Better Ears Beginner vs Interval Ear Training
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.
Interval Ear Training
Develop your musical ear with this interactive piano game. It helps improve interval recognition, pitch sense, and transcription skills through engaging exercises. Suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians.
- Interval recognition practice
- Sense of pitch development
- Transcription skill improvement
- Improvisation skill enhancement
- MIDI keyboard integration
- Customizable tempo and keyboard range
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***** Highly addictive piano game. ***** A fun way to develop a better musical ear! Great for experienced musicians and beginners. Music students love this app. ---- Interval Ear Training can help improve: • Interval recognition • Sense of pitch • Transcription skills • Improvising skills • Self esteem --- How to Play: • Tap "play" to hear the interval • To hear the interval again, tap "replay" • Use the piano to play the interval yourself • Play often to improve your score! --- MIDI In – Plug in your MIDI keyboard to enhance the experience! (Core MIDI compatible) MIDI Out – If you have a music instrument app (such as a synth) that can run in "background mode" and accepts virtual Core MIDI, you can play Interval Ear Training using the sounds of that app. --- Tips for the Beginners: Use the + and - keyboard range control to set the keyboard to a small range such as "C, D" or "C, D, E". Keep practicing, and as you progress you'll want to make the range larger. --- Tips for the Pros: Set "Feedback" to "Never" and turn on "Autoplay" to play continuously without ever missing a beat. Crank up the tempo to see how fast you can go! For more advanced ear training features, you'll want to Unlock Pro Settings. --- Interval Settings: Tempo – 60 to 320 BPM Keyboard Range – Starting at 2 notes in a major scale (ex. “C, D”) and up to 12 notes in a major scale (ex. “C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G”) with the ability to change octaves. Feedback – Set to "Never" to stop all messages. Set to "Wrong" if you only want messages for incorrect intervals. Sound – Set to "Piano" to hear the built-in piano sound. Set to "MIDI Out" to hear the sound of a music instrument app (such as a synth) that can run in "background mode" and accepts virtual Core MIDI. Autoplay – Turn on to always play the next interval immediately. Turn off if you want to play the keyboard freely between intervals. Key Labels – Turn off to remove note names on white keys. Allow Unison – Turn off if you don't want the same note to be played twice in a row. --- Pro Settings (requires in-app purchase): Scale – 13 major scales Difficulty - Diatonic, Random Tonic, Chromatic Length – 2 to 6 notes --- About the Difficulty Setting: "Diatonic" uses notes from a major scale. This setting is recommended. "Random Tonic" uses notes from a random major scale each time. "Chromatic" mode is the "extreme mode" where any combination of notes is possible. As a result, strange intervals like the Augmented 2nd (ex. F to G#) are possible. --- About the Score: Interval Ear Training is all about self progression. Tap the score to reset at any time. The game goes on forever and the music never ends! --- Can you guess the next note? Download the app to find out!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Interval Ear Training at 88% against Better Ears Beginner's 67%. Interval Ear Training also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (355 vs 35). Better Ears Beginner's advantage is update cadence (every 6 months vs every 19 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 and Interval Ear Training sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Interval Ear Training holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Interval Ear Training has 355 ratings behind it against 35, 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 88% of Interval Ear Training's.
Better Ears Beginner ships an update every 6 months, Interval Ear Training every 19 months. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Better Ears Beginner | Interval Ear Training |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (35 ratings) | 4.7 (355 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.8% of reviews | 88.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 35 | 355 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 19 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 295 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MAMP GmbH | 262Hz |
Customer experience
Better Ears Beginner
Interval Ear Training
User reviews
Better Ears Beginner
From 35 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Free beginner version
- 🚀 Helpful for learning music theory
- 💡 Useful for ear training and pitch recognition
- 🎹 Ability to play piano-like keyboard
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes after purchasing add-on
- 🔒 No Airplay support
- 👎 Insufficient training functionality
- 🔊 Poor sound quality
- 🤔 Confusing for true beginners
Interval Ear Training
From 355 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and intuitive user interface
- 🎵 Effective ear training tool for interval recognition
- 🎹 Visual keyboard display aids learning
- 📊 Progress tracking with running success score
- 🔊 High-quality audio output
Room to improve
- 🖱️ Excessive clicks required between intervals
- ⚙️ Limited customization options
- 🎵 Fixed to C major key only
- 🔄 Cannot fix first note for consistent practice
- 📊 Cumulative score cannot be reset per session
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
Interval Ear Training
Reported bugs
5 issues- App freezes after first interval (iOS 8.1 compatibility issue)
- App stops responding and doesn't progress to next interval
- Sound fails after alarm interruption
- Chromatic mode prevents sounds from playing
- Delayed iOS support updates
Requested features
12 requests- Ability to fix first note and practice all intervals from one tonic
- Customize intervals tested (major only, minor only, specific intervals like 2nd, 3rd, tritone)
- Auto-play next interval without requiring additional clicks
- Support for sharps and flats
- Other musical keys beyond C major
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- Chromatic mode option
- Support for different instruments (guitar, etc.)
- Option to play notes simultaneously
- Ability to disable unison interval
- Multiple attempts to answer with feedback on accuracy
- Session-based score reset functionality
- Ascending or descending intervals selection
In-app purchases
Better Ears Beginner
- Unlock all functions$4.99
Interval Ear Training
- Pro Settings$9.99
Questions
Is Better Ears Beginner free?
Is Interval Ear Training free?
Which has better reviews, Better Ears Beginner or Interval Ear Training?
Do Better Ears Beginner or Interval Ear Training have ads?
Which is updated more often, Better Ears Beginner or Interval Ear Training?
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