Comparison

Pitch Trainer vs Absolute Ear

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

Head to head
About

Pitch Trainer

Develop your musical ear with structured lessons and custom drills for identifying notes, intervals, and chords. Tailor your practice with various display options, instrument sounds, and specific skill focus.

Highlights
  • Note recognition (Perfect Pitch)
  • Interval training (melodic/harmonic)
  • Chord quality identification
  • Customizable practice drills
  • Multiple instrument sounds
  • Solfege and transposition options
Features
Read full description

Pitch Trainer helps you build real ear skills: identify notes, recognize intervals, hear chord quality, follow chord progressions, and detect scales with confidence. It's built around structured lessons plus fast custom drills, so you always know what to practice next and you can improve consistently. World-class training tools: 1) Pitch Trainer (Note Recognition) - Train your ear to identify individual notes by name. - Structured lessons that expand across the 12 chromatic notes - Practice across different octaves (low, medium, high, random) - Optional reference pitch to help you learn faster 2) Interval Training - Learn to recognize the distance between two notes. - Train all common intervals from minor 2nd through octave - Melodic vs harmonic options (separate vs together) - Ascending and descending practice - Short theory explanations and mnemonics to lock concepts in 3) Chord Recognition - Train your ear to identify chord quality and type. - Practice major, minor, diminished, augmented, and 7th chords - Progress from triads to more advanced chord types - Build reliability across different octave ranges 4) Chord Progressions - Train your ear to follow how chords move in real music. - Learn common progressions like I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and I-V-vi-IV - Practice cadences, turnarounds, and 12-bar blues - Build the skills to hear song structure by ear 5) Scale Detection - Train your ear to recognize scales and modes. - Major, natural/harmonic/melodic minor, and the modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian) - Pentatonic, blues, whole tone, and chromatic scales - Progress from familiar scales to advanced tonalities Practice your way Customize the experience to match how you learn and what you play: - Note display options: sharps, flats, or solfege - Transpose displayed notes to any key (helpful for transposing instruments) - Choose different instrument sounds (piano, guitar) - Select exactly what you want to drill: specific notes, intervals, chords, progressions, or scales Subscription is required for pitch, chord, interval, progression, and scale training. Subscription details: Payment will be charged to your App Store account once your purchase is confirmed. You can manage or cancel your subscription in Account Settings; if canceled, access will continue until the end of the current billing period. Subscriptions automatically renew 24 hours before the period ends, and your account will be charged within that 24-hour window. Auto-renewal can be turned off at any time in Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial, if available, will be forfeited when a subscription is purchased Privacy Policy: https://trypitchtrainer.app/privacy Terms of Service: https://trypitchtrainer.app/tos Contact Us: hello@trypitchtrainer.app

About

Absolute Ear

Master note recognition, melodic dictation, and interval training with a structured course. Progress at your own pace through over 60 units, with intelligent practice focusing on your weakest areas. Supports multiple instrument timbres and detailed statistics.

Highlights
  • Note recognition
  • Melodic dictation
  • Interval training
  • Intelligent practice
  • Multiple instrument timbres
  • Detailed statistics
  • Session history and streak tracking
Features
Read full description

