Comparison

EWA vs Earworms

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

Head to head
About

EWA

Master English, Spanish, or French with this app. Read books with instant translations, practice speaking with TV characters, and use flashcards to build vocabulary. Learn at your own pace with engaging games and dialogues.

Highlights
  • Books with real-time translation
  • Speaking courses with TV characters
  • Everyday dialogues
  • Flashcards with spaced repetition
  • Language learning games
  • Vocabulary building
Features
Read full description

Learn English, Spanish, or French with EWA! Read books with real time translations, discover unknown words with a tap of your finger, complete speaking courses with your favorite TV characters, and learn new words with flashcards - all for free in our app! Improve your existing skills today! EWA is a personalized English, Spanish, or French tutor that fits in your pocket. Every user can decide for themselves how they would like to learn a language - at what level and at what pace: 1. More than 10,000 English, Spanish, or French books with audio are available for you to sharpen your reading, writing, and grammar skills. Choose a book that matches your current language level and start expanding your skills right away! Unknown word? Simply tap it to translate it, add it to your “to-learn” list, and memorize it forever! 2. Spoken video-courses with popular movie scenes and TV show characters is what our users love the most about EWA! It’s fun, interesting, and an innovative way to improve pronunciation and achieve language proficiency. The courses include a variety of topics, levels and time frames - so, regardless of your current skills, your language abilities will only benefit from EWA! 3. Speaking Topics Don't know what to say at passport control, how to ask for directions, or how to order food at a café? Read and listen to dialogues on everyday topics that will help you on every journey. With these dialogues, you'll easily improve your conversational English by applying what you've learned in real life! 4. All you need is a spare 5 minutes a day to learn English, Spanish, or French. More than 40,000 flashcards are available for you to choose from. Pick the words you want to learn and memorize them using the spaced repetition study method. Feeling excited about your progress? Compete on score charts, compare your results to thousands of other people, and get to the top-ranked spot! 5. The games section is now available in EWA. A unique teaching methodology compromised of cognitive training exercises and easy-to-learn brain games will help you sharpen your language skills in a very fun and exciting way. Our games aren’t time-wasters; they’re actually great mental stimulators! Play, have fun, and most importantly, learn a new language in no time! No more cramming, stress, and angry teachers! With EWA, you’ll learn the language whenever and wherever - at your own pace. You’ll improve your English, Spanish, or French and experience the beauty of knowing another language - from freedom while traveling to higher paying jobs. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! If you have any concerns, recommendations, or complaints just drop us a line at support@appewa.com and we’ll work towards making EWA better! ================== PLEASE NOTE: You will need an EWA subscription in order to access all courses and features. Courses available may vary depending your device’s language. • Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at ‘confirmation of purchase’ • Your account will be charged for a subscription renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period and will identify the cost of the renewal • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user’s Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable ================== Start now and experience a new way of learning English, Spanish, or French. Expanding your vocabulary has never been easier.

About

Earworms

Learn languages effectively using the "earworm effect" with catchy music and lyrics. This method anchors foreign language words and phrases into your long-term memory through engaging, brain-based audio-visual lessons. Improve vocabulary and grammar with bite-sized tracks and native speaker pronunciation.

Highlights
  • Learn languages with music and lyrics
  • Brain-based learning technique
  • Audio-visual experience with karaoke lyrics
  • 6-9 minute learning tracks
  • Content-rich language based on CEF
  • Native speaker pronunciation
Features
Read full description

