions bar. Slowing down is useful for rehearsals where dancers are still learning the sequence. Does not alter your formation timestamps.
• Timeline zoom - pinch in or out on the timeline. Zooming in gives more space per second for precise beat-level editing; zooming out shows more of the track at once for structural adjustments.

The timeline length depends on which is longer - the music or your formations:

• If formations are longer than the track - music plays to its end and stops, but you can keep scrolling through the remaining formations.
• If formations are shorter than the track - extra space is added to the timeline so the full track length remains visible.

There are two ways to add a comment:

Via the comments panel (recommended) - open the comments panel from the actions bar. The panel slides up while keeping the stage visible, showing any existing comments for the current formation at the top and an Add comment text field at the bottom. This is the preferred way because you can see both the dancers and previous comments while writing.

Via Add Comment action - tap the active formation pill in the formations slider or a formation block in the Music Mode timeline and select Add Comment. The same action is available in Formations › Add Comment in the actions bar, or from a formation card in the Previews screen. This opens a popup text field over the stage - useful for quickly jotting something down without opening the full comments panel.

In the comments panel, long press a comment or tap the ⋮ button next to it to reveal Edit and Delete options. Choosing Edit loads the comment text into the Add comment field at the bottom of the panel - edit it there and confirm to save.

Open the comments panel from the actions bar, or tap the comment count badge on a formation pill if one is visible. The panel shows all comments for the currently active formation. Switching formations while the panel is open updates the list automatically.

The panel has two height modes. Compact takes up part of the screen, letting you see the stage and comments at the same time. Full expands the panel to the full screen height - useful when reviewing longer notes. Drag the panel up or down to switch between them. Comments are never truncated in either mode.

In edit mode, formation pills in the formations slider show a small comment count badge when that formation has comments attached. It gives you a quick visual overview of which formations have notes, and tapping the badge opens the comments panel directly for that formation.

Yes. When you export a choreography as PDF, comments are included alongside each formation. This makes the PDF useful as a full rehearsal document - dancers and directors can read the notes for each position directly from the export.

Currently ArrangeUs supports stage props - freestanding objects placed on the stage. Three shapes are available: rectangle, circle, and triangle. Color, transparency, position, rotation, and size are all per-formation, so a prop can move and change appearance as the choreography progresses.

Once you place a prop, its shape cannot be changed. To use a different shape you would need to delete it and add a new one.

• Set pieces - chairs, tables, platforms, or any object dancers interact with or move around. A prop can stay fixed or be moved between formations to reflect real staging changes.
• Stage markers - mark fixed reference points like spotlight positions, stage edges, or zone boundaries. Dancers can then be positioned relative to a prop, giving consistent spacing without relying on the grid alone.
• Stage zones - a large transparent rectangle can outline a section of the stage (a performance area, a ramp, or an elevated platform) as a visual guide throughout the choreography.

Add props early in your process. A prop exists across all formations from the point it is added, so adding one later means manually setting its position and appearance in every preceding formation.

Use Props › Add rectangle, Props › Add ellipse, or Props › Add triangle from the bottom actions bar. The prop appears at the center of the stage with a default size - drag it into position and resize as needed. It will be present across all formations.

Tap a prop on stage to select it. You can only select one prop at a time. To change color or transparency, use the Props › Edit prop action. You can select a formation range directly from there, the same way as with dancer color and shape.

Position, size, and rotation are adjusted directly on stage. To apply them across multiple formations, use the copy and paste action. All properties are per-formation.

The prop's shape cannot be changed after it has been placed.

• Move - drag the prop to reposition it. On release, the center of the prop snaps to the nearest grid point.
• Resize - drag the resize handles. Size snaps in half-grid-cell increments. The height of a prop is fixed and cannot be changed independently.
• Rotate - use the rotation handle.

Select a prop and use Props › Copy position, then navigate to another formation and use Props › Paste position. Unlike dancer position copying, this also carries over the prop's rotation and size. Long press the paste action to apply across a range of formations at once - useful when a prop needs to hold a fixed configuration for a whole section of the choreography.

