Comparison

HAM Test Prep vs Ham Morse

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

Head to head
About

HAM Test Prep

Prepare for your Amateur Radio Extra license exam with a comprehensive question pool and practice tests. Review FCC rules, get immediate feedback, and track your proficiency across question groups. Features include accessibility options and customizable test settings.

Highlights
  • Extra Question Pool (effective July 1, 2024)
  • Practice Exams
  • Proficiency Tracking
  • Immediate Feedback
  • View FCC Rule Text
  • Zoomable Figures
  • Accessibility Options
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Includes the Extra Question Pool effective July 1, 2024! Not sure if you want to buy? Try out the "Lite" version of this app! Upgrade your HAM license from General to Amateur Extra! With the elimination of the Morse Code requirement, there is no reason not to upgrade your license to the highest level to obtain all privileges! Amateur Radio License exams are composed of questions from a pool. Use this application prior to taking your exam to review and practice all possible questions. Then, test your knowledge with practice exams! After completing your first practice exam, the question pool screen will display your proficiency in each question group for all practice exams you have completed. You may choose to receive immediate feedback on right and wrong answers when taking a practice test. On practice tests, questions in a group will not be repeated until all of them have been used. Some questions require you to review associated Figures. These figures may be zoomed and panned on iPhone/iPod touch. FCC rule text is viewable within the application. All sections can be browsed from the main screen. Additionally, for questions where rule sections have been identified, the rule text can be viewed on the question screen when studying the question pool or reviewing test results. An in-progress practice test can be resumed if you exit the test or the application. Current Extra question pool is valid through June 30, 2028. Versions of this application for both the Technician and General license classes are also available. This app has these additional features: • Accessibility option for vision-impaired users to exclude questions with figures • Dark mode support • Portrait and Landscape support on iPad • Swipe gestures to navigate between questions • Tap on answer to select it • Double-tap or use pinch gesture to zoom Figures on iPhone and iPod touch • Buttons to skip to next/previous wrong answer in test results • ARRL question number displayed on practice tests • Configurable Test Settings • Optional randomizing of test answers • Optional auto-advance during test

About

Ham Morse

Master Morse code with this comprehensive practice tool. Learn individual characters, numbers, callsigns, and even full news stories at adjustable speeds and audio frequencies. Ideal for ham radio operators and enthusiasts seeking proficiency.

Highlights
  • Farnsworth timing for learning
  • Adjustable speed and audio frequency
  • Practice letters, numbers, and callsigns
  • Koch character progression method
  • Top 100/500 common words practice
  • News feed practice
  • Ham QSO examples
Features
Read full description

Learn and practice Morse code where ever you are. Some comments from our App store reviews: Brilliant if you really want to learn morse - Five Stars! Very very good... - Five Stars! This is one of the best cw tutor apps available - Five Stars! Just what I needed for handy practice anywhere anytime! Highly recommended! - Five Stars! This is the best app I've found for increasing my code accuracy and helping to increase my speed. Five Stars! Ham Morse allows you to practice morse code on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. It is designed particularly for Ham radio operators and others who wish to achieve or maintain a high level of proficiency in this classic mode of communication. Ham morse has the following features: The code is sent using the Farnsworth timing whereby the morse characters are sent at 15 words per minute (WPM) and then extra spacing is added to slow the overall WPM to speeds slower than 15 WPM. The farnsworth speed can be adjusted if you wish to use a speed other than 15WPM. The maximum speed that the morse can be sent at is 50 words per minute. The morse audio waveforms have a 5ms rise time to reduce key clicks and yet provide crisp code to copy. The audio frequency can be varied from 220Hz up to 900Hz. A typical value might be around 700Hz but a lower tone can be very useful in some situations. The code can be paused just in case you are interrupted or want to take a break, an incoming call on an iPhone pauses the code automatically. To help you learn the morse code itself HamMorse allows you to practice a variety of sets of characters from individual random letters all the way to the current news stories from around the world. Koch - This setting uses the Koch character progression. It starts with just one letter and then you can add a new letter when you have mastered the previous character set. This is one of the most popular methods of learning the morse character set. Letters - Practice the individual letters, A-Z. Add new letters to your practice set using the settings page. Numbers - Practice the numbers, 0-9. Which numbers you practice can be controlled on the settings page. Callsigns - allows you to practice receiving random amateur radio callsigns, a mixture of letters and numbers (eg AA9PW, G1SNT, G5RV) that often prove troublesome when copying code on the air. HamMorse creates a wide variety of international callsigns using the standard ITU prefixes to provide useful practice where ever in the world you may be. Punctuation - provides a wide variety of punctuation and standard morse code prosigns. Top 100 and 500 most common words - this is a great way to start to recognize whole words the key to really improving your speed. News feeds - these provide the opportunity to copy real sentences and keep up with the news at the same time. Note that the News feeds will only work with an active network connection. Ham QSOs - listen to examples of typical on-air exchanges between ham radio operators - practice coping the callsigns, RST reports, location, rig, antenna and many other pieces of a typical QSO. Accessibility support - The app also has support for Apple's accessibility tool, Voice Over. When Voice Over is activated each button and field has an audible description available describing the button or slider and its use. Text Delay - As an additional learning aid You can have the text appear a few seconds after the morse code is played so you have time to copy the letter before it appears on screen. Text Filter - Filter out characters from the News feeds or QSOs that you are not yet familiar with so you can start practicing with real text even if you don't yet know the whole morse character set.

