Comparison

Play with ear practice vs SongCatcher

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

Head to head
About

Play with ear practice

Features
Read full description

Start with the key of C and three notes. Once you get used to it, you can change the key, increase the number of notes, or turn the keyboard sideways to widen the range. You can also play melodies you know freely. Even if you can't get the notes right, just listen to the root note and then hum it, or listen to it repeatedly, and you'll gradually be able to get the notes right. If you practice every day, you'll be able to play difficult keys smoothly.

About

SongCatcher

Identify songs playing around you with a single tap. This app continuously listens to capture multiple tracks in a session, noting the location and time of each discovery. Access lyrics, translations, and jump directly to Apple Music to play the full song.

Highlights
  • Instant song recognition
  • Continuous song catching
  • Location and time tagging
  • Lyrics with translations
  • Open in Apple Music
Features
Read full description

SongCatcher — catch the songs playing around you. Hear a song you love in a café, a class, or a friend's kitchen? Tap once and SongCatcher tells you what it is. It keeps listening, so it catches every song in a session — not just the first. • Instant recognition — ShazamKit first, with a second engine as backup, so more songs get caught. • Catch a whole night — leave it running and it builds a timeline of the evening, song after song. • Keep it together — file a session as one event: a concert, the gym, a night out, dinner at home. Share it as a page anyone can open. • Lyrics, with translations — read along, with an English translation for songs in other languages. • The story in the song — keep a song and it adds what it means and who made it. • Where you heard it — turn on location and every catch remembers the place. • Open in Apple Music — jump straight to any catch to hear it in full. No account. No sign-up. Open it and start catching. Your history stays on your device, and SongCatcher only listens when you tell it to.

Screenshots

Play with ear practice4 screens
SongCatcher4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: SongCatcher at none against Play with ear practice's shown. Play with ear practice's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Play with ear practice ships an update every 6 days, SongCatcher every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Play with ear practice versus SongCatcher: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlay with ear practiceSongCatcher
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYasuko TakayashikiGuy Merin

In-app purchases

None

Play with ear practice

No in-app purchases

None

SongCatcher

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Play with ear practice free?
Play with ear practice is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SongCatcher free?
SongCatcher is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Play with ear practice or SongCatcher have ads?
Play with ear practice shows ads; SongCatcher does not.
Which is updated more often, Play with ear practice or SongCatcher?
Play with ear practice ships an update every 6 days, and SongCatcher every 5 days. Most recently, Play with ear practice was updated on September 29, 2026 and SongCatcher on October 24, 2026.

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