• Props › Duplicate prop - creates a copy with the same shape, color, size, and rotation, placed next to the original. Useful when you need several identical objects on stage.
• Props › Delete prop - removes the prop from all formations. If you might need it again, consider moving it off stage instead of deleting.

There are several ways to select dancers on stage:

• Tap - select a single dancer. Tap additional dancers to add them to the selection. Tap a selected dancer again to remove them.
• Drag a dancer - dragging an unselected dancer picks it up as a single selection, clearing any previous selection. If the dancer is already part of a multi-selection, all selected dancers move together.
• Area multi-select - long press on empty space, then drag to draw a rectangle. Any dancer within the area is selected when you lift your finger. The long press also clears any current selection before the rectangle starts.
• Select All - tap Dancers › Select All in the actions bar. Selects every dancer in the current formation at once.
• Select Same Color / Shape - select one or more dancers first, then tap Dancers › Select Same Color or Dancers › Select Same Shape in the actions bar. All dancers matching any color or shape in the current selection are added.

To clear the selection, tap any empty area of the stage.

Use color and shape as group identifiers. If you assign the same color to all lead dancers and another to the chorus, Select Same Color becomes a one-tap way to always grab the right group across every formation. The more intentionally you use colors and shapes, the more useful this action becomes.

Fix a wrong tap without starting over. On a dense stage it's easy to accidentally include the wrong dancer. Rather than clearing the whole selection, just tap that dancer again to remove only them from the current selection.

Long press a dancer to jump straight to dancer actions. Instead of tapping to select and then opening the actions bar, a long press on any dancer selects them and opens the Dancers section of the actions bar in one step.

Select one or more dancers using any of the selection methods, then drag to move. A single dancer moves independently. When multiple dancers are selected, dragging any one of them moves the whole group together, preserving their relative spacing. Dropping a dancer outside the stage boundary returns them to their original position.

Movement only affects the current formation. If you want the same positions in following formations, use Copy and Paste Positions to replicate them manually where needed.

Snap to grid is enabled by default. When on, dancers snap to the nearest grid cell edge or center point when you drop them - not while dragging, only on release. Toggle it via Settings › Snap to grid in the actions bar.

Disabling it gives you free positioning anywhere on stage - useful for circular or curved formations where exact radial positions don't fall on grid points, or when fine-tuning spacing that the grid would round off.

Resnap snaps all selected dancers to the nearest grid point in one go, without dragging them manually. Select the dancers you want to realign and tap Dancers › Resnap positions in the actions bar. It's useful after freeform positioning with snap to grid disabled, after rotation or stretch actions that leave dancers off-grid, or after applying a preset whose positions don't land exactly on grid points.

Select the dancers you want to recolor, then tap Dancers › Change color in the actions bar to open the color picker. A quick access button for the color picker also appears directly on stage whenever dancers are selected, so you can reach it without opening the actions bar.

The picker offers a range of colors. Each color comes in 3 shades - a strong vibrant version, a mid tone, and a pale version. This lets you use shades of the same color to show different states within a group - for example, active vs. offstage, or lead vs. ensemble.

Color is per-formation - the same dancer can have a different color in each formation. This means you can change a dancer's color mid-sequence to signal a role change or a costume change, without affecting any other formation.

Select the dancers you want to change, then tap Dancers › Change shape in the actions bar. A quick access button for the shape picker also appears directly on stage whenever dancers are selected, so you can reach it without opening the actions bar. The picker shows: circle (default), square, diamond, and 8 triangle variants pointing in each of the 8 compass directions.

Triangles are particularly useful for showing facing direction - the point indicates where a dancer is oriented. Other shapes can be used for any purpose: distinguishing roles, marking specific positions, or separating groups when color alone isn't enough.

Shape is per-formation - the same dancer can have a different shape in each formation, letting you show changes in orientation or role as the piece progresses.

Both the color and shape pickers include a formation scope selector. By default it is set to the current formation only. Before confirming your choice, you can change the scope to apply the change to a broader set of formations:

• Current formation - applies only to the formation you are on (default).
• All previous formations - applies to every formation before the current one.
• All next formations - applies to every formation after the current one.
• Custom - lets you select specific formations one by one from the list.

