Better Ears vs Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
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.
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
Master rhythmic accuracy with instant feedback and graduated levels. Practice diverse rhythms, from beginner to professional, with customizable exercises and multiple input methods. Improve your musicality faster than traditional practice.
- Instant feedback on timing accuracy
- Graduated levels from beginner to professional
- Diverse exercises with common and rare rhythms
- Thousands of random and fixed exercises
- Rhythm editor for customization
- Practice and test modes
- Microphone and MIDI input support
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Accelerate your sight reading skills with instant feedback on timing accuracy. Our carefully graduated levels, from beginner to professional, allow you to start at your optimal skill level and progress at your own pace. You'll improve more rapidly than practicing solely on your instrument. Practice anytime and anywhere. Many advanced features. KEY FEATURES DIVERSE EXERCISES - Explore common and rare rhythms from 2 to 12 beats per bar (2/2, 3/2, 4/2, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 12/8). - More than 200 fixed exercises (100 (longer ones) on iPad). - Thousands of random exercises. - Suitable for absolute beginners as well as professionals. - Challenge yourself with exercises involving rests, ties, syncopations, duplets, triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets. - Add swing to quarter note meter exercises with varying degrees of swing intensity. - Automatic count-off with one or two bars. - Longer (random) exercises in landscape orientation. PRACTICE & TEST MODE - Practice mode: listen or tap along while the rhythm is played. - Test mode: hear the metronome and read/tap the rhythm. - Visual feedback instantly displays accuracy with each tap (color and position). - Easily adjust metronome tempo by sliding or keypad. - Two tap buttons for higher tempos or tapping with alternating fingers. RHYTHM EDITOR - Edit any exercise to suit your preferences. - Intuitive editor with minimal taps. - Includes an editor for ties. - Unlimited undo. - Add your exercises to favorites. - Share exercises with others. EXTRA CHALLENGES - Expert mode: higher default tempo and more accuracy required. - Endurance test (continuous reading). - Speeding-up tests. - Left- and right-hand independence: tap the beat and rhythm with two buttons. - Note duration test. - Count 6/8 in two (dotted quarter as the beat). - Ear training function for rhythmic dictation. - Maintain rhythm focus while notes from a chord progression are played. REPORTING - View a frequency chart of your tap results. - Access progress reports for fixed and random exercises. - Share your results, such as a 100% score graphic or progress reports, via email. SOUNDS - Choose from various percussive instruments for app player, metronome, and taps. - Play chord progressions with guitar, e-piano, marimba, or bass. - Optional stereo sound with taps in the right ear and metronome/player in the left ear. - Optional beat-counting voice function. MICROPHONE - Utilize the microphone for an alternative to tap buttons. - Play rhythms with hand claps, finger-snaps, or an instrument. - Adjust sensitivity settings. - Supports external microphones. MIDI - Receive taps from a Midi device connected via Apple USB camera adapter or USB-C (e.g., keyboard, guitar, drum kit). - Automatic device detection. - Touch-sensitivity support. - Export any exercise as a MIDI file. OTHER FEATURES - Experience very low latency with instant response. - Support for left-handed tapping. - Choose between classical and flat interface themes. - Support for dark mode (iOS13+). - Universal app (iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad). - Supports all screen sizes. - Tested on iOS and iPadOS 27.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer at fortnightly against Better Ears's every 5 months. Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer also leads on review sentiment (92% vs 71%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Better Ears's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.6). On ratings volume, ads, 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
Better Ears costs $4.99 and Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 79 and 125 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Better Ears's written reviews are positive against 92% of Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer's.
Better Ears ships an update every 5 months, Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Better Ears | Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $3.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (79 ratings) | 4.8 (125 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.8% of reviews | 91.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 79 | 125 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #149 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MAMP GmbH | Rolfs Apps |
Customer experience
Better Ears
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
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
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
From 125 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Helpful for improving rhythm and timing
- 🚀 Customizable with many features
- 💡 Allows creating custom exercises
- 👍 Great for beginners and advanced musicians
- 👍 Provides accurate feedback on timing
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional issues with MIDI support
- 👎 Navigation and interface could be improved
- 👎 Lack of ability to review previous practice exercises
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
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
Reported bugs
2 issues- Crashes when tapping the 'i' button for info
- Metronome beep timing not intuitive
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to practice on headphones
- Increase size of tapping area
- Add more options for time signatures beyond even meters
- Implement side-scrolling mode for sight-reading practice
- Allow creating longer, multi-measure exercises
In-app purchases
Better Ears
No in-app purchases
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Better Ears free?
Is Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, Better Ears or Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer?
Do Better Ears or Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Better Ears or Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer?
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