Interval Ear Training vs Active Ear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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!
Active Ear
Develop your musical ear with a comprehensive ear training app. It offers various exercises to help musicians identify pitches, intervals, chords, and progressions. Customize your learning with practice modes and test your knowledge with quizzes.
- Pitch Recognition
- Interval Training
- Chord Quality Identification
- Bassline Training
- Progression Training
- Chord Inversions
- Customizable Practice Mode
- Quiz Mode
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Active Ear is for musicians of all skill levels and instrument types. With dozens of exercises ranging from beginner to advanced, Active Ear focuses on teaching you to identify pitches, intervals, chords, and progressions using only your Ear. The Practice Mode of the app allows you to customize the challenges to focus only on areas you're interested in improving. Once you're confident with the Practice Mode, you test yourself in the Quiz Mode of the app to see how well you understand the concepts. Active Ear Comes with six Ear Training Programs: - Pitch Recognition - Interval Training - Chord Quality - Bassline Training - Progression Training - Chord Inversions
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Active Ear at none against Interval Ear Training's 1. Active Ear also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 19 months). Interval Ear Training's advantage is ratings volume (355 vs 50) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Interval Ear Training sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Active Ear asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Interval Ear Training against 4.7 for Active Ear. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Interval Ear Training has 355 ratings behind it against 50, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Interval Ear Training's written reviews are positive against 94% of Active Ear's.
Interval Ear Training ships an update every 19 months, Active Ear monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and June 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Interval Ear Training | Active Ear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (355 ratings) | 4.7 (50 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.2% of reviews | 93.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 355 — better | 50 |
| Update frequency | Every 19 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 295 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 262Hz | MCPHERSON'S MUSIC LLC |
Customer experience
Interval Ear Training
Active Ear
Bugs and requests
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
Active Ear
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Interval Ear Training
- Pro Settings$9.99
Active Ear
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Interval Ear Training free?
Is Active Ear free?
Which has better reviews, Interval Ear Training or Active Ear?
Do Interval Ear Training or Active Ear have ads?
Which is updated more often, Interval Ear Training or Active Ear?
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