Once the formation set looks right, choose your new color or shape and it is applied to all selected formations at once.

Select the dancers you want to rename, then tap Dancers › Edit names in the actions bar. A popup appears showing each selected dancer by their index - edit names and short names there, then save your changes. You can also reach the same screen for all dancers at once via the choreography settings screen under Your dancers.

The Name is used in lists, exports, and comments - keep it short enough that it doesn't get truncated in the UI. Names are displayed below the dancer's shape on stage, and above the dancer figure in 3D mode. The Short name (1-3 characters) is displayed inside the dancer's shape on stage.

Short names are flexible - you can use initials, code names like D1/D2/D3, role codes, or even emoji to represent a role or a prop (like 🎹 for a pianist or 🪑 for a seated position). Both names and short names can be duplicated - only indexes are unique - so you can intentionally give the same short name to a whole group, useful for a shared section label or a role marker.

You can also set a dancer's short name to match their index number, which turns the shape into a numbered slot corresponding to a cast list.

Select exactly two dancers, then tap Positions › Swap 2 positions in the actions bar. The two dancers exchange positions instantly in the current formation. A quick access swap button also appears on stage alongside the color and shape buttons - tap it for one-tap swapping without opening the actions bar.

To apply the swap across multiple formations, long press either the actions bar button or the quick access button. A formation range picker appears where you can select which formations the swap should apply to.

Swapping is useful whenever manually dragging feels cumbersome - for example, when two dancers are close together and hard to drag precisely, when you want to try a different arrangement without disrupting the rest of the formation, or when mirroring an assignment between two roles across several formations at once.

Both actions require at least two dancers to be selected - they operate on the group as a whole, transforming positions relative to the group's collective center point.

Rotate - tap Positions › Rotate in the actions bar. A slider appears - drag it to gradually set the rotation angle around the group's collective center point. Useful for spinning a circle formation or rotating a line to a diagonal without repositioning each dancer individually. You can also rotate directly on stage using a two-finger twist gesture.

Stretch - tap Positions › Stretch in the actions bar. A slider appears along with a button to switch between horizontal, vertical, or both directions. Drag to spread dancers further apart or pull them closer together. Stretching in one axis lets you widen a formation without affecting depth, or compress it vertically while keeping horizontal spacing intact. Useful for tightening a loose cluster or opening up a compact group without losing the relative shape.

Flip - tap Positions › Horizontal flip or Positions › Vertical flip. The selected dancers are mirrored around the center of their group - useful for creating a mirror-image version of a phrase or correcting stage left/right orientation. Long pressing either flip action opens extended options to choose a formation range and the flip center - group center mirrors within their own footprint, stage center keeps positions relative to the full stage.

Clockwise / Anti-clockwise swap - tap Positions › Swap clockwise or Positions › Swap anti-clockwise. Each dancer shifts into the position of the next dancer in the circular order around the group's center - only positions are shuffled, not identities. Useful for cycling through role assignments or creating a rotation pattern across formations.

Select the dancers you want to copy, then tap Positions › Copy positions in the actions bar. Navigate to a different formation and tap Positions › Paste positions - no need to reselect the dancers, the copied positions are applied automatically. Long pressing Paste positions lets you select a custom range of formations to paste into at once.

Useful for repeating an exact arrangement in a later formation, or for bringing dancers back to a known reference position after a sequence of moves.

Formation presets are template shapes available in their own section of the actions bar. The built-in templates are: Circle, Top half-circle, Bottom half-circle, Horizontal line, and Vertical line.

Select the dancers you want to arrange, then tap a preset. ArrangeUs maps each dancer to the nearest position in the preset shape, keeping the assignment as natural as possible. The size of the resulting shape adapts to how tightly the dancers are currently grouped - a compact selection produces a smaller preset, a spread-out one produces a larger one. It's a quick way to jump to a standard starting shape without repositioning each dancer manually.

More preset templates - and the ability to create and save your own - are planned for future releases.