Screenshots

HAM Test Prep4 screens
Ham Morse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: HAM Test Prep at 4.9 against Ham Morse's 3.8. HAM Test Prep also leads on review sentiment (98% vs 66%) and chart position (#171 vs unranked). Ham Morse's advantage is iOS requirement (9.1 vs 15.5). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

HAM Test Prep costs $2.99 and Ham Morse $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HAM Test Prep holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 312 and 106 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 98% of HAM Test Prep's written reviews are positive against 66% of Ham Morse's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
HAM Test Prep versus Ham Morse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHAM Test PrepHam Morse
Price$2.99 — better$4.99
Rating4.9 (312 ratings) — better3.8 (106 ratings)
Positive reviews97.7% of reviews — better66.1% of reviews
Number of ratings312 — better106
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#171 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.59.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPatrick J Maloney LLCSimon Twigger, AA9PW

Customer experience

HAM Test Prep

All ratings312 ratings
Positive98.7%
Neutral0.3%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews87 reviews
Positive97.7%
Neutral2.3%
Negative0.0%

Ham Morse

All ratings106 ratings
Positive67.0%
Neutral9.4%
Negative23.6%
Written reviews112 reviews
Positive66.1%
Neutral10.7%
Negative23.2%

User reviews

HAM Test Prep

From 312 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✅ Effective exam preparation and high pass rates
  • 📱 Convenient mobile access for studying anytime
  • 🎯 Accurate and current question pools
  • 📊 Tracks progress and identifies weak areas
  • 🎮 Randomized questions prevent memorization by position

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes during use
  • ❌ Limited practice modes (only randomize tests)
  • 🔧 Confusing logic and navigation initially
  • 📍 No 'where I left off' bookmark feature

Ham Morse

From 106 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Comprehensive Morse code learning tool with multiple practice modes
  • ⚙️ Highly customizable speed, tone, and character settings
  • 🎯 Koch method implementation for structured learning
  • 📰 RSS news feed feature for realistic practice content
  • 🎭 QSO (conversation) mode with personalized callsigns

Room to improve

  • 🔇 Persistent audio issues on various iOS devices
  • 📵 App stops running when screen is turned off or locked
  • 🔄 Settings don't persist between app launches
  • 📱 No landscape orientation support on iPad
  • ⚠️ Crashes on certain iOS versions and devices

Bugs and requests

HAM Test Prep

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes almost every time a menu item is selected
  • Cannot reset review question selection
  • Crashes during long study or test sessions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Bookmark or 'where I left off' feature for resuming sessions
  • Ability to reset review question selection
  • Option to randomize answer order in practice question pools
  • Non-randomized practice mode alongside randomized tests

Ham Morse

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • No sound output on iPhone and iPad speakers
  • App crashes on startup with certain iOS versions
  • App stops when screen is turned off or in dark mode
  • Settings reset on app relaunch
  • Koch spacing not working correctly
Show 7 more
  • Double quote character shows but produces no sound
  • Slash symbol missing from punctuation practice
  • App crashes when accessing news feeds
  • Character speed setting doesn't work properly
  • Incorrect Morse code for letter 'K' (Dah-Dit-Dit instead of Dah-Dit-Dah)
  • Skipped characters during transmission
  • App won't run on newer iOS versions after updates

Requested features

12 requests
  • Background audio playback when screen is off
  • Landscape orientation support for iPad
  • Persistent settings between app launches
  • Farnsworth timing with independent character and word speeds
  • User text input to convert to Morse code
Show 7 more
  • Typing along feature with error feedback
  • Apple Watch remote control integration
  • Continuous character group playback option
  • More RSS feed sources
  • Sending practice key feature
  • Text delay option before display
  • Ability to focus on weak characters with less repetition of mastered ones

In-app purchases

None

HAM Test Prep

No in-app purchases

None

Ham Morse

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HAM Test Prep free?
HAM Test Prep costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ham Morse free?
Ham Morse costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HAM Test Prep or Ham Morse?
HAM Test Prep is rated higher. HAM Test Prep averages 4.9 out of 5 from 312 ratings, while Ham Morse averages 3.8 from 106 ratings.
Do HAM Test Prep or Ham Morse have ads?
Neither HAM Test Prep nor Ham Morse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HAM Test Prep or Ham Morse?
HAM Test Prep ships an update every 4 months, and Ham Morse every 4 months. Most recently, HAM Test Prep was updated on October 8, 2026 and Ham Morse on October 11, 2026.

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