Head Shadow vs Giant Ear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Head Shadow
This app acts as a hearing aid for individuals with single-sided deafness or mild bilateral hearing loss. It utilizes your iPhone or AirPods microphone to capture ambient sounds, then amplifies and outputs them through wired headphones or AirPods.
- Single-sided deafness aid
- Mild hearing loss amplification
- 10-band audio equalizer
- Reverb options
- Works with AirPods and wired headphones
- 30-day free trial
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Head Shadow is a hearing aid iPhone app for people with single-sided deafness or mild hearing loss in both ears. The app captures nearby sound with the iPhone or AirPods microphone, enhances it with a 10-band equalizer, and plays it in real time through wired headphones, AirPods, or AirPods Pro. FOR SINGLE-SIDED DEAFNESS When using AirPods, activate the microphone on your deaf side. Place that AirPod in your deaf ear and the other AirPod in your hearing ear. Head Shadow captures sound from your deaf side, enhances it, and plays it in your hearing ear, providing a CROS-like listening experience. FOR MILD HEARING LOSS If you have mild hearing loss in both ears, connect your wired or wireless headphones and play the app. Head Shadow captures sound with the iPhone microphone, enhances it, and plays it through your headphones. SOUND CONTROLS The 10-band equalizer lets you adjust the frequencies used in a standard audiogram. Reverb options let you hear how sound changes in different spaces. TRY FREE, THEN BUY ONCE Try all features free. Continue with a one-time purchase. There are no ads and no subscriptions. FINAL PLANNED FEATURE RELEASE Head Shadow was first published on the App Store in 2019. This is its final planned feature release, and the app will remain available and supported. Head Shadow AI, our next-generation app for people with single-sided deafness, is now available separately on the App Store and will receive future feature development.
Giant Ear
Amplify your hearing with this app that boosts the volume of sounds captured by your device. Use it as a hearing aid with headphones, featuring an equalizer for voice frequencies and advanced tone adjustments. Record and share sounds, with background operation available.
- Volume amplification
- Equalizer for voice frequencies
- Advanced tone setting
- Background operation
- Sound recording
- Headphone compatibility
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Giant Ear amplifies your hearing by increasing the volume of any sound heard by your iPhone. You can use Giant Ear as an hearing aid anywhere by plugging in your headphones. It is simple as 2 screens , first screen includes an equalizer for main human voice frequencies and an advanced tone setting. Tone setting changes the pitch of the sound as low or high since some people hear better with different frequencies. With work in background feature it can work in background when your phone is locked. There may be latency with airPods and when tone setting is not in the middle, we recommend wired headphones for the best performance. Second screen is for recording. You can record any sound and share using common applications. Free version runs with time limits and ads. You can remove those limits and ads by in-app purchases. There is NO SUBSCRIPTION, which will renew again. Payment is just for ONCE and for the LIFE-TIME. Enjoy
Screenshots
Verdict
Head Shadow and Giant Ear both sit at 4.3 stars, but that hides the real split: 83% of Head Shadow's written reviews are positive against 25% of Giant Ear's. Head Shadow also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Giant Ear's advantage is ratings volume (148 vs 13) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). On price, rating, in-app purchases and device support 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. Head Shadow sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Giant Ear sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Head Shadow against 4.4 for Giant Ear. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Giant Ear has 148 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Head Shadow's written reviews are positive against 25% of Giant Ear's.
Head Shadow ships an update every 3 weeks, Giant Ear every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Head Shadow | Giant Ear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (13 ratings) | 4.4 (148 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 13 | 148 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Isa Asudeh | Yasar Bozdag |
Customer experience
Head Shadow
Giant Ear
In-app purchases
Head Shadow
- Free 30-Day TrialFree
- One time purchase$3.99
Giant Ear
- Remove Ads$0.99
- Remove Time Limits And Ads$1.99