A transition is the movement that happens between two formations. ArrangeUs draws each dancer's path from their current position to their position in the next formation (or from the previous one). By default this is a straight line, but it becomes a curve if the path has been edited. When all the relevant settings are enabled, these paths are drawn on the stage at all times while you are editing - they don't require any special mode to be active.

When you switch between formations, the paths gradually appear or disappear based on the direction dancers are moving - giving a smooth visual sense of the transition as you navigate.

In edit mode, transitions always play at a default quick duration - there is no way to customise it. Custom transition durations are only available in Music Mode, where the duration is determined by the gap between formation blocks on the waveform timeline.

When navigating between non-consecutive formations - for example jumping from formation 1 to formation 5 - you will still see a transition animation. Dancers simply travel directly from their current positions to their positions in the target formation.

Ghost dancers are faded overlays shown on the current stage view. They display dancer positions, colors, and shapes from an adjacent formation - letting you see where dancers were in the previous formation or where they will be in the next one, without switching between formations.

This makes it much easier to judge spacing and flow: you can see the full picture of where everyone is coming from and going to while you edit the current formation.

Toggle previous and next ghosts independently using Ghost dancers › Previous ghosts and Ghost dancers › Next ghosts in the actions bar. Both can also be toggled in the choreography settings screen.

Transition paths are dashed lines drawn from each dancer's current position to their position in the previous or next formation. Each path exists per transition - each pair of adjacent formations has its own independent set. Paths are only shown for neighbouring formations - not when jumping to a non-adjacent one.

To show paths, first enable ghost dancers using Ghost dancers › Previous ghosts or Ghost dancers › Next ghosts, then turn on Ghost dancers › Ghost paths in the actions bar. All three options are also available in the choreography settings screen. Paths are shown per dancer and update live as you move dancers or edit the path shape.

Paths are shown in 2D view only. In 3D mode the dashed lines are not visible, but dancers still follow their curved routes when travelling between formations. Paths are also shown while music is playing or when scrubbing the music timeline.

Paths can be included when exporting as PDF. Transition paths are currently only available for dancers - not for props.

To modify a path, select a dancer first. Then use the Ghost dancers › Show path knobs action in the bottom actions bar (also available in the choreography settings screen) to make the curve knob visible.

Drag the knob to reshape the curve - it cannot be dragged outside the stage. You can only edit one path at a time.

For more complex routes, use Ghost dancers › 2-point curve to add a second control point. This gives an S-curve shape - useful for a dancer who takes a detour or loops before arriving. This action can be applied to multiple selected dancers at once.

To return a path to a straight line, use Ghost dancers › Reset paths. Also works with multiple dancers selected.

Curved paths are not automatically adjusted when you flip formations, apply a clockwise swap, use a position preset, reorder formations, or perform similar bulk actions. After these operations, review your curves and reset or re-edit any paths that no longer look correct.

Path control points are stored as proportional coordinates, the same way dancer positions are, so they adapt automatically to most stage changes:

• Resize - control points scale with the stage, preserving the visual shape of every curve.
• Flip - control points are mirrored along with dancer positions. A path that swept left will sweep right after a horizontal flip.
• Swap - when two dancers are swapped across multiple formations at once, their paths follow them, keeping movement routes associated with the correct performer. A swap applied to a single formation only does not swap the paths.

Use Dancers › Inner dancer text in the actions bar (also available in choreography settings) to choose what each dancer's icon shows:

• Short name - displays the 1-3 character label. Can be initials, a role code, or an emoji. Short names can be duplicated, so you can give the same label to a whole group intentionally.
• Index - displays the dancer's index number, which is unique per dancer. Best when you need an unambiguous reference that matches a numbered cast list.
• Solid shape - no label, just the color and shape. Best for a clean visual overview focused on grouping and position rather than identity.

Toggle Dancers › Show names in the actions bar (also available in choreography settings). When off, full name labels shown alongside dancer icons are hidden across the whole choreography. This is separate from the inner dancer text - you can show one, both, or neither.

