Music Theory Pro vs Tenuto
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Music Theory Pro
Master music theory and ear training with interactive exercises. Identify notes, chords, scales, and tempos to improve your musical skills. Suitable for beginners and advanced musicians alike, with customizable difficulty levels.
- Note naming games
- Key signature identification
- Interval ear training
- Chord and scale recognition
- Tempo identification quiz
- Competitive scoring
- Customizable difficulty
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Theory and Ear Training in one slick package. 130,000 downloads! Top musicians practice....a lot. If you are serious about mastering theory and ear training, this app is designed to make practicing fun! You will be presented with a note, key signature, interval, chord, scale, or tempo. Your challenge is to identify what you see or hear as quickly as possible to earn high scores and beat other people who are playing around the world. If you prefer, you can simply play on your own and you'll never be forced to post your scores. Whether you’ve just started learning music, or are looking for something challenging, MTP has what you need. For Beginners: Note Naming Games Key Signatures Interval Ear Training Beginner mode for Note Names, Key Signatures and Interval ear training For Pros: Competitive Games- post your score to compete worldwide Ear Training Chords– inversions, open voicings Ear Training Scales – Modes, Western Scales, Blues, Whole Tone, Pentatonic, etc. Jazz Chords and Scales – Altered Dominants, extended chords Music Theory Pro is also available for apple computers in the mac app store. With every activity and exercise you can alter the challenge level by turning the harder answers off, and working on the basics or by flipping them all on for maximum difficulty. See what others think about this amazing app! User Reviews: “I survived my first year of music theory with this, and am still constantly using it this year as well. It is nicely customizable and easy to use. There's a lot of material is covers. I absolutely love the ear training. It has been invaluable. Looks nice, too! This is the app to buy for Music Theory class.” – Whitney Huskey “I love this app. It also has some challenging ear training exercises. I have bought a lot of music theory apps and this one is my favorite for theory” – Hadrian7 Beginners quickly become Pros Users who are just learning music will be able to practice naming notes on the piano and on the staff. Sharpen your ears The ear training section provides many challenges for the more advanced student. It takes a sharp ear to identify altered dominant chords and modal scales quickly. For jazz musicians we’ve included the modes from the melodic minor scale and all kinds of extended chords. There is even a tempo quiz to identify beats per minute by assigning a number to a click track. Increase your skills by competing with others Various exercises propel you to higher scores, which you can post to compete for top ratings. Who will be #1 in the world this month? Could be you! “This app is great. I have gone from having absolutely no knowledge in Music Theory, to doing very well in all of the categories the app offers. Thank you very much for helping me learn Theory finally and making it fun.” – whoisjk Download Music Theory Pro and start becoming a better musician today! Dr. Joel Clifft
Tenuto
Enhance your musicality with a comprehensive suite of 24 customizable theory exercises and six essential musical calculators. Practice note and chord identification, ear training, and construct musical elements. Tools include accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices.
- 24 customizable theory exercises
- Note and chord identification
- Ear training for intervals and scales
- Musical construction exercises
- Accidental calculator
- Interval calculator
- Chord calculator
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Tenuto is a collection of 24 highly-customizable exercises designed to enhance your musicality. From recognizing chords on a keyboard to identifying intervals by ear, it has an exercise for you. Tenuto also includes six musical calculators for accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices. A short description of the exercises and calculators follows. –––––– • Note Identification • Key Signature Identification • Interval Identification • Scale Identification • Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the written staff line. For example: if shown a C, E, and G with a sharp; tap the "Augmented Triad" button. –––––– • Note Construction • Key Signature Construction • Interval Construction • Scale Construction • Chord Construction Construct the specified label by moving notes and/or adding accidentals. For example: if shown a C and an "Augmented 4th" label, move the second note to F and add a sharp. –––––– • Keyboard Reverse Identification Tap the piano key corresponding to the written note on the staff. While similar to Note Identification, this exercise uses a piano keyboard rather than note name buttons. • Keyboard Note Identification • Keyboard Interval Identification • Keyboard Scale Identification • Keyboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the highlighted piano key(s). If the C and G keys are highlighted, tap the "P5" (Perfect 5th) button. –––––– • Fretboard Note Identification • Fretboard Interval Identification • Fretboard Scale Identification • Fretboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the marked fretboard position(s). If the 2nd fret of the D string is marked, tap the "E" button. –––––– • Keyboard Ear Training • Note Ear Training Listen to the played reference and question notes. Select the piano key or note button corresponding to the question note. • Interval Ear Training • Scale Ear Training • Chord Ear Training Tap the button corresponding to the played notes. If E and F are played, tap the "Minor 2nd" button. –––––– • Accidental Calculator Display the accidental for a note and key. • Interval Calculator Display the interval for a note, type, and key. • Chord Calculator Display the scale for a tonic and scale type. • Chord Calculator Display the chord for a note, type, and key. • Analysis Calculator Display the chord for a symbol and key. • Matrix Calculator Display the twelve-tone matrix for a specified tone row.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Tenuto at 4.7 against Music Theory Pro's 3.1. Tenuto also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 54%) and ratings volume (668 vs 49). Music Theory Pro's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.8). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Music Theory Pro costs $4.99 and Tenuto $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Tenuto holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tenuto has 668 ratings behind it against 49, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Music Theory Pro's written reviews are positive against 94% of Tenuto's.
