Comparison

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.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Pitch Recognition
  • Interval Training
  • Chord Quality Identification
  • Bassline Training
  • Progression Training
  • Chord Inversions
  • Customizable Practice Mode
  • Quiz Mode
Features
Read 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

About

Play with ear practice

Features
Read 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

Active Ear4 screens
Play with ear practice4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Active Ear versus Play with ear practice: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterActive EarPlay with ear practice
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (50 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews93.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings50 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.112.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMCPHERSON'S MUSIC LLCYasuko Takayashiki

In-app purchases

None

Active Ear

No in-app purchases

None

Play with ear practice

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Active Ear free?
Active Ear is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Play with ear practice free?
Play with ear practice is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Active Ear or Play with ear practice have ads?
Play with ear practice shows ads; Active Ear does not.
Which is updated more often, Active Ear or Play with ear practice?
Active Ear ships an update monthly, and Play with ear practice every 6 days. Most recently, Active Ear was updated on June 10, 2026 and Play with ear practice on September 10, 2026.

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