ABSOLUTE EAR - EAR TRAINING Want to hear a melody and know exactly what notes it is? That's what Absolute Ear teaches. This is a structured ear training course that takes you from recognizing your first three notes all the way to mastering all 12 chromatic pitches, melodic sequences up to 5 notes long, all 13 musical intervals, chord recognition by function, and real chord progressions - at whatever pace works for you. WHAT YOU TRAIN NOTE RECOGNITION Hear a piano note. Name it. That's the foundation of playing by ear. Start with just C, E, and G. Unlock new notes as you demonstrate mastery. By the end, you'll identify all 12 chromatic notes across three octaves - including sharps - without needing a reference pitch. MELODIC DICTATION Identify sequences of 2, 3, 4, and 5 notes in a row. This is where note recognition becomes real musical memory. Each unit introduces new notes progressively, so you're never thrown in the deep end. INTERVAL TRAINING Master all 13 intervals: unison, minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, tritone, perfect 5th, minor 6th, major 6th, minor 7th, major 7th, and octave. Three tiers of difficulty: • Tier 1: Fixed C as your tonic - build the foundation • Tier 2: Random root per session - start to generalize • Tier 3: Root changes every question - true interval hearing CHORD RECOGNITION Hear a chord and identify it by its function in C major - not just its name. Every question starts with the I chord to anchor your ear, then you identify the target chord by scale degree. Five modules take you from the Big Three (I, IV, V) through all seven diatonic chords. You'll learn to hear the difference between the lift of IV, the tension of V, and the darkness of vi. CHORD PROGRESSIONS Once you know the chords, learn to hear how their order changes everything. A four-chord loop plays and you tap the degrees in sequence. Five modules cover the most common progressions in popular music - from the classic I-IV-V-I to the pop loop I-V-vi-IV - training you to recognize the patterns behind the songs you hear every day. HOW IT WORKS 60+ structured units span five exercise types across six chapters: single notes, note sequences, interval training, chord recognition, and chord progressions. Units unlock as you hit 80% accuracy - you move forward when you're actually ready. Each session is 30 focused questions. Listen. Answer. Get immediate haptic feedback. The app tracks exactly where you struggle and weights practice toward your weakest notes, intervals, and chords - so every session is time well spent. If you're flying through a session, an early-completion prompt lets you move on early. FEATURES • 60+ course units across five exercise types • Chord recognition by function - hear harmony, not just names • Chord progression training - recognize the loops behind real music • Intelligent practice: weak spots appear more often • Multi-octave training - notes across three octaves • 60+ badges to earn - including some hidden surprises • Detailed stats: per-note accuracy, confusion matrix, accuracy trends, daily practice time • Session history and streak tracking • Apple Sign In - progress saved to your account • Haptic feedback on every answer • No subscription required to get started WHO IT'S FOR • Musicians who want to play by ear without sheet music • Piano and guitar players who want to transcribe what they hear • Music students building aural skills for exams • Anyone who hears a melody and wants to know its notes • Songwriters who want to hear chord progressions by ear • Experienced players sharpening pitch, interval, and harmony awareness Start with three notes. Build from there. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.absoluteear.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.absoluteear.com/privacy

Screenshots

Pitch Trainer4 screens
Absolute Ear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Absolute Ear at 100% against Pitch Trainer's 29%. Absolute Ear also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 days). Pitch Trainer's advantage is ratings volume (496 vs 8) and chart position (#97 vs unranked). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pitch Trainer sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Absolute Ear sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Absolute Ear holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pitch Trainer has 496 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 29% of Pitch Trainer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Absolute Ear's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pitch Trainer ships an update every 5 days, Absolute Ear every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Pitch Trainer versus Absolute Ear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPitch TrainerAbsolute Ear
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (496 ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews29.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings496 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#97 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB117 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperEar & Pitch Training Studios LLCDavid Ashworth

Customer experience

Pitch Trainer

All ratings496 ratings
Positive91.9%
Neutral3.2%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews31 reviews
Positive29.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative67.7%

Absolute Ear

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Pitch Trainer

Subscriptions12
  • Pitch Trainer Subscription Weekly7 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Weekly Subscription7 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Pitch Trainer Weekly Access7 Days trial$7.997 Days
Show 9 more
  • Pitch Trainer Monthly7 Days trial$8.991 Month
  • Pitch Trainer Annual Offer$14.991 Year
  • Pitch Trainer 3 Months$19.993 Months
  • Pitch Trainer Annual Offer$24.991 Year
  • Pitch Trainer Subscription Annual$29.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription2 variants$39.991 Year
  • Pitch Trainer Annual Access$49.991 Year
  • Pitch Trainer Annual$59.991 Year
  • Pitch Trainer Annual Subscription7 Days trial$59.991 Year
3 purchases

Absolute Ear

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Pitch Trainer free?
Pitch Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Absolute Ear free?
Absolute Ear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pitch Trainer or Absolute Ear?
Absolute Ear is rated higher. Pitch Trainer averages 4.7 out of 5 from 496 ratings, while Absolute Ear averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do Pitch Trainer or Absolute Ear have ads?
Neither Pitch Trainer nor Absolute Ear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pitch Trainer or Absolute Ear?
Pitch Trainer ships an update every 5 days, and Absolute Ear every 3 days. Most recently, Pitch Trainer was updated on October 28, 2026 and Absolute Ear on October 24, 2026.

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