Use Dancers › Change dancers size in the actions bar. The slider runs from 0.4 to 2.0 with a default of 0.7. At 1.0, a dancer icon exactly fills one standard grid cell. Lower values give more room to see spacing and paths; higher values make individual dancers easier to read on a busy stage. This scales all dancer icons proportionally without affecting their positions. Combining a large size with a bigger stage grid cell can create a layout where dancers fill the visible space - useful for accessibility or for working on larger displays.

Use Dancers › Change name text size in the actions bar. This controls the size of the full name labels shown alongside dancer icons, independently from the dancer shape size - useful when you want small icons but readable names, or large icons with minimal text clutter.

Tap Dancers › Add New in the actions bar. This enters addition mode - tap any empty spot on the stage to place a dancer there. You can keep tapping to add multiple dancers one by one. Each new dancer is placed at the nearest grid point and added with a default pink color, circle shape, and no name.

To exit addition mode, tap Add New again, close the Dancers section, tap an existing dancer to select them, or use area multi-select.

A new dancer is placed at the same position in all existing formations - not just the current one. For this reason it's best to add dancers early. If you add a dancer later, you'll need to adjust their position in each formation individually. To save time, move them to the backstage area in formations where they're not yet on stage, or use Copy and Paste Positions if the same position repeats across multiple formations.

Name, color, and shape can all be set after placing the dancer.

Select the dancers you want to remove, then tap Dancers › Delete in the actions bar. The dancers are removed from all formations in the choreography.

Deletion can be undone, but the undo history can be overwritten by later actions or lost if you close the choreography - so treat it with care.

If you only want dancers absent from certain formations rather than removed entirely, move them to the backstage area instead. They stay in the choreography but are hidden from the visible stage for those formations.

It depends on who you're sharing with:

• ArrangeUs file - full project the recipient can open and edit. Best for fellow choreographers, assistants, or anyone who needs to work with the piece themselves.
• PDF export - a static document with all formations laid out. Best for giving dancers a printed or digital reference they can follow without the app.
• Screen recording - record yourself tapping through formations. Best for a quick visual overview - no app required on the other side, and easy to send via any chat app.

PDF export and screen recording work for anyone regardless of what apps they have. The .arrus file format requires ArrangeUs to open - so if you need someone to view or edit the actual project, they'll need the app installed. ArrangeUs is free to download, so there's no barrier for them to get started.

You can trigger PDF export from two places: tap the button on a choreography card in the main list, or open the choreography and use Share Choreography at the bottom of the settings screen. In both cases, select Export as PDF. Each formation gets its own page showing the full stage with all dancers exactly as they appear in the app.

Before exporting you can configure several layout options:

• Background - choose dark or light. The light background is especially useful when printing key formations, since it doesn't drain ink the way the dark stage does.
• Comments panel - optionally display formation comments on the left side of each page, taking up roughly 30% of the page width. Useful for sharing notes with dancers alongside the visual layout.
• Transition paths - show or hide the movement arrows leading to each dancer's next position.
• Scene directions and distance markers - toggle the stage orientation labels and grid markers on or off.

Each page includes the formation name and page index. Formation names are highlighted with the same color assigned to that formation in the app, making it easy to match a printed page back to the right point in your sequence.

To share a single choreography, tap the button on its card and tap Share. ArrangeUs exports it as a .arrus file named after the choreography. To share several at once, enter multi-select mode, pick the choreographies you want, and tap Share in the action bar - they are bundled into a single .aubkp file. In both cases you can send the file via any app - Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram, email, AirDrop, and so on.

The recipient opens the file in ArrangeUs on their device and gets their own independent copy. Changes on either side won't affect the other.

Note that music is not included in shared files for legal reasons - the recipient needs to have the track on their device and attach it manually. Custom stage backgrounds are included and will appear automatically on the recipient's device.

Sharing a preset exports a Preset.arrus file. Sharing a crew exports a .aubkp file. The recipient imports both using the same steps as a choreography file.

