Know Notes vs Smash The Circles
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Know Notes
Develop your musical ear by learning to identify notes and chords by sound. This gamified app makes practicing fun and competitive, allowing you to progress from basic notes to sharps and flats.
- Ear training
- Note recognition
- Chord recognition
- Gamified learning
- Progressive difficulty
- Natural notes, sharps, and flats
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Train Ears, Master Music. Learn to recognize musical notes and chords by their unique sound. Gamified to make learning fun and competitive. Start small, then work your way up to learn every natural note and their sharp/flat.
Smash The Circles
Test your reflexes in this addictive arcade game by tapping to smash circles as they intersect. Compete for high scores on a global leaderboard and master simple controls for endless fun. Easy to learn but challenging to master, it's an ultimate test of precision and speed.
- Quick reflex smashing
- Intuitive controls
- Addictive gameplay
- High score competition
- Global leaderboard
- Challenging modes
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Tap at the exact moment your ring meets a target. Smash The Circles is a one tap timing game. Your ring moves out from the center of the screen, or back in toward it, across the colored target rings. Tap while your ring overlaps a target to smash it. Tap at the wrong moment, or run out of room with targets still left, and the run is over. HOW TO PLAY • Watch your ring move across the screen • Tap while it overlaps a target ring to smash it • Some targets send your ring back the other way • Smash every target before your ring runs out of room ALWAYS CHANGING Every round has up to four targets, and the patterns keep changing. Your ring gets faster as you go. HARD MODE In Hard Mode your ring moves faster, the targets are thinner and the timing is tighter. COMPETE • Normal and Hard Mode leaderboards • 15 achievements to earn, up to 5,000 lifetime smashes • Share your high score and challenge your friends to beat it PLAY OFFLINE No wifi needed. Smash The Circles plays offline, so it's ready for flights, road trips and waiting rooms. Easy to learn, hard to master, and made for one finger. How many circles can you smash?
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Know Notes at none against Smash The Circles's shown. Know Notes also leads on ratings volume (31 vs 1). Smash The Circles's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs fortnightly) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Know Notes sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Smash The Circles sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Know Notes against 5.0 for Smash The Circles. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Know Notes has 31 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Know Notes ships an update fortnightly, Smash The Circles every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Know Notes | Smash The Circles |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (31 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 95.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 107 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | wylan neely | Power-Up Game Studios LLC |
Customer experience
Know Notes
Smash The Circles
In-app purchases
Know Notes
- Violin Notes$0.99
- Electronic Keyboard Notes$0.99
- Grand Piano Notes$0.99
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- Unlock Violin Instrument$2.99
- Acoustic Guitar (Major Chords)$2.99
- Unlock Acoustic Guitar$3.99
Smash The Circles
- Remove Ads$1.99
Questions
Is Know Notes free?
Is Smash The Circles free?
Which has better reviews, Know Notes or Smash The Circles?
Do Know Notes or Smash The Circles have ads?
Which is updated more often, Know Notes or Smash The Circles?
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