# Play By Ear vs FiveLoop

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Play By Ear at none against FiveLoop's 3. Play By Ear also leads on ratings volume (79 vs 19) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. FiveLoop sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Play By Ear asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Play By Ear against 4.4 for FiveLoop. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 79 and 19 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Play By Ear's written reviews are positive against 84% of FiveLoop's.

Play By Ear ships an update every 2 months, FiveLoop every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Play By Ear | FiveLoop |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.4 (79 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/play-by-ear-ear-training/id361203621/reviews) | [4.4 (19 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fiveloop/id1527285336/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **79** | 19 |
| Positive reviews | 81.7% of reviews | **83.7% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 6 weeks** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 24 MB | 730 MB |
| Requires iOS | **12.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [SuperNonstop.com, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/361203624) | [Stephan Duechtel](https://appshunter.io/developer/1486193334) |

## What reviewers say

### Play By Ear

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/play-by-ear-ear-training/id361203621)

Develop your musical ear with this call-and-response ear training app. It uses pitch recognition, allowing you to play notes back on your instrument instead of pressing buttons. Practice melodies, chords, and intervals in a way that mirrors real musical performance.

**Highlights:** Pitch recognition for instrumental interaction, Hands-free, continuous play, Interval, chord, and melody exercises, Customizable tempo, Multiple key centers, Microphone calibration

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great for ear training
- 👍 Helps learn to read music
- 👍 Excellent for musicians
- 👍 Good for piano teachers
- 👍 Pitch recognition accuracy

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Inconsistent pitch detection
- 🐛 Issues with low notes
- 🐛 Glitchy chord recognition
- 🐛 False errors reported
- 🐛 Not ideal for beginners

**Reported bugs**

- No audio output
- App crashes frequently
- Pitch detection not working
- Plays single tone only
- Loses sound with timer/calls

**Requested features**

- Repeat option for phrases
- Limit scale patterns to selected scales/keys
- Profiles for multi-instrumentalists
- Test from the same root note sometimes
- Sign in and save practice data


### FiveLoop

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fiveloop/id1527285336)

Enhance your music learning with a tool that allows you to slow down, loop, and repeat sections of online video tutorials. It also offers AI-powered audio analysis to split songs into stems, detect chords and BPM, and generate transcriptions.

**Highlights:** Loop any video section, Adjust playback tempo, Handsfree MIDI/Bluetooth control, AI song stem separation, Chord and BPM detection, Note-for-note transcriptions

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Premium Yearly | $44.99 | per year |
| Fullversion | $3.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Play By Ear free?

Play By Ear is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is FiveLoop free?

FiveLoop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Play By Ear or FiveLoop?

Play By Ear and FiveLoop are both rated 4.4 out of 5 on the App Store, from 79 and 19 ratings respectively.

### Do Play By Ear or FiveLoop have ads?

Neither Play By Ear nor FiveLoop shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Play By Ear or FiveLoop?

Play By Ear ships an update every 2 months, and FiveLoop every 6 weeks. Most recently, Play By Ear was updated on September 16, 2026 and FiveLoop on September 8, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*