iReal Pro vs Melody Ear Training
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iReal Pro
This app provides a virtual band accompaniment for musicians to practice with, offering realistic sounding instruments and a variety of styles. It also functions as a digital chord chart book, allowing users to create, edit, and share their own song charts.
- Virtual band accompaniment
- Create, edit, and share chord charts
- Thousands of downloadable songs
- Chord diagrams and scale recommendations
- Practice exercises and transposition
- Export charts and audio
- Cloud synchronization
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iReal Pro is two things musicians love in one app: a realistic backing band that plays along with you, and a huge free library of chord charts you can pull up anytime — at practice, at a jam session, or on a gig. Need to transpose a song for a singer? Done. Want to practice with a full rhythm section behind you? Hit play. Named one of TIME Magazine's 50 Best Inventions and trusted by thousands of students, teachers, and pros at schools like Berklee College of Music — iReal Pro has been helping musicians get better since 2008. BAND • 50 accompaniment styles — Swing, Bossa Nova, Blues, Funk, Rock, Bluegrass, Reggae, Latin, Gypsy Jazz, Country, and more • Customize each style with acoustic or electric piano, Fender Rhodes, guitars, upright or electric bass, drums, vibraphone, organ • 40 additional styles — blues, salsa, Brazilian — available as in-app purchases BOOK • Download thousands of free chord charts shared by the iReal Pro community • Create your own charts in minutes with the built-in editor • Organize charts into playlists for gigs, sets, or lessons PRACTICE • Adjust tempo, loop difficult sections, transpose to any key • Automatic tempo increase and key cycling for focused practice • Global Eb, Bb, F, and G transposition for horn players REFERENCE • Guitar, ukulele, and piano fingerings for any chord • Tap any chord in your chart to see how it's played • Scale suggestions for improvisation SHARE • Share charts and playlists with other iReal Pro users • Export charts as PDF or MusicXML • Export backing tracks as audio or MIDI files • Sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud FOR TEACHERS • Create playlists of exercises or tunes for students • Use in the classroom, over live stream, or while screen-sharing lessons We're a small team of musicians who built this app because we needed it ourselves. We hope you enjoy using it as much as we do.
Melody Ear Training
Develop your musical ear with this engaging piano game. It helps improve interval recognition, pitch sense, and transcription skills. Suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians, it offers adjustable difficulty and MIDI integration.
- Interval recognition
- Pitch sense improvement
- Transcription skills
- MIDI keyboard integration
- Adjustable difficulty settings
- Customizable melody parameters
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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. ---- Melody Ear Training can help improve: • Interval recognition • Sense of pitch • Transcription skills • Improvising skills • Self esteem --- How to Play: • Tap "play" to hear the melody • To hear the melody again, tap "replay" • Use the piano to play the melody 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 Melody Ear Training using the sounds of that app. --- Tips for the Beginners: Start with "2 Notes" for the melody length, set the difficulty to "Diatonic", and set the "Scale" to "C". 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! --- Melody Settings: Scale – 13 major scales Difficulty – Diatonic, Random Tonic, Chromatic Length – 2 to 6 notes 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 melodies. 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 melody immediately. Turn off if you want to play the keyboard freely between melodies. 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. --- 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: Melody 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 price: Melody Ear Training at $9.99 against iReal Pro's $21.99. Melody Ear Training also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.6). iReal Pro's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (11K vs 37). On review sentiment, 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
iReal Pro costs $21.99 and Melody Ear Training $9.99 up front. iReal Pro sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Melody Ear Training asks for nothing beyond the download.
iReal Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iReal Pro has 11K ratings behind it against 37, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of iReal Pro's written reviews are positive against 76% of Melody Ear Training's.
iReal Pro ships an update every 3 weeks, Melody Ear Training every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iReal Pro | Melody Ear Training |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $21.99 | $9.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.9 (11K ratings) — better | 4.6 (37 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 75.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11K — better | 37 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #7 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 179 MB | 295 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Technimo LLC | 262Hz |
Customer experience
iReal Pro
Melody Ear Training
Bugs and requests
iReal Pro
Reported bugs
3 issues- Occasional skipping or timing issues with playback
- Trouble with registration and login process
- Compatibility issues with newer devices or operating systems
Requested features
7 requests- Add ability to write rhythm notation
- Integrate with Real Books
- Improve sound quality and add more instrument options
- Add melodies and lyrics support
- Improve chord editing and customization
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- Add more styles and grooves
- Improve sync and backup functionality across devices
Melody Ear Training
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iReal Pro
- Blues style backing tracks$6.99
- Salsa style backing tracks$6.99
- Brazilian backing tracks$6.99
Melody Ear Training
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iReal Pro free?
Is Melody Ear Training free?
Which has better reviews, iReal Pro or Melody Ear Training?
Do iReal Pro or Melody Ear Training have ads?
Which is updated more often, iReal Pro or Melody Ear Training?
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