# Tenuto vs Functional Ear Trainer

The clearest difference is price: Functional Ear Trainer at Free against Tenuto's $4.99. Functional Ear Trainer also leads on ratings volume (3.7K vs 652). Tenuto's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months). On rating, review sentiment, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Functional Ear Trainer is free to download; Tenuto costs $4.99 up front. Functional Ear Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tenuto asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Tenuto against 4.9 for Functional Ear Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Functional Ear Trainer has 3.7K ratings behind it against 652, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Tenuto's written reviews are positive against 96% of Functional Ear Trainer's.

Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, Functional Ear Trainer every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Tenuto | Functional Ear Trainer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | [4.8 (652 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tenuto/id459313476/reviews) | **[4.9 (3.7K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/functional-ear-trainer/id1088761926/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 652 | **3.7K** |
| Positive reviews | 94.1% of reviews | **96.1% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 months** | Every 7 months |
| Monetization | Paid | **Free with in-app purchases** |
| Best chart rank | **#3** | — |
| Size | 11 MB | 41 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.8 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [musictheory.net](https://appshunter.io/developer/459313479) | [Serhii Korchan](https://appshunter.io/developer/1088761925) |

## What reviewers say

### Tenuto

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tenuto/id459313476)

**Currently charting:** #3 Top Paid · Music, #19 Top Paid (US App Store)

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.

**Highlights:** 24 customizable theory exercises, Note and chord identification, Ear training for intervals and scales, Musical construction exercises, Accidental calculator, Interval calculator, Chord calculator

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Essential for musicians
- 👍 Great app
- 👍 Perfect app
- 👍 Wonderful app
- 👍 Highly recommend

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Wrong billing
- 🐛 Piano tone is so bad
- 🐛 Not good
- 🐛 Great but buggy
- 🐛 All sounds stopped working

**Reported bugs**

- Sound cuts out
- Unresponsive at times
- Freezes up
- Doesn't work well for guitar
- Incorrect chord/key associations

**Requested features**

- 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


### Functional Ear Trainer

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/functional-ear-trainer/id1088761926)

Develop your musical ear by learning to recognize tones within the context of a specific musical key. This app helps you understand the function of each note, improving your ability to transcribe, improvise, and play music by ear. Suitable for all ages and skill levels, with just 10 minutes of daily practice.

**Highlights:** Recognize tones in musical key context, Understand note function, Improve transcription skills, Enhance improvisation, Develop perfect pitch, Daily 10-minute practice

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

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Functional Ear Trainer Plus | $19.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Effective ear training
- 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
- 💡 Customizable exercises
- 🎉 Noticeable improvement with regular practice
- 🎨 Visually appealing design

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional audio glitches
- 💡 Lack of support for other instruments besides piano
- 💡 Desire for more advanced features (e.g. chord recognition)

**Reported bugs**

- Keyboard display issues when selecting all chromatic notes
- Inconsistent note resolutions in some exercises

**Requested features**

- Add support for multiple notes/chords at once
- Implement a mode for training key recognition
- Provide more customization options for exercises
- Include voice input to play the notes
- Add support for German/Norwegian key names


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Tenuto free?

Tenuto costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Functional Ear Trainer free?

Functional Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Tenuto or Functional Ear Trainer?

Functional Ear Trainer is rated higher. Tenuto averages 4.8 out of 5 from 652 ratings, while Functional Ear Trainer averages 4.9 from 3.7K ratings.

### Do Tenuto or Functional Ear Trainer have ads?

Neither Tenuto nor Functional Ear Trainer shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Tenuto or Functional Ear Trainer?

Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, and Functional Ear Trainer every 7 months. Most recently, Tenuto was updated on October 15, 2026 and Functional Ear Trainer on October 14, 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.*