Functional Ear Trainer vs Chet
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Functional Ear Trainer
Develop your musical ear by learning to recognize tones within the context of a specific musical key. This app helps you understand the function of each note, improving your ability to transcribe, improvise, and play music by ear. Suitable for all ages and skill levels, with just 10 minutes of daily practice.
- Recognize tones in musical key context
- Understand note function
- Improve transcription skills
- Enhance improvisation
- Develop perfect pitch
- Daily 10-minute practice
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Have you (or maybe one of your friends) ever wanted to learn to transcribe or play music by ear? It is so important for a musician to know what you are hearing. A good musical ear helps when you are composing, improvising, transcribing melodies, or playing with others. Most likely you have already tried different programs to learn to recognize intervals or even to acquire perfect pitch. However, although such programs develop your ear, but can you actually play any melody you hear as soon as you listen to it? Imagine you could understand music... It is like when somebody is talking to you, you not only hear pleasant sounds, but you recognize words and their meaning. One day I came across Alain Benbassat's program called "Functional Ear Trainer" and have been using it ever since. It is based on Alain's method to learn to recognize tones. The main difference between the Functional Ear Trainer and other methods is that it teaches you to distinguish between tones in the context of a particular musical key. You begin to recognize the role (or function) of each tone in this key, which is incredibly similar to its role in other keys of the same scale. And it is *guaranteed* anyone can gradually develop this skill. It does not matter: - who you are - an absolute beginner in music or a virtuoso professional musician; - how old you are - a 3 yo kid or a 90+ adult; - what musical instrument you play (you don't even have to play one). The only requirement is to practice for 10 minutes a day. I was so excited about this ear trainer that I have developed a mobile app based on the Alain Benbassat method. I hope you will find it useful.
Chet
Develop your musical ear and master music theory with interactive games and exercises. Learn at your own pace, identify music concepts, and practice with virtual instruments. Track your progress and compete globally to become a more confident and versatile musician.
- Identify music theory concepts
- Call and response exercises
- Virtual piano, guitar, bass
- Guided learning paths
- Intervals, scales, chords exercises
- Global leaderboards
- Spaced repetition practice
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Chet is a music education app with a focus on ear training and music theory. Learn at your own pace, play musical games, and compete against others from around the world! Using Chet helps you to become a more well-rounded, versatile musician. With a trained ear, you can learn songs more quickly, play with others more easily and feel confident in your overall musical abilities! Features: - Multiple choice questions that challenge you to identify music theory concepts. - Call and response questions using a virtual piano, guitar, or bass. - MIDI compatible... so plug in your MIDI keyboard if you have one! - Guided learning paths for beginner and intermediate users. - A library of exercises including intervals, scales, arpeggios, chords, progressions, tonal sequences, famous tunes, and atonal sequences. - Challenge games with competitive global leaderboards. - Professionally recorded music performed by world-class musicians. - A variety of musical genres including jazz, classical, pop and more. - A practice mode that uses spaced repetition. - Sign in to track your progress and compete with other musicians. - Never run out of ways to keep learning with regular updates and new content.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chet at none against Functional Ear Trainer's 1. Chet also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months). Functional Ear Trainer's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Functional Ear Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chet asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Functional Ear Trainer against 4.8 for Chet. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.7K and 2.4K respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 96% and 96% positive.
Functional Ear Trainer ships an update every 7 months, Chet every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Functional Ear Trainer | Chet |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (3.7K ratings) — better | 4.8 (2.4K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 96.2% of reviews — better | 95.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.7K — better | 2.4K |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 112 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Serhii Korchan | Ensemble Education |
Customer experience
Functional Ear Trainer
Chet
User reviews
Functional Ear Trainer
From 3.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Effective ear training
- 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
- 💡 Customizable exercises
- 🎉 Noticeable improvement with regular practice
- 🎨 Visually appealing design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional audio glitches
- 💡 Lack of support for other instruments besides piano
- 💡 Desire for more advanced features (e.g. chord recognition)
Chet
From 2.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app
- 👍 Helpful and fun
- 🚀 Excellent ear training tool
- 👍 Intuitive and well-designed
- 🚀 Comprehensive and effective
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 🔋 Compatibility issues with older devices
- 🐛 Inaccurate labeling of intervals
- 🔋 Timed exercises not suitable for all
Bugs and requests
Functional Ear Trainer
Reported bugs
2 issues- Keyboard display issues when selecting all chromatic notes
- Inconsistent note resolutions in some exercises
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for multiple notes/chords at once
- Implement a mode for training key recognition
- Provide more customization options for exercises
- Include voice input to play the notes
- Add support for German/Norwegian key names
Chet
Reported bugs
3 issues- App not loading or freezing
- Incorrect labeling of intervals
- Timed exercises not functioning properly
Requested features
7 requests- Add Chinese language support
- Incorporate guitar-specific exercises
- Introduce a hands-free mode
- Reinstate the previous practice mode
- Expand the range of musical genres and styles
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- Add an option to change the tonic note
- Introduce a daily streak feature
In-app purchases
Functional Ear Trainer
- Functional Ear Trainer Plus$19.99
Chet
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Functional Ear Trainer free?
Is Chet free?
Which has better reviews, Functional Ear Trainer or Chet?
Do Functional Ear Trainer or Chet have ads?
Which is updated more often, Functional Ear Trainer or Chet?
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