Comparison

Functional Ear Trainer vs Sonofield Ear Trainer

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Recognize tones in musical key context
  • Understand note function
  • Improve transcription skills
  • Enhance improvisation
  • Develop perfect pitch
  • Daily 10-minute practice
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Sonofield Ear Trainer

This app helps musicians develop their ear by focusing on the feeling of individual notes within a key, rather than traditional interval training. It uses sustained drones and offers various modes like identifying scale degrees, melodies, and singing exercises. The app adapts to your skill level with an intuitive interface and progression path.

Highlights
  • Feeling-based note recognition
  • Scale degree identification
  • Melody recognition training
  • Singing exercises
  • Hands-free training mode
  • Interactive exploration instrument
Features
Read full description

Sonofield Ear Trainer (SET) is a revolutionary ear training app designed to help you intuitively play the melodies you hear and imagine. Instead of relying on traditional old methods like intervals, SET focuses on helping you feel the unique character of each note within a key. By using sustained drones to create a tonal foundation, you’ll learn to recognize scale degrees based on their *feeling*, not just how they sound. The app offers a variety of ways to train: * Degrees Mode - Identify individual notes against the drone by feeling. The heart of SET. * Melody Mode - Identify short melodic phrases, preparing you for real music. * Voice Mode - Sing the requested scale degree into your microphone. * Pocket Mode - Hands-free training for when you're on the go. * Free Play - An interactive instrument for exploration. With its intuitive, color-coded interface, thoughtfully designed progression path, and multiple difficulty levels, SET adapts to your skill level while keeping practice engaging. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, SET is your guide to unlocking true musical fluency through intuitive, feeling-based ear training. No ads or forced payments. The free version contains full foundations for feeling-based ear training. Download the ear training app now!

Screenshots

Functional Ear Trainer4 screens
Sonofield Ear Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Sonofield Ear Trainer at every 9 days against Functional Ear Trainer's every 7 months. Sonofield Ear Trainer also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Functional Ear Trainer's advantage is ratings volume (3.7K vs 376). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Functional Ear Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Sonofield Ear Trainer sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Functional Ear Trainer against 4.9 for Sonofield Ear Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Functional Ear Trainer has 3.7K ratings behind it against 376, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 96% of Functional Ear Trainer's written reviews are positive against 89% of Sonofield Ear Trainer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Functional Ear Trainer ships an update every 7 months, Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Functional Ear Trainer versus Sonofield Ear Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFunctional Ear TrainerSonofield Ear Trainer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (3.7K ratings)4.9 (376 ratings)
Positive reviews96.2% of reviews — better88.7% of reviews
Number of ratings3.7K — better376
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB105 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSerhii KorchanSonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd.

Customer experience

Functional Ear Trainer

All ratings3,749 ratings
Positive98.1%
Neutral0.8%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews612 reviews
Positive96.2%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.0%

Sonofield Ear Trainer

All ratings376 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive88.7%
Neutral6.6%
Negative4.6%

User reviews

Functional Ear Trainer

From 3.7K App Store ratings

What 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)

Sonofield Ear Trainer

From 376 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent ear training tool
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly design
  • 🎶 Effective for improving relative pitch
  • 💡 Innovative use of drone and scale degrees
  • 🎯 Helpful for aural skills development

Room to improve

  • 🤔 Challenging for true beginners
  • 💭 Desire for more customization options

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

Sonofield Ear Trainer

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • None reported

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to switch between 12TET and just intonation
  • Ability to reduce octave range
  • Incorporate more timbre options for drone and notes
  • Tracking and visualization of progress and learned skills
  • Add interactive tutorial for level 1

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Functional Ear Trainer

One-time1
  • Functional Ear Trainer Plus$19.99
4 purchases

Sonofield Ear Trainer

One-time4
  • Lifetime Pro$14.99
  • Lifetime Pro$17.99
  • Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Pro$24.99

Questions

Is Functional Ear Trainer free?
Functional Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Sonofield Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Functional Ear Trainer or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Functional Ear Trainer and Sonofield Ear Trainer are both rated 4.9 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3.7K and 376 ratings respectively.
Do Functional Ear Trainer or Sonofield Ear Trainer have ads?
Neither Functional Ear Trainer nor Sonofield Ear Trainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Functional Ear Trainer or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Functional Ear Trainer ships an update every 7 months, and Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. Most recently, Functional Ear Trainer was updated on September 22, 2026 and Sonofield Ear Trainer on September 24, 2026.

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