Comparison

Better Ears Beginner vs Loop Buddy

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

Head to head
About

Better Ears Beginner

Enhance your musical skills and hearing with this comprehensive ear training app. It offers 13 diverse exercises, from interval recognition to chord progressions, with customizable training routines and instrument options. Track your progress and sync across devices for a seamless learning experience.

Highlights
  • 13 music theory and ear training exercises
  • Customizable training routines
  • User-created chords, scales, and progressions
  • Six instrument sound options
  • Pitch detection for vocal or instrument answers
  • Virtual keyboard and guitar fretboard
  • 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

Loop Buddy

Practice music sections repeatedly by creating custom loops. Slow down playback to learn difficult passages and memorize entire songs more effectively. Ideal for musicians who need to rehearse on the go.

Highlights
  • Create custom loops from music library
  • Set start and end points for loops
  • Adjust playback speed of loops
  • Slow down music without pitch change
  • Memorize song sections easily
Features
Read full description

Can’t rehearse at home? Rehearse in the car, on the train, in the bus, or on a plane! Identify sections of the music you want to learn, like a guitar solo or some tricky phrase, then create a looping pattern that you can play over and over again. Slow down the loops you create in order to memorize them easier! Create a whole series of loops for a given song in your music library, and become familiar with an entire piece before your plane lands! Features: - Create loops from any song in your music library by identifying the start and end loop points for any section of the song: a guitar solo, a fast-paced rap verse, a drum fill, and so on. - Listen to that loop section 10 billion times until you have it memorized. - Change the playback speed of your loops. Slow it down without changing the pitch of the song in order to hear each note more clearly!

Screenshots

Better Ears Beginner4 screens
Loop Buddy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Better Ears Beginner at 4.5 against Loop Buddy's 1.8. Better Ears Beginner also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 33%) and ratings volume (35 vs 6). Loop Buddy's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.6). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Better Ears Beginner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Loop Buddy asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Better Ears Beginner holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Better Ears Beginner has 35 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Better Ears Beginner's written reviews are positive against 33% of Loop Buddy's.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Better Ears Beginner versus Loop Buddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBetter Ears BeginnerLoop Buddy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (35 ratings) — better1.8 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews66.8% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings35 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 6 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.69.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMAMP GmbHClear Blue Media

Customer experience

Better Ears Beginner

All ratings35 ratings
Positive88.6%
Neutral5.7%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews217 reviews
Positive66.8%
Neutral8.3%
Negative24.9%

Loop Buddy

All ratings6 ratings
Positive16.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative83.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Bugs and requests

Better Ears Beginner

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Reverts to beginner version after phone update
  • Audio stops working after some time
  • Keyboard unresponsive on iPad
  • Chord spellings are incorrect

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more instruments
  • Include rhythm training
  • Provide more customization options
  • Implement a game-like format
  • Add support for reading sheet music

Loop Buddy

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Better Ears Beginner

One-time1
  • Unlock all functions$4.99
None

Loop Buddy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Better Ears Beginner free?
Better Ears Beginner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Loop Buddy free?
Loop Buddy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Better Ears Beginner or Loop Buddy?
Better Ears Beginner is rated higher. Better Ears Beginner averages 4.5 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Loop Buddy averages 1.8 from 6 ratings.
Do Better Ears Beginner or Loop Buddy have ads?
Neither Better Ears Beginner nor Loop Buddy shows ads.

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