Any app that can send a file attachment works. The most common options:

• Messaging apps - Apple Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram, and similar. Quick and familiar for most people, and the recipient can tap the file directly to open it in ArrangeUs.
• Cloud storage - Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud Drive, and others. Good for keeping a shared copy accessible to multiple people, or for storing files long-term without clogging up a chat history.
• Email - Gmail, Apple Mail, and any other mail client. Works well when sharing with someone you'd normally communicate with by email, or when you want a paper trail.

AirDrop is also a great option when you're in the same room as the recipient - fast, no account needed, and the file opens in ArrangeUs instantly on their device.

Yes - .arrus and .aubkp files are cross-platform and can be shared freely between iOS and Android devices. The import process works the same way on both.

Keep in mind that some newer features are still in development on Android, so a choreography that uses the latest iOS functionality may not display everything correctly on Android yet. Core features work on both platforms.

Open the file in whatever app it arrived in - Messages, WhatsApp, email, Files, and so on. Tap the file to open it, then look for a more options button - usually shown as a share icon or three dots depending on the app. Tap it to open the share sheet.

In the share sheet, find the row of app icons and look for ArrangeUs. Tap it and the choreography will be imported directly into your library. If the exact same version of the choreography already exists on your device - same file with no changes made - the import will be skipped to avoid duplicates.

If you don't see ArrangeUs in the row, scroll along it - the row only shows a limited number of apps at once. Make sure ArrangeUs is installed, as it won't appear if it isn't on your device.

You can share multiple choreographies at once using multi-select on the choreographies list. The recipient opens the file the same way as a single choreography - but instead of being added to the library automatically, a selection screen appears showing all the choreographies included in the file. Any choreographies that already exist on the device with no changes will be hidden from the selection screen, since there is nothing new to import.

Tap items to check or uncheck them, then confirm to import only what you want. If you're happy to take everything, use the Select All button to check all at once before confirming.

This makes it easy to share a whole season's worth of work in one go, while still giving the recipient control over what ends up in their library.

A shared folder on a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox works well as a central hub for the whole team. Create a dedicated folder for the project and keep the latest choreography file there. Whenever you publish an update, upload the new version and notify the team - each person can then download it and import it into ArrangeUs on their device.

The same folder is a natural place to keep the music file, so everyone always has the right audio version alongside the choreography.

If collaborators want to suggest changes, they can upload their edited version to the same folder. Using a clear file naming convention makes it easy to track progress and avoid confusion - for example:

• SummerShow_v1.arrus
• SummerShow_v2_bridge-section.arrus
• SummerShow_final.arrus

This approach keeps everyone working from the same source without needing real-time collaboration features.

ArrangeUs automatically backs up your library each time you close the app or send it to the background. Each automatic backup overwrites the previous one, so there is always one current backup per device. It's stored as a .aubkp file inside iCloud Drive → ArrangeUs, in a folder named after your device model - private to your Apple ID and accessible from the Files app.

Each backup includes everything: choreographies, presets, crews, tags - but not music files (excluded for legal reasons). You can check when the last backup ran at the top of Settings → Backups. If no timestamp is shown, the backup hasn't completed or something went wrong - tap Back Up Now to trigger one immediately and check again.

Two things need to be in place for backups to work:

• iCloud Drive enabled for ArrangeUs - go to iOS Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Drive and make sure ArrangeUs is toggled on.
• Sufficient iCloud storage - backup files are stored in your iCloud container. In practice they're small - typically 2-4 MB depending on how many choreographies you have - so this is rarely an issue.

Backups are most useful for moving your library to a new or replacement device, and for syncing choreographies between devices sharing the same Apple ID.

On Android, ArrangeUs uses the system backup mechanism. Your choreographies are saved automatically to a system folder managed by Google - there's no backup screen inside the app, and the files aren't directly accessible.

When you reinstall ArrangeUs or install it on a new Android device signed into the same Google Play account, your choreographies are automatically restored to the library. No selection screen, no extra steps - everything comes back on its own.

Open Settings → Backups. Backups are organised by device - each device has its own folder named after the device model, containing files named ArrangeUs_timestamp.aubkp. If you reinstall ArrangeUs, a new folder is created for the current device, so older backups from before the reinstall remain available in the previous folder.

