Ham Morse vs QRQ CW
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
QRQ CW
Enhance your Morse Code reception speed with this convenient app. Practice daily for a few minutes to improve your skills with high-quality audio and accurate timing. A demo version offers full features with limited practice words, allowing you to try it before purchasing additional content.
- Improve Morse Code reception speed
- Premium audio quality
- Accurate Morse code timing
- Adjustable speed from 15 to 60 WPM
- Farnsworth timing options
- Customizable preferences
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Never has it been easier to obtain faster Morse Code reception skills (QRQ)! If you already know the Morse Code, this is probably the most convenient way to improve your skills. With this app you will improve your reception speed without any pressure. Use it every day for 5 minutes for one or two months and I guarantee you will improve with virtually no effort. With this demo version you get all the features enabled but with a limited set of practice words. No obligations - Try it out before you decide to purchase full practice content access. Main features: - Premium audio quality - no listening fatigue - Spoken disclosure of sent code - Waveform shaping to avoid tiring key clicks - Super accurate morse code timing - 15 to 60 WPM speed with down to 5 WPM Farnsworth timing - Many options to suit your preferences Practice sessions (demo with all features enabled): - A few (some 20 different) English words Practice sessions (when purchased "Full Content Access"): - 100 most common English words - 1 000 most common English words - 5 000 various English words - Max 4 character words - Ham Radio Abbreviations - Typical QSO phrases - Callsigns (International) - Callsigns (USA) - Numbers - 3, 4 and 5-digits - Contests - CQ Zone, Serial Numbers etc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: QRQ CW at Free against Ham Morse's $4.99. QRQ CW also leads on rating (4.3 vs 3.8). Ham Morse's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (66% vs 33%). On update cadence, 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
QRQ CW is free to download; Ham Morse costs $4.99 up front. QRQ CW sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Ham Morse asks for nothing beyond the download.
QRQ CW holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ham Morse has 106 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 66% of Ham Morse's written reviews are positive against 33% of QRQ CW's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Ham Morse ships an update every 4 months, QRQ CW every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ham Morse | QRQ CW |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (106 ratings) | 4.3 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.1% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 106 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #141 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 9.1 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simon Twigger, AA9PW | Ake Liljenberg |
Customer experience
Ham Morse
QRQ CW
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
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- 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
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- 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
QRQ CW
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ham Morse
No in-app purchases
QRQ CW
- Full Content Access$2.99







