Comparison

Interval Ear Training vs Active Ear

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Interval recognition practice
  • Sense of pitch development
  • Transcription skill improvement
  • Improvisation skill enhancement
  • MIDI keyboard integration
  • Customizable tempo and keyboard range
Features
Read full description

***** 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!

About

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.

Highlights
  • Pitch Recognition
  • Interval Training
  • Chord Quality Identification
  • Bassline Training
  • Progression Training
  • Chord Inversions
  • Customizable Practice Mode
  • Quiz Mode
Features
Read full description

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

Interval Ear Training4 screens
Active Ear4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Interval Ear Training sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Active Ear asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Interval Ear Training versus Active Ear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInterval Ear TrainingActive Ear
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (355 ratings)4.7 (50 ratings)
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews93.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings355 — better50
Update frequencyEvery 19 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size295 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer262HzMCPHERSON'S MUSIC LLC

Customer experience

Interval Ear Training

All ratings355 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews76 reviews
Positive88.2%
Neutral2.6%
Negative9.2%

Active Ear

All ratings50 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.3%

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
Show 7 more
  • 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

1 purchases

Interval Ear Training

One-time1
  • Pro Settings$9.99
None

Active Ear

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Interval Ear Training free?
Interval Ear Training is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Active Ear free?
Active Ear is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Interval Ear Training or Active Ear?
Interval Ear Training and Active Ear are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 355 and 50 ratings respectively.
Do Interval Ear Training or Active Ear have ads?
Neither Interval Ear Training nor Active Ear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Interval Ear Training or Active Ear?
Interval Ear Training ships an update every 19 months, and Active Ear monthly. Most recently, Interval Ear Training was updated on September 26, 2026 and Active Ear on June 10, 2026.

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