Synesthesia vs Functional Harmony
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Synesthesia
Experience music through a spectrum of colors, mimicking the sensory phenomenon of synesthesia. Use it as a dynamic mood light, a calming night light, or to visualize the pitches of songs and instruments.
- Music visualization
- Mood lighting
- Night light functionality
- Pitch to color mapping
- Microphone access for real-time audio
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Synesthesia makes listening to music a colorful experience and is a wonderful mood light and soft night light when you want to calm down. Do you want to see colors when playing certain tones like people with synesthesia / chromestesia do? The app "Synesthesia - See the music in colors" enables you to experience music in color as well. Whether you use it to train you perfect pitch, to help you remember melodies or just for entertainment as a light organ while listening to your favorite songs - Synesthesia helps you to see the current pitch in colors. To experience the colors simply allow the app to access the microphone on the first start and then play your instrument or a song, sing, ... or just enjoy many color changing patterns even without music as a mood light or night light. Please note: People with synesthesia may experiences different colors for the same pitch. The app therefore uses it's own color scale (each musical note C displays a red color for example). Some of our users use the app as an replacement for their old light organs ... so that should work very well ;-) If you like music apps be sure to check out our other apps as well -> Piano Champion, Guitar Champion, Drum Champion, Voice Back .... and many more to come
Functional Harmony
This music theory app helps users spell chords and scales by entering a root note. It also identifies intervals when two notes are provided. Learn music theory concepts quickly and easily.
- Spell chords
- Spell scales
- Identify intervals
- Enter root note for chords/scales
- Enter two notes for interval identification
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Functional Harmony is a fast music theory desk for players and students. Build chords and scales from a root and quality. Identify harmony from notes. Or just Ask—type a chord, scale, or note stack in plain English and jump straight to the answer. SCALE FINDER • Choose a root and scale quality—major, minor, modes, pentatonic, and more • See every degree spelled clearly for practice and ear training • Perfect when you need a quick scale finder without flipping textbooks CHORD BUILDER & CHORD ID • Spell major, minor, sevenths, suspended, augmented, diminished, and more • Stack notes in the Notes tab to identify chords and intervals (reverse lookup) • Piano-friendly note entry with accidentals—great as a chord identifier ASK • Natural-language queries: “C major 7”, “F# dorian”, “C E G” • Live preview before you open Chords, Scales, or Notes • Built for homework, rehearsals, and songwriting sessions WHY FUNCTIONAL HARMONY • Chords, scales, and note identification in one app • Clean, bottom-anchored controls designed for one-handed practice • No accounts, no clutter—just theory when you need it Whether you call it a scale finder, chord identifier, or harmony lab, Functional Harmony keeps tonal music theory at your fingertips.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Functional Harmony at 83% against Synesthesia's 38%. Functional Harmony also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.3). Synesthesia's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 18.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Functional Harmony holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 24 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of Synesthesia's written reviews are positive against 83% of Functional Harmony's.
Synesthesia ships an update monthly, Functional Harmony every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Synesthesia | Functional Harmony |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (16 ratings) | 4.9 (24 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.5% of reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 16 | 24 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Christian Auzinger | Dylan Shade |
Customer experience
Synesthesia
Functional Harmony
In-app purchases
Synesthesia
No in-app purchases
Functional Harmony
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Synesthesia free?
Is Functional Harmony free?
Which has better reviews, Synesthesia or Functional Harmony?
Do Synesthesia or Functional Harmony have ads?
Which is updated more often, Synesthesia or Functional Harmony?
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