Comparison

Functional Ear Trainer vs Naptown Wail

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

Naptown Wail

Features
Read full description

The Indianapolis DIY show register. Published nightly. Every show on the local calendar in one place: who is playing, where, when, and what it costs. The calendar, filterable by venue. Bands, with past and upcoming bills on file for each. The venues on the regular beat. And the Morgue, for shows that already happened, filed for the record. Follow a band and its shows get flagged in your calendar. No ads, no algorithm, just ears. An account is optional and takes a name and a password.

Screenshots

Functional Ear Trainer4 screens
Naptown Wail4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Naptown Wail at none against Functional Ear Trainer's 1. Naptown Wail also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 7 months). Functional Ear Trainer's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price 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. Naptown Wail asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Functional Ear Trainer ships an update every 7 months, Naptown Wail every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Functional Ear Trainer versus Naptown Wail: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFunctional Ear TrainerNaptown Wail
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (3.8K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews96.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings3.8K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB2 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSerhii KorchanLEE HARRISON HARROLD

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

Naptown Wail

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Functional Ear Trainer

One-time1
  • Functional Ear Trainer Plus$19.99
None

Naptown Wail

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Functional Ear Trainer free?
Functional Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Naptown Wail free?
Naptown Wail is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Functional Ear Trainer or Naptown Wail have ads?
Neither Functional Ear Trainer nor Naptown Wail shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Functional Ear Trainer or Naptown Wail?
Functional Ear Trainer ships an update every 7 months, and Naptown Wail every 3 days. Most recently, Functional Ear Trainer was updated on November 3, 2026 and Naptown Wail on October 31, 2026.

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