Comparison

Better Ears vs Complete Rhythm Trainer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Complete Rhythm Trainer

Master musical rhythm with this comprehensive training app. It offers progressive drills, diverse rhythm exercises, and interactive modes designed to make learning enjoyable. Track your progress and compete with others.

Highlights
  • 252 progressive drills
  • Multiple time signatures and note values
  • 5 drill types (imitation, reading, dictation)
  • Arcade and polyrhythm modes
  • Custom drill creation
  • Teacher-student program features
  • Cloud sync
Features
Read full description

The ultimate rhythm training app for musicians. Learn to read, recognize, tap and write rhythms from simplest to most advanced. Rhythm is one of the most important aspects of music and one that every musician should become proficient with. Designed like a video game and with strong pedagogical concepts in mind, this app will make you master rhythm while rendering the learning process enjoyable. Features • 252 progressive drills arranged over 4 levels / 30 chapters • Extensive content: from simple time signatures to compound and asymmetric time signatures, from half notes and quarter notes to thirty-second notes, triplets, swing eighths, double dotted notes, quintuplets, ... • 5 drill types: rhythm imitation drills, rhythm reading drills, rhythm dictations, two-voice reading drills and two-voice dictations • Play a selection of 11 drills in arcade mode • Play and practice polyrhythms in a dedicated polyrhythm section • Most of the drills are randomly generated, enabling you to practice the studied rhythms as many times as needed • 23 instrument sound banks with actual recorded sounds: piano, guitar, pizzicato violin, conga, bongo, djembe, darabuka, woodblock, ... • Designed like a video game: earn 3 stars in each drill of a chapter to complete it. Or will you be able to obtain perfect 5-star scores? • Don't want to follow the preestablished path of progression? Create and save your own custom drills and rehearse them at your own convenience • Create full custom training programs and invite friends or students to join them. If for example you're a teacher you can create custom programs for your students, add drills every week and view their scores on private leaderboards • Never lose any progress: cloud sync across your various devices • 25 achievements to unlock • Leaderboards to compare arcade mode scores with other players worldwide • Nice and clean user interface with 2 display themes: light and dark • 4 sheet music display styles: modern, classic, handwritten and jazz • Designed by a musician and music teacher with a Royal Conservatory master's degree Full Version • Download the app and try out the first two chapters for free • One-time in-app purchase to unlock the full version on all your devices Having a problem? Got a suggestion? You can reach us at hello@completerhythmtrainer.com Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Better Ears4 screens
Complete Rhythm Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Complete Rhythm Trainer at Free against Better Ears's $4.99. Complete Rhythm Trainer also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months) and review sentiment (88% vs 71%). Better Ears's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.5). On rating, ratings volume, ads 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

Complete Rhythm Trainer is free to download; Better Ears costs $4.99 up front. Complete Rhythm Trainer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Better Ears asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Better Ears against 4.7 for Complete Rhythm Trainer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 76 and 103 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of Better Ears's written reviews are positive against 88% of Complete Rhythm Trainer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Better Ears ships an update every 5 months, Complete Rhythm Trainer fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Better Ears versus Complete Rhythm Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBetter EarsComplete Rhythm Trainer
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (76 ratings)4.7 (103 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.8% of reviews88.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings76103 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.5
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMAMP GmbHBinary Guilt

Customer experience

Better Ears

All ratings76 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.2%
Written reviews236 reviews
Positive70.8%
Neutral12.3%
Negative16.9%

Complete Rhythm Trainer

All ratings103 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral3.9%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews75 reviews
Positive88.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative5.3%

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

Complete Rhythm Trainer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Better Ears

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Complete Rhythm Trainer

Subscriptions2
  • Cloud Sync and Web access$0.991 Month
  • Cloud Sync and Web access$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Full Version$6.99

Questions

Is Better Ears free?
Better Ears costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Complete Rhythm Trainer free?
Complete Rhythm Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Better Ears or Complete Rhythm Trainer?
Complete Rhythm Trainer is rated higher. Better Ears averages 4.6 out of 5 from 76 ratings, while Complete Rhythm Trainer averages 4.7 from 103 ratings.
Do Better Ears or Complete Rhythm Trainer have ads?
Neither Better Ears nor Complete Rhythm Trainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Better Ears or Complete Rhythm Trainer?
Better Ears ships an update every 5 months, and Complete Rhythm Trainer fortnightly. Most recently, Better Ears was updated on September 26, 2026 and Complete Rhythm Trainer on September 25, 2026.

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