Comparison

ToneDetector vs Mandolin Sight Reading

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

Head to head
About

ToneDetector

Master Mandarin tones with this intuitive app. Practice pronunciation, compare your pitch contours to samples, and receive immediate visual feedback to improve your speaking accuracy without a tutor. Covers all Mandarin tonal syllables for effective self-assessment.

Highlights
  • Instant tone judgment
  • Visual pitch contour comparison
  • Practice all Mandarin tonal syllables
  • Self-assessment of tone perception
  • Sample sounds for comparison
  • Intuitive practice interface
Features
Read full description

How to know if you pronounced a Mandarin tone correctly without human tutors? The 12 years old tone detector app lets you make a judgement by yourself instantly. It is very intuitive for you to practice your tones. The Chinese tones are the most difficult part for a foreign language learner to speak Chinese. How to get rid of strong non-native accent and misunderstanding caused by tone issues? Using this app, practice to be right in every Mandarin tonal syllable first! Hear sample tonal syllables, practice tonal syllables and see their pitch shapes immediately. By comparing your pitch contours with the sample pitch contours directly, you can make a judgement easily by yourself. From the visual intuitive feedback, you may improve your tones quickly. This app basically covers all the possible Mandarin chinese syllables with lexical tones. They are 407 base syllables and 1259 tonal syllables. This app provides a sample sound for each tonal syllable for you to compare. By following the sample sounds, you can practice all the Mandarin tonal syllables and learn Chinese pronunciations. You can self-assess your tone perception ability too. This app is essential to all Chinese learners to master Chinese tone quickly. It could be used for tone lecture demonstration purpose too.

About

Mandolin Sight Reading

Features
Read full description

Learn to read and play notes easily on your instrument. Learn to hear the notes when you see them on the staff and be able to play them by hearing their sound in your head. This builds upon our revolutionary method of learning instruments by ear, allowing you to become musically literate in the way that is much more effective as is done through imagining sounds that you are going to play when you see a note - not mere mechanical playing. And all that without too much thinking - you just will learn to sight-read and play with our app.

Screenshots

ToneDetector4 screens
Mandolin Sight Reading4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mandolin Sight Reading at every 4 months against ToneDetector's every 29 months. Mandolin Sight Reading also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 14.0). ToneDetector's advantage is price ($9.99 vs $12.99). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

ToneDetector costs $9.99 and Mandolin Sight Reading $12.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ToneDetector ships an update every 29 months, Mandolin Sight Reading every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 5, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
ToneDetector versus Mandolin Sight Reading: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterToneDetectorMandolin Sight Reading
Price$9.99 — better$12.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 29 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB88 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJian ChengOleg Sokolov

In-app purchases

None

ToneDetector

No in-app purchases

None

Mandolin Sight Reading

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ToneDetector free?
ToneDetector costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mandolin Sight Reading free?
Mandolin Sight Reading costs $12.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do ToneDetector or Mandolin Sight Reading have ads?
Neither ToneDetector nor Mandolin Sight Reading shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ToneDetector or Mandolin Sight Reading?
ToneDetector ships an update every 29 months, and Mandolin Sight Reading every 4 months. Most recently, ToneDetector was updated on September 5, 2026 and Mandolin Sight Reading on September 18, 2026.

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