Comparison

Complete Ear Trainer vs Hearing

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Complete Ear Trainer

Enhance your musical abilities with comprehensive ear training exercises. Master intervals, chords, and scales through gamified lessons and custom programs. Ideal for musicians seeking to improve improvisation, composition, and performance.

Highlights
  • 150+ progressive drills
  • 11 drill types
  • Customizable drills and programs
  • Gamified learning with star system
  • Multiple sound banks
  • Theory cards for concept introduction
  • Cloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

The ultimate ear training app for musicians. Develop your relative pitch to the full by improving your aural skills and your music theory knowledge. This will better many aspects of your life as a musician, be it regarding improvisation, composition, arrangement, interpretation, singing, or playing in a band. Designed like a video game and with strong pedagogical concepts in mind, this app will make you truly master each interval, chord, scale, etc. before taking you to the next one. Features • 150+ progressive drills arranged over 4 levels / 28 chapters • 11 drill types, 24 intervals, 36 chord types, chord inversions, 28 scale types, melodic dictations, chord progressions • Easy mode: 50+ progressive drills arranged over 12 chapters especially designed for beginners • Play a selection of 21 drills in arcade mode • 5 octaves of actual recorded grand piano sounds • 7 additional sound banks are available, all with actual recorded sounds: vintage piano, Rhodes piano, electric guitar, harpsichord, concert harp, strings and pizzicato strings • In each chapter, a theory card will introduce you to the concepts you will need to know • No need to know how to read music on a staff • Designed like a video game: earn 3 stars in each drill of a chapter to unlock the next one. Or will you be able to obtain perfect 5-star scores? • Don't want to follow the preestablished path of progression? Create and save your own custom drills and rehearse them at your own convenience • Create full custom training programs and invite friends or students to join them. If for example you're a teacher you can create custom programs for your students, add drills every week and view their scores on private leaderboards • Never lose any progress: cloud sync across your various devices • 25 achievements to unlock • Worldwide leaderboards (global, per level, per chapter, easy mode, arcade mode) • Global statistics to track your progress • Nice and clean user interface with 2 display themes: light and dark • Designed by a musician and music teacher with a Royal Conservatory master's degree Full Version • Download the app and try out the first chapter of each mode for free • One-time in-app purchase to unlock the full version on all your devices Having a problem? Got a suggestion? You can reach us at hello@completeeartrainer.com Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Hearing

Develop your musical ear with ear training exercises and melodic dictations. Practice identifying notes and transcribing music using various instruments and notation systems. Improve your sight-reading and singing skills to become a better musician.

Highlights
  • Ear training exercises
  • Melodic dictations
  • Note identification
  • Sight-reading practice
  • Multiple instrument support
  • Various musical notations
Features
Read full description

How to identify musical notes by ear? Want to transcribe or play music by ear? Want to improve your hearing skills? Do ear training exercises. A well-developed relative or absolute pitch is necessary for every musician. Practice melodic dictations. Train sight reading to read sheet music and music notes. Learn to sing according to notes. Develop musical hearing with us. You can practice musical ear using following instruments: - vocals - piano - guitar - bass-guitar - violin - cello - double bass Types of musical notations: - C D E F G A B - C D E F G A H - Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si - До Ре Ми Фа Соль Ля Си - Ντο Ρε Μι Φα Σολ Λα Σι - ハ ニ ホ ヘ ト イ ロ - 다 라 마 바 사 가 나 - स रे ग म प ध नि - ด ร ม ฟ ซ ล ท

Screenshots

Complete Ear Trainer4 screens
Hearing4 screens

Verdict

The call

Complete Ear Trainer and Hearing both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 85% of Complete Ear Trainer's written reviews are positive against 40% of Hearing's. Complete Ear Trainer also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 months). Hearing's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.5). On price, rating, ratings volume and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Complete Ear Trainer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Hearing asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Complete Ear Trainer against 4.6 for Hearing. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 203 and 120 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Complete Ear Trainer's written reviews are positive against 40% of Hearing's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Complete Ear Trainer ships an update every 2 weeks, Hearing every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Complete Ear Trainer versus Hearing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterComplete Ear TrainerHearing
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (203 ratings) — better4.6 (120 ratings)
Positive reviews85.1% of reviews — better40.4% of reviews
Number of ratings203 — better120
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.512.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size68 MB74 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBinary GuiltAlexey Ovod

Customer experience

Complete Ear Trainer

All ratings203 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.0%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews174 reviews
Positive85.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative7.5%

Hearing

All ratings120 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral3.3%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews99 reviews
Positive40.4%
Neutral15.2%
Negative44.4%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Complete Ear Trainer

Subscriptions2
  • Cloud Sync and Web access$0.991 Month
  • Cloud Sync and Web access$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Full Version$6.99
None

Hearing

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Complete Ear Trainer free?
Complete Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hearing free?
Hearing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Complete Ear Trainer or Hearing?
Complete Ear Trainer is rated higher. Complete Ear Trainer averages 4.7 out of 5 from 203 ratings, while Hearing averages 4.6 from 120 ratings.
Do Complete Ear Trainer or Hearing have ads?
Hearing shows ads; Complete Ear Trainer does not.
Which is updated more often, Complete Ear Trainer or Hearing?
Complete Ear Trainer ships an update every 2 weeks, and Hearing every 6 months. Most recently, Complete Ear Trainer was updated on November 6, 2026 and Hearing on November 3, 2026.

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