Better Ears Beginner vs Penguin Drums
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Penguin Drums
This app simulates a drum kit on your device, allowing kids to play along with rhythms or use it as a MIDI controller. It offers a variety of drum sounds and supports multitouch for an interactive drumming experience.
- Multitouch drum pads
- Variety of drum instruments
- 12 example rhythms
- MIDI over Bluetooth support
- Simulates drum kit sounds
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Penguin Drums is an application for Kids that simulates a drum on your device. To play it, just drumming your fingers on the pads of the drums and the sound is played simultaneously. A fun, light and easy to use application. Ideal for those who want to study or play drumming without making much noise or taking up much space. Features of Penguin Drums: * Multitouch * Instruments like kick, snare, tom, floor tom, hi-hat, ride, ride-bell, crash, tambourine. * 12 examples of rhythms. * Support MIDI over Bluetooth When you connect your iOS device to Mac using "MIDI over Bluetooth", Penguin Drums Become to the drum pad for MIDI Sequencer software, such as GarageBand. Made for Kids drummers, beginners!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Better Ears Beginner at 67% against Penguin Drums's 0%. Better Ears Beginner also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (35 vs 1). Penguin Drums's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 6 months). 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
Both are free to download. Better Ears Beginner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Penguin Drums asks for nothing beyond the download.
Better Ears Beginner holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Better Ears Beginner has 35 ratings behind it against 1, 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 0% of Penguin Drums's.
Better Ears Beginner ships an update every 6 months, Penguin Drums every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 2, 2026.
| Parameter | Better Ears Beginner | Penguin Drums |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (35 ratings) — better | 3.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.8% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 35 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MAMP GmbH | taisuke fujita |
Customer experience
Better Ears Beginner
Penguin Drums
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
Penguin Drums
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Better Ears Beginner
- Unlock all functions$4.99
Penguin Drums
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Better Ears Beginner free?
Is Penguin Drums free?
Which has better reviews, Better Ears Beginner or Penguin Drums?
Do Better Ears Beginner or Penguin Drums have ads?
Which is updated more often, Better Ears Beginner or Penguin Drums?
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