Do you know what “earworm effect” is? Experience it while you learn languages with catchy music and lyrics that you just can't get out of your head. This highly effective award-winning learning technique uses music as the medium to transport words and phrases of a foreign language into your long-term memory. Start your language learning now! Learn Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Maltese, Dutch, Greek, Russian, Arabic, or Turkish and improve your vocabulary and grammar using the power of music. Earworms plant the words of a foreign language into your head with easy language courses. Try our language learning with music lyrics demo for free. THE EARWOMS METHOD 1. Brain-based: The Earworms method not only provides the words, phrases and grammar that you need for language learning, it also actively anchors them into the auditory cortex of your brain! It’s much more than language courses, it's language learning! Learn French, Spanish, English, Italian, German or Dutch listening to music lyrics. 2. Music is the key: Using music as the medium to learn languages is not only fun, it is also effective. Firstly, music puts the learner into the optimum state of consciousness for learning different languages. Secondly, music lyrics learning allows repetition (a prerequisite for language learning). On top of that, music engages and stimulates both hemispheres of the brain, unleashing more learning potential. 3. Chunking: Instead of language learning in terms of individual words and grammar, the Earworms approach immerses the learner in real-life dialogues and expressions with lyrics. These are broken down into bite-size chunks, practiced rhythmically with music and then reconstructed into full sentences. This gives the learner a strong sense of how real language courses are constructed and learning French, Spanish, German, Italian, English and other different languages and their vocabulary becomes easy. IMPORTANT FEATURES * Developed by language teaching experts. * Convenient. 6-9 minute tracks. Listen and learn track by track, any time, anywhere. * Audio-visual experience with 'karaoke-like' live lyrics feature. * Specific unambiguous goals. 200+ optimally selected sets of words and phrases for language learning. * Measurable. Easy tracking of progress of your language courses. * Target language spoken by native speakers - so correct pronunciation is acquired automatically. * Relevant. Carefully chosen content-rich language. Based on the CEF (Common European Framework) and immediately useful to the learner. * Time-bound. The musical memory method enables real rapid progress. E.g. you can learn to count up to 999 in Mandarin in an hour (!) or retain and recall words, phrases and structures in one language level within a couple of weeks. * Educational discounts are available. Visit https://www.earwormslearning.com/edu LANGUAGES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE French + German + Italian + Spanish (European) + Spanish (Lat. American) + Mandarin + Cantonese + Japanese + Arabic + Portuguese (European) + Portuguese (Brazilian) + Russian + Greek + Turkish + Polish + English + Dutch LEVELS There are 3 learning levels available, which will take you up to intermediate level (CEF level A2). * Volume 1. Within a few hours of listening to this volume, you'll have enough vocabulary knowledge of a language to be able to deal with real-life situations like taking a taxi, at the hotel, at the restaurant, requesting, polite phrases, finding your way, numbers, dealing with problems and so on. * Volume 2. This language course will soon have you talking about yourself, chatting and even flirting! * Volume 3. Here you learn more useful everyday situations while going more into the structure, the grammatical rules of the language while improving your vocabulary. NB. The app includes a demo album, full tracks of all languages available – and is free to download. You can then in-app purchase full courses.

Screenshots

EWA4 screens
Earworms4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Earworms at none against EWA's shown. Earworms also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 17.0). EWA's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (196K vs 357). On price, rating, review sentiment 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. EWA sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month and Earworms sells 16 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 — 4.7 for EWA against 4.8 for Earworms. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: EWA has 196K ratings behind it against 357, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of EWA's written reviews are positive against 71% of Earworms's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

EWA ships an update weekly, Earworms every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
EWA versus Earworms: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEWAEarworms
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (196K ratings)4.8 (357 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better71.2% of reviews
Number of ratings196K — better357
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#115 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size208 MB48 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperLithium Lab Pte Ltdearworms Ltd

Customer experience

EWA

All ratings195,741 ratings
Positive93.6%
Neutral3.6%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews3,997 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral4.8%
Negative20.2%

Earworms

All ratings357 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral2.8%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive71.2%
Neutral11.0%
Negative17.8%

User reviews

EWA

From 196K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy and fun to learn
  • 📚 Great selection of books
  • 🎬 Engaging movie/TV clips
  • 🎓 Helpful for improving vocabulary and reading skills
  • 🤩 Entertaining and interactive learning experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inaccurate translations and definitions
  • 🤔 Lack of advanced content for intermediate/experienced learners
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🤖 Poor pronunciation from text-to-speech
  • 🤷‍♀️ Inconsistent app performance and bugs

