Active Ear vs Play with ear practice
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Active Ear
Develop your musical ear with a comprehensive ear training app. It offers various exercises to help musicians identify pitches, intervals, chords, and progressions. Customize your learning with practice modes and test your knowledge with quizzes.
- Pitch Recognition
- Interval Training
- Chord Quality Identification
- Bassline Training
- Progression Training
- Chord Inversions
- Customizable Practice Mode
- Quiz Mode
Read full descriptionHide full description
Active Ear is for musicians of all skill levels and instrument types. With dozens of exercises ranging from beginner to advanced, Active Ear focuses on teaching you to identify pitches, intervals, chords, and progressions using only your Ear. The Practice Mode of the app allows you to customize the challenges to focus only on areas you're interested in improving. Once you're confident with the Practice Mode, you test yourself in the Quiz Mode of the app to see how well you understand the concepts. Active Ear Comes with six Ear Training Programs: - Pitch Recognition - Interval Training - Chord Quality - Bassline Training - Progression Training - Chord Inversions
Play with ear practice
Read full descriptionHide full description
Start with the key of C and three notes. Once you get used to it, you can change the key, increase the number of notes, or turn the keyboard sideways to widen the range. You can also play melodies you know freely. Even if you can't get the notes right, just listen to the root note and then hum it, or listen to it repeatedly, and you'll gradually be able to get the notes right. If you practice every day, you'll be able to play difficult keys smoothly.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Active Ear at none against Play with ear practice's shown. Play with ear practice's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Active Ear ships an update monthly, Play with ear practice every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on June 10, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Active Ear | Play with ear practice |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (50 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 93.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 50 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MCPHERSON'S MUSIC LLC | Yasuko Takayashiki |
In-app purchases
Active Ear
No in-app purchases
Play with ear practice
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Active Ear free?
Is Play with ear practice free?
Do Active Ear or Play with ear practice have ads?
Which is updated more often, Active Ear or Play with ear practice?
Other comparisons