If you have backups from two devices, the app automatically selects the backup from the other device - no picker needed. If there are backups from three or more devices, a device selection screen appears first so you can choose which device to restore from.

Tap a backup to open its contents. The selection screen shows choreographies not already on the device - anything with a matching internal ID is filtered out automatically, so you won't see duplicates of work you already have. Select what you want and tap Import Selected. The imported items are added as new entries and nothing existing is affected.

To move your library to a new device, tap Back Up Now on the old device first, then sign into the same Apple ID on the new device. If your library is empty, a restore button appears directly on the choreographies list screen - no need to go into Settings.

Sync keeps an individual choreography up to date across devices. Every time you open a choreography, ArrangeUs quietly checks all available backups for a version with the same internal ID. You can also trigger it manually at any time from the choreography's actions menu without opening the choreography.

What happens next depends on what's found:

• Newer version found - you get a confirmation dialog: pull the newer version or keep what you have locally.
• Older version found - you're offered the option to override your local version with it. The wording makes clear it's an older version - confirm to apply it or keep local.
• Multiple versions found across backups - a picker shows all options so you can choose which one to pull from. You can also skip syncing and just open the local version.

If you override your local version, it's moved to Trash first - so if you change your mind, you can recover it from there.

Go to Settings → Backups and tap Back Up Now. This runs the same full backup immediately - identical to what happens automatically when you close the app - and overwrites the previous backup. Useful before making large changes or before a performance.

If you want a portable backup file you fully control - one that lives outside the automatic cycle and won't get overwritten - you have two options. You can go to the choreographies list, enter multi-select mode, select all, and tap Share to export a fresh .aubkp file. Or you can simply copy the existing backup file from iCloud Drive → ArrangeUs to another location using the Files app - it works just as well. Make sure to copy, not move or delete the original. Either way, save it wherever you like: a cloud folder, your computer, a chat thread.

Yes. Find the .aubkp file wherever it's stored - in the Files app, a cloud folder, a message thread, or anywhere else. Open it and share it to ArrangeUs the same way you'd open any ArrangeUs file: tap the share icon, find ArrangeUs in the share sheet, and tap it. The backup import flow then works exactly as described above.

Premium unlocks everything you need to plan more complex productions and work more efficiently. Here's what you get:

• Unlimited choreographies - no cap on how many projects you can have
• More dancers - up to 100 dancers per choreography
• Music sync - attach tracks and sync formations to timestamps
• Custom stage backgrounds - import floor plans or venue photos
• Crews - reusable rosters to speed up choreography setup
• Custom dancer shapes - go beyond the default circle
• Props - add objects to your stage layout
• Formation colors - color-code individual formations
• Curved movement paths - adjust transition paths between formations
• Quick position actions - apply presets, flips, and other shortcuts to arrange dancers faster
• Archive folder - keep your library tidy without deleting

New features are regularly added to Premium - so the more you use it, the more you get over time.

Absolutely. ArrangeUs is free to download and the free plan is genuinely capable - you can plan full choreographies, move dancers, build formations, preview transitions, and export to PDF without spending anything.

Premium is there when you're ready to go further, but it's never a requirement. Many choreographers use the free plan for their entire workflow and get everything they need from it.

Pick the plan that works for you - all come with a 7-day free trial so you can try before you commit:

• Monthly - $3 / month
• 6 months - $15 (~$2.50 / month)
• Yearly - $24 (~$2 / month)

Prices may vary by country.

Tap Get Premium on the main screen, select your plan, and confirm the purchase with your Apple ID or Google account. Premium features are unlocked immediately after the transaction.

New subscribers start with a 7-day free trial - you won't be charged until it ends. If you've already used the trial on your account, the charge applies at the time of purchase.

The free trial is available once per Apple ID or Google account. Cancel before the trial ends to avoid being charged.

When the 7-day trial ends, your subscription becomes active automatically and you're charged for the plan you selected. Apple and Google usually send an email reminder before the charge is processed.

If you cancel before the trial ends, Premium features stop at the end of the 7 days and you won't be charged. Once the trial has ended and your subscription is active, the normal cancellation rules apply - you keep access until the end of the paid period, not back to the trial start.

