FretShed vs Hark
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FretShed
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A solo when you need one. A better player after. Pick the genre, the key and the tempo. FretShed generates a fresh solo over a backing track. You work it out by ear and make it yours. No tabs. No notation. If you can see it, you're reading it, not hearing it. Work it out by ear and it stays in your hands. THE GIG IS FRIDAY The song needs a solo. You don't have one yet. Set the key and tempo, generate a solo and use it as your starting point. Learn it, change the feel, extend the ending. Make it fit. STUCK ON THE SAME LICKS Your ear needs unfamiliar material to grow. Every solo is generated fresh. Every one you work out adds to your vocabulary. BUILT FOR THE SHED - Rock, blues, jazz, metal and funk - Loop any phrase and sit with it until your ear locks in - Slow it down to 50% without changing the pitch - Recorder, metronome and ear tuner, free - Your solos and recordings on iPhone, iPad and Mac WHERE THE SOLOS COME FROM FretShed uses AI to generate solos. That is where its job ends. Working it out, getting it under your fingers and making it fit your playing is on you. NOT FOR BEGINNERS There are no lessons, no gamification, no badges. If you know what shedding means, you already know what this app is about. The shed is always open. SUBSCRIPTION The recorder, metronome and ear tuner are free. A monthly or yearly subscription unlocks solo generation, up to 80 solos in any 30 days, and keeps your solos and recordings on all your devices. One subscription covers iPhone, iPad and Mac. The price and billing period are shown before you confirm. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. The subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Cancelling takes effect at the end of the period you have paid for. Terms of Use: https://fretshed.dcbl.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://fretshed.dcbl.app/privacy.html
Hark
This app trains musicians to identify notes within a musical key, focusing on their relationship to the tonic. It offers various training modes, including single notes, melodies, and chord progressions, with hands-free operation for convenient practice.
- Identify notes as scale degrees
- Hands-free training mode
- Multiple training modes (degrees, melodies, chords, progressions)
- Visual staff with colored notes
- Explore any note in any key
- Multiple instrument sounds
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Hark trains your ear the way musicians actually hear: every note as a degree of the key, not a distance from the note before it. A cadence — or a drone — puts the tonic in your ear. A note sounds. You answer on a ladder of degrees, with the home note at the bottom like the ground. Then the note walks home, step by step, back to the tonic, so you hear the pull instead of reading about it. That walk is the explanation. There is no lecture. FOUR KINDS OF TRAINING • Degrees — one note at a time, from two degrees up to all twelve • Melodies — short phrases, name every note in order • Chords in the key — I, IV, V and the rest, heard by function • Progressions — three and four chords in a row INSIDE • A ladder of seven colours: tonic gold, dominant blue, leading tone red • Notes on a staff, spelled the way the key spells them • The walk home after every answer • Hands-free: train with the screen off, on a walk or in the car. The key, the note, a pause for your answer, then the answer spoken aloud. • Explore: hold any degree in any key and listen. No score, no history. • Five instruments: piano, guitar, strings, choir, electric piano • Your map: accuracy by degree and by chord, and what your ear mixes up • Ten languages, and a ladder labelled with numbers, movable-do syllables or note names — Do–Si, Do–Ti, H and B where they belong FREE, FOR GOOD Five degree levels in C major — up to all seven degrees across two octaves — two melody levels, two chord levels, the first progression level, hands-free training, the staff, a week of statistics, and all of Explore: every degree in every key, there to listen to. No daily cap, no timers. HARK PRO — MONTHLY, YEARLY OR ONCE Training in all twelve keys, chromatic degrees, minor keys, three octaves, all seven chords with sevenths, progressions, melodies up to five notes, custom drills, and the full map of your ear with four weeks of history. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription, with a one-week free trial for eligible customers, or a one-time purchase for permanent Pro access. Only one free trial is available per subscription group. After the trial, the selected subscription renews at the price shown in the app. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Manage or cancel them in your Apple Account subscription settings. To avoid a charge after a free trial, cancel at least 24 hours before it ends. The free levels stay free either way. NO ACCOUNT, NO ADS No sign-up, no ads, no streaks and no nagging. Your individual answers and detailed training history stay on your device. The app sends a limited set of usage events with a random installation identifier, including session summaries and purchase or free-trial events, to help us understand how it works. The privacy policy lists what is sent. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://hark-ear.pages.dev/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Hark at every 2 days against FretShed's every 9 days. Hark also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, 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
Both are free to download. FretShed sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Hark sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
FretShed ships an update every 9 days, Hark every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FretShed | Hark |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.1 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Decibel Technologies Limited | Ilia Usatov |
In-app purchases
FretShed
- Monthly$14.991 Month
- Yearly$149.991 Year
Hark
- Hark Pro — Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Hark Pro — Yearly7 Days trial$11.991 Year
- Hark Pro$19.99









