Comparison

Ham Morse vs ARRL magazines

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

Head to head
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.

About

ARRL magazines

Access the monthly ARRL membership journal, QST, on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. This publication offers news, construction projects, and tutorials for Amateur Radio enthusiasts. The digital version includes exclusive content not found in print.

Highlights
  • Monthly QST digital delivery
  • News and updates
  • Construction projects
  • Tutorials and guides
  • Exclusive digital content
Read full description

If you're a member of ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio, install this app and have QST, the ARRL membership journal, delivered to your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch every month! QST entertains and informs with news, construction projects, tutorials and much more. That's why it is the most widely read Amateur Radio publication in the world. The digital version of QST goes even further with content not found in the printed journal. Privacy & Terms of Conditions: http://www.arrl.org/online-privacy-policy

Screenshots

Ham Morse4 screens
ARRL magazines4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Ham Morse at 66% against ARRL magazines's 12%. Ham Morse also leads on rating (3.8 vs 1.8) and iOS requirement (9.1 vs 12.0). ARRL magazines's advantage is price (Free vs $4.99). 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

ARRL magazines is free to download; Ham Morse costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ham Morse holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 106 and 265 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Ham Morse's written reviews are positive against 12% of ARRL magazines's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Ham Morse versus ARRL magazines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHam MorseARRL magazines
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (106 ratings) — better1.8 (265 ratings)
Positive reviews66.1% of reviews — better12.2% of reviews
Number of ratings106265 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.1 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB126 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon Twigger, AA9PWARRL, American Radio Relay League, Inc.

Customer experience

Ham Morse

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

ARRL magazines

All ratings258 ratings
Positive15.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative81.0%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive12.2%
Neutral5.7%
Negative82.1%

User reviews

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

ARRL magazines

From 265 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and responsive
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 💡 Offline reading support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes
  • 🔒 Authentication issues
  • 👎 Unreliable login/logout
  • 🔋 High battery consumption

Bugs and requests

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

ARRL magazines

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Downloading issues causes app to freeze
  • Inconsistent behavior across devices
  • Disappearing downloaded content

Requested features

3 requests
  • Seamless integration with ARRL account
  • Ability to resume reading from last page
  • PDF export option

In-app purchases

None

Ham Morse

No in-app purchases

None

ARRL magazines

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ham Morse free?
Ham Morse costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ARRL magazines free?
ARRL magazines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ham Morse or ARRL magazines?
Ham Morse is rated higher. Ham Morse averages 3.8 out of 5 from 106 ratings, while ARRL magazines averages 1.8 from 265 ratings.
Do Ham Morse or ARRL magazines have ads?
Neither Ham Morse nor ARRL magazines shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ham Morse or ARRL magazines?
Ham Morse ships an update every 4 months, and ARRL magazines every 4 months. Most recently, Ham Morse was updated on October 15, 2026 and ARRL magazines on October 21, 2026.

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