Earworms

From 357 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎵 Music-based learning method effectively reinforces memory
  • 👍 Easy and intuitive to use
  • ⭐ Excellent customer support team
  • 🎯 Practical, conversational phrases for real-world use
  • 🧠 Words and phrases stick in memory effortlessly

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezing issues
  • 📱 Poor booklet formatting on mobile devices
  • 💸 Pricing considered expensive by some users
  • ❌ Limited number of lessons per language
  • 🔧 App lacks autoplay/continuous playback feature

Bugs and requests

EWA

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Lessons and progress getting reset unexpectedly
  • Subscription issues and unauthorized charges
  • Inability to cancel subscription or get refunds
  • App crashing or freezing during use
  • Incorrect or missing translations in books and lessons

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more language options beyond English and Spanish
  • Improve translation accuracy and provide context-based definitions
  • Offer more advanced content and customization options
  • Integrate speech recognition for speaking practice
  • Improve app stability and reduce technical issues

Earworms

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App crashes every few minutes on iPhone
  • Network error on startup despite internet connection
  • Infinite loop on initial setup screen
  • App closes unexpectedly during playback
  • Restore purchases feature not functioning
Show 6 more
  • Activation code cannot be claimed in app
  • Tracks download corrupted or fail to load
  • Text display shows English instead of native script
  • Phrase book download button subscribes to email instead
  • App no longer works after OS updates
  • Category selection feature removed in newer version

Requested features

11 requests
  • Additional volume levels for existing languages
  • More lessons and expanded content library
  • Autoplay feature for continuous listening
  • Repeat single track functionality
  • Ability to select specific lesson categories
Show 6 more
  • Business-focused lesson modules
  • Emergency/medical/police interaction lessons
  • Grocery shopping and tradesperson lessons
  • More Cantonese, Maltese, Hindi, and Finnish content
  • Improved booklet formatting and accessibility
  • Direct email contact option for support

In-app purchases

8 purchases

EWA

Subscriptions8
  • One-Month Subscription3 Days trial2 variants$11.991 Month
  • One-Month EWA Premium Subscription$15.991 Month
  • One-Month Subscription3 Days trial2 variants$15.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Six-Month Subscription7 Days trial$34.996 Months
  • Six-Month Subscription3 Days trial$34.996 Months
  • One-Year Subscription3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • One-Year Subscription3 Days trial2 variants$99.991 Year
  • One-Year Subscription7 Days trial$99.991 Year
16 purchases

Earworms

One-time16
  • Try before you buyFree
  • Essayez avant d’acheterFree
  • Álbum de demostraciónFree
Show 13 more
  • French Vol. 1$11.99
  • Italian Vol. 1$11.99
  • Spanish Lat. Am. Vol. 1$11.99
  • Portuguese Vol.1$11.99
  • French Vol. 2$11.99
  • Dutch Vol. 1-2$19.99
  • Japanese Vol. 1-2$19.99
  • Spanish Lat. Am. Vol. 1-3$27.99
  • Bundle deals, French Vol. 1-3$28.99
  • Bundle deals, German Vol. 1-3$28.99
  • Bundle deals, Italian Vol. 1-3$28.99
  • Bundle, Spanish Eu. Vol. 1-3$28.99
  • Portuguese Vol.1-3$28.99

Questions

Is EWA free?
EWA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Earworms free?
Earworms is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, EWA or Earworms?
Earworms is rated higher. EWA averages 4.7 out of 5 from 196K ratings, while Earworms averages 4.8 from 357 ratings.
Do EWA or Earworms have ads?
EWA shows ads; Earworms does not.
Which is updated more often, EWA or Earworms?
EWA ships an update weekly, and Earworms every 5 months. Most recently, EWA was updated on September 26, 2026 and Earworms on September 19, 2026.

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