Not at the moment. ArrangeUs currently offers individual subscriptions only. A shared or group plan is something we may consider in the future - if this is important to you, feel free to contact us and let us know.

Your subscription details are managed through your device's system settings, not inside ArrangeUs:

• iOS: Settings → your name → Subscriptions → ArrangeUs
• Android: Google Play → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → ArrangeUs

There you'll see your current plan, price, and the next renewal date.

Yes. You can switch between the monthly, 6-month, and yearly plans at any time. To switch, cancel your current plan - you keep access until the period ends - then resubscribe on the plan you want when it expires.

On iOS you can also upgrade directly to a longer plan through Settings → Subscriptions - the App Store will prorate the remaining days of your current plan automatically.

When you subscribe, your plan renews automatically at the end of each billing period - monthly, every 6 months, or yearly - until you cancel. You'll be charged through your Apple ID or Google account. To avoid being charged for the next period, cancel at least 24 hours before your renewal date.

Apple and Google usually send an email reminder before your subscription renews, so keep an eye on your inbox if you're on a trial or want to reconsider.

Payment methods are managed through the App Store or Google Play, not inside ArrangeUs itself.

• iOS: Settings → your name → Payment & Shipping
• Android: Google Play → Profile → Payment methods

Promo codes are redeemed through the App Store or Google Play:

• iOS: App Store → tap your profile → Redeem Gift Card or Code
• Android: Google Play → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Redeem offer code

On iOS you can also long-press the App Store icon on your home screen and tap Redeem for a faster shortcut.

• iOS: Settings → your name → Subscriptions → ArrangeUs → Cancel Subscription.
• Android: Google Play → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → ArrangeUs → Cancel.

You keep Premium access until the end of your current billing period. After that, all your choreographies remain fully accessible - you just lose access to Premium-only features.

All your choreographies stay exactly as they are - nothing is deleted or hidden. The main thing that changes is which editing tools are available:

• Music - you can still open choreographies that have music attached, but playback along with music won't be available. The track stays linked and comes back when you resubscribe.
• Custom stage backgrounds - backgrounds you've already set remain visible. You just won't be able to set a new one.
• Props - props stay on stage as they were. You won't be able to move or edit them until you resubscribe.
• Curved transition paths - existing curved paths stay in place. You won't be able to edit them or convert straight paths to curved ones.

If your library is over the free plan choreography limit, you can still open and edit all of them - you just won't be able to create anything new until you're back within the limit or resubscribe.

Not currently - subscriptions are tied to the platform they were purchased on, so an App Store subscription won't carry over to Android and vice versa. This limitation will go away once the accounts feature launches.

If this is causing you a problem right now, contact us and we'll do our best to help.

There's no need to transfer - your subscription is linked to your Apple ID or Google account, not the device. Simply sign in with the same account on your new device and restore your purchases to get full access again.

If you run into any issues, contact us and we'll help sort it out.

Sign in with the same Apple ID or Google account you used to purchase Premium, open ArrangeUs, and tap Already paid? on the paywall screen. The app will verify your subscription and unlock Premium at no extra charge.

Refund requests are handled by Apple or Google, not inside the app.

• iOS: Use Apple's reportaproblem.apple.com to request a refund. Apple reviews each request and makes the final decision. You can also check Apple's refund guide for more details.
• Android: Open Google Play → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → ArrangeUs → Request a refund. Google Play refunds are generally easier to get approved within a short window after purchase. See Google's refund guide for more details.

For Android, we also have more direct control over refunds and can help when needed - feel free to contact us if you're having trouble getting one approved.

First, try tapping Already paid? on the paywall screen - this tells the app to re-check your subscription status with the App Store or Google Play and usually resolves it right away.

If that doesn't help, reinstall the app and try restoring again. Reinstalling is safe since your data is stored in iCloud - but to be extra cautious, trigger a backup first (Settings → Backups → Back Up Now) before reinstalling.

If the issue persists after that, contact us and we'll look into it.