Better Ears vs Aural Wiz
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Better Ears
Enhance your musical abilities with a comprehensive ear training application. It offers 13 diverse exercises, from interval recognition to chord progressions, suitable for all skill levels. Customize your learning path with user-defined levels and instruments.
- 13 ear training exercises
- Customizable chords, scales, and progressions
- 6 instrument sound options
- Virtual keyboard and fretboard
- Vocal or instrument input
- Preset and custom training levels
- Cross-device synchronization
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Better Ears is the complete ear training and sight‑reading workout for musicians, students and teachers. Train your musical ear and master music theory — from interval recognition all the way to chord progressions and rhythm training. 15 exercises take you from absolute beginner to pro, at your own pace, with no rules and no pressure. NEW: RHYTHM TRAINING Sharpen your sense of timing with two brand‑new exercises. Hear a rhythm and clap or tap it back, or read rhythmic notation and perform it in time — with count‑in, metronome, triplets and time signatures like 3/4, 4/4 and 5/4. Clap straight into your device's microphone and Better Ears listens. YOU DECIDE HOW TO TRAIN There are no rules to follow. You decide when to start, what to practice and how often. 15 EXERCISES INCLUDED • Interval recognition • Scale recognition • Chord recognition • Chord progressions • Pitch recognition • Melodic dictation • Tempo recognition • Key signature recognition • Music reading • Interval music reading • Scale music reading • Chord music reading • Melody music reading • Rhythm recognition (new) • Rhythm reading (new) ANSWER WITH YOUR VOICE OR A REAL INSTRUMENT Built‑in pitch detection lets you answer by singing or by playing a real instrument (e.g. piano or guitar). Just sing or play the notes when the microphone button lights up red. CUSTOM CHORDS, SCALES & CHORD PROGRESSIONS The built‑in editor lets you add your own chords, scales and chord progressions. FOUR PRESET LEVELS + UNLIMITED CUSTOM LEVELS Start at Beginner, Easy, Normal or Professional — then build your own levels to focus exactly where you need to: church modes, those two pesky intervals, custom rhythms, whatever you like. 6 INSTRUMENTS & CUSTOM SOUNDFONTS Train with Acoustic Grand, Bright Acoustic Piano, Electric Grand, Drawbar Organ, Nylon and Steel Acoustic Guitar — or extend Better Ears with your own sounds via SoundFonts (.sf2). KEYBOARD & FRETBOARD Answer on a virtual piano keyboard or a virtual guitar fretboard. MIDI SUPPORT Route sound through an external MIDI device and even control Better Ears with a connected master keyboard. SYNC ALL OF YOUR DEVICES Keep your Mac, iPhone and iPad in sync via Dropbox. You choose what to sync: your own levels, your statistics, your settings — or all of it. STATISTICS Better Ears tracks your progress for every exercise and every question — right and wrong answers at a glance. WIKIPEDIA INTEGRATION The matching Wikipedia article is shown for each exercise, so the theory is always one tap away. REFRESHED DESIGN A modern, fully redesigned interface on iPhone, iPad and Mac — with full Dark Mode and crystal‑clear music notation.
Aural Wiz
Enhance your musical ear by learning to identify intervals, scales, modes, chords, and cadences. This app offers two modes: Learn to hear and understand musical elements, and Practice to test your recognition skills. It's designed for music students and musicians aiming to improve their aural abilities.
- Interval recognition
- Scale identification
- Mode training
- Chord and cadence learning
- Learn mode
- Practice mode
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Learn to recognize intervals, scales, modes chords and cadences with Aural Wiz. Whether you are a music student preparing for aural tests as part of your formal musical training or a musician just working towards improving your aural skills, Aural Wiz would be an indispensable companion for you. You can use Aural Wiz in two modes - Learn and Practice. In Learn mode, you can play back an interval, scale, mode, chord or a cadence to understand how it sounds. In Practice mode, a melodic or harmonic pattern will be played and you'll be asked to identify the interval, scale, mode, chord or cadence. Practicing this way has been a proven way to improve your aural skills. Make Aural Wiz part of your daily aural improvisation routine.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Aural Wiz at Free against Better Ears's $4.99. Aural Wiz also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (641 vs 79). Better Ears's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On rating, review sentiment, 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
Aural Wiz is free to download; Better Ears costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Aural Wiz holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Aural Wiz has 641 ratings behind it against 79, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Better Ears's written reviews are positive against 76% of Aural Wiz's.
Better Ears ships an update every 5 months, Aural Wiz every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Better Ears | Aural Wiz |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (79 ratings) | 4.8 (641 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.9% of reviews | 76.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 79 | 641 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | MAMP GmbH | Bijoy Thangaraj |
Customer experience
Better Ears
Aural Wiz
User reviews
Better Ears
From 79 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great app for ear training
- 🚀 Flexibility to customize exercises
- 💡 Helpful for music students and professionals
- 🎓 Improves aural skills and music theory knowledge
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and glitches on some devices
- 🔊 Poor sound quality of instrument samples
- 💰 Expensive for the limited features
- 🤔 Confusing chord and interval naming conventions
Aural Wiz
From 641 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎓 Effective ear training and interval identification
- 📚 Teaches music theory concepts comprehensively
- 🆓 Free app with no ads
- 👍 User-friendly and simple to use
- 🎯 Good for exam preparation (GCSE, music exams)
Room to improve
- 🎯 Not suitable for complete beginners
- 📖 Lacks explanations of music theory terms
- 🔁 Cadence recordings repeat frequently
- 🎵 Timbre changes abruptly mid-scale
- 😴 Can feel boring or repetitive
Bugs and requests
Better Ears
Reported bugs
3 issues- Note recognition issues on lower strings
- Inconsistent behavior when customizing lessons
- Dropbox sync feature not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Add chord inversions and progressions
- Include melodic and rhythmic dictation exercises
- Provide more instrument sound options
- Improve statistics tracking and personalization
- Add support for bass clef and multiple clefs
Aural Wiz
Reported bugs
4 issues- Cannot return to main menu after closing ads
- App crashes or requires restart after ad closure
- Minor 7th chord labeled incorrectly (minor-major instead of minor-minor)
- Same intervals/chords/scales play multiple times in succession
Requested features
9 requests- Descending intervals and scales option
- Speed adjustment for scales
- Chromatic scale option
- Intervals played from top to bottom
- Modes of melodic/harmonic minor
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- Extended chords practice
- More cadence recording variety
- Statistics/progress tracking section
- Better explanations for beginners
In-app purchases
Better Ears
No in-app purchases
Aural Wiz
No in-app purchases








