Comparison

Complete Ear Trainer vs String Theory

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

Develop your musical ear and music theory knowledge with this comprehensive training app. It offers progressive drills, various sound options, and a gamified learning experience to improve improvisation, composition, and performance skills.

Highlights
  • 150+ progressive drills
  • 11 drill types
  • 24 intervals, 36 chord types
  • Melodic dictations and chord progressions
  • Gamified learning with star system
  • Custom drill and program creation
  • 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) • 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

String Theory

This app helps guitarists explore scales and chords with an interactive fretboard. It allows users to compare scales, test custom tunings, and record riff ideas. The tool is designed for practicing improvisation, learning theory, and saving musical inspiration.

Highlights
  • Interactive guitar fretboard with scale mapping
  • Scale and Chord Finder tools
  • Custom tunings with octave control
  • Riff recording and vault organization
  • Left-handed mode
  • Scale comparison overlay
Features
Read full description

String Theory is a focused guitar tool for exploring scales, visualizing the fretboard, matching chords, and capturing riff ideas without clutter. Build better fretboard awareness with an interactive scales map, compare two scales at once, test custom tunings, and find compatible chords in seconds. When inspiration hits, record the idea and save it to your riff vault with notes and playback. Features: • Interactive guitar fretboard with scale mapping • Major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, and pentatonic scale families • Scale Finder and Chord Finder tools • Chords-to-scales matching • Add a second scale overlay for comparison • Custom tunings with per-string octave control • Left-handed fretboard mode • Fullscreen fretboard view • Riff recording, playback, rename, share, and vault organization • Light/dark mode, 3 color themes, haptics, and a polished liquid glass interface Whether you’re practicing improvisation, learning theory, or saving new ideas, String Theory keeps the essential guitar tools in one fast, modern app.

Screenshots

Complete Ear Trainer4 screens
String Theory4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Complete Ear Trainer at Free against String Theory's $1.99. Complete Ear Trainer also leads on ratings volume (199 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.5 vs 26.0). String Theory's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On ads 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

Complete Ear Trainer is free to download; String Theory costs $1.99 up front. Complete Ear Trainer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. String Theory asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

String Theory holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Complete Ear Trainer has 199 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Complete Ear Trainer's written reviews are positive against 100% of String Theory's.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Complete Ear Trainer versus String Theory: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterComplete Ear TrainerString Theory
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.7 (199 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings199 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.5 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size78 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBinary GuiltDANIEL NIKOLAS SZTURM

Customer experience

Complete Ear Trainer

All ratings199 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews174 reviews
Positive85.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative7.5%

String Theory

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

String Theory

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Complete Ear Trainer free?
Complete Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is String Theory free?
String Theory costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Complete Ear Trainer or String Theory?
String Theory is rated higher. Complete Ear Trainer averages 4.7 out of 5 from 199 ratings, while String Theory averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Complete Ear Trainer or String Theory have ads?
Neither Complete Ear Trainer nor String Theory shows ads.

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