Music Theory Pro ships an update every 5 weeks, Tenuto every 3 months. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.
| Parameter | Music Theory Pro | Tenuto |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $4.99 |
| Rating | 3.1 (49 ratings) | 4.7 (668 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.3% of reviews | 94.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 49 | 668 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #8 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.8 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Joel Clifft | musictheory.net |
Customer experience
Music Theory Pro
Tenuto
User reviews
Music Theory Pro
From 49 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for fine tuning your ear
- 🚀 Fantastic and simple to use
- 👍 Excellent for increasing speed and recognition
- 👍 Wonderful app, full of spot on representation of music theory
- 👍 Effective, really improves your skills
Room to improve
- 🐛 The app doesn't seem to be working at all
- 🐛 Unable to hear the notes for intervals
- 🐛 Frustrating, very hard and boring
- 🐛 Can't exit the app, have to go to Home Screen
- 🐛 Sadly frustrating for beginners, zero instruction
Tenuto
From 668 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Essential for musicians
- 👍 Great app
- 👍 Perfect app
- 👍 Wonderful app
- 👍 Highly recommend
Room to improve
- 🐛 Wrong billing
- 🐛 Piano tone is so bad
- 🐛 Not good
- 🐛 Great but buggy
- 🐛 All sounds stopped working
Bugs and requests
Music Theory Pro
Reported bugs
2 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
Requested features
12 requests- Add timing
- Add tenor clef
- Add more instruments to identify music with
- Repeat the scale when the answer was wrong and play the right one
- Graphic sample of both wrong/right answers
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Samples of music where the different scales are used
- Link to a website with more in-depth info
- Require reading more ledger lines in note drills
- Teach and explain the skills and concepts that it's testing on
- Adjust the position of the keys on the keyboard
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
Tenuto
Reported bugs
5 issues- Sound cuts out
- Unresponsive at times
- Freezes up
- Doesn't work well for guitar
- Incorrect chord/key associations
Requested features
20 requests- Cadences and inversions for ear training
- Chord progressions for ear training
- Melodic and harmonic minor modes for scale recognition
- 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th chord extensions for chord recognition
- Melodic dictation
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Rhythm exercises
- Fretboard reverse identification
- Chord inversions for chord identification
- Scales written on staff using various clefs
- Rhythm, melodic, and harmonic dictation exercises
- Part writing exercises
- Exercises for form, cadences, etc.
- MIDI support
- Autoplay function
- Ability to input notes/chords on fretboard
- Chord progression ear training
- Inversion options for chord and interval identification
- Melodic and harmonic minor scale identification
- Extended chord identification
- Rhythmic dictation
In-app purchases
Music Theory Pro
No in-app purchases
Tenuto
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Music Theory Pro free?
Is Tenuto free?
Which has better reviews, Music Theory Pro or Tenuto?
Do Music Theory Pro or Tenuto have ads?
Which is updated more often, Music Theory Pro or Tenuto?
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