Ear Training L3 vs Riffshed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ear Training L3
Explore and internalize chords and progressions with this interactive ear training app. Hear diatonic chords and custom progressions against a vocal drone, and test your knowledge with challenging modes. Works offline with adjustable settings.
- Interactive moons diagram for chords
- Chord progression designer
- Two test modes (Chords & Progressions)
- 12 tonal centers and 5 modes
- Adjustable drone/chord mix balance
- Works offline
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The Moons is a drone-based ear training app for exploring and internalizing chords and chord progressions. It presents the seven diatonic chords as an interactive moons diagram where you can tap individual chords in a key and hear them against a sustained vocal drone. To see how your ear training is coming along, the app includes a fun and challenging test mode. Features: 12 tonal centers (all keys) 7 modes: Major, Mixolydian, Lydian, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Dorian, Phrygian 7 diatonic chords with roles displayed visually Fun and challenging test mode MIDI Visualizer - see what you play displayed Male and female choirs Real Acoustic Cello Adjustable drone/chord mix balance Function and note name label modes Works offline — no internet required How it works: Chords Mode: Start the drone, then tap spheres of the moons to hear chords. Use the arrow selector to shift to the closest inversion either up or down. In male choir mode, the radio buttons above sound melody tones. In female choir mode, the same buttons trigger a bass tone below. Chords Test Mode: Start drone, choose levels, then begin. Listen to the chord played, click the corresponding moon to select, then press the checkmark to commit. Once you’ve committed, or when the timer runs out, you’ll receive feedback as to the accuracy of your selection. 3 levels in Chord Test Mode: 1) Root position chords 2) 1st Inversions 3) 2nd inversions (test individually or in combination) Level 3 of Ear Training in The Mandala L1 — The Fan & The Curtain (simple intervals) L2 — The Tower (intervals, chords, and connections) L3 — The Moons (chords and chord progressions)
Riffshed
This app helps musicians improve their practice by focusing on deliberate repetition and structured work blocks. It includes a metronome, sheet music viewer, and links to music streaming services, all designed to enhance focused instrumental practice.
- Rep-based practice tracking
- Focus-block timer
- Built-in metronome
- Sheet music integration
- Links to streaming services
- Curated starter libraries
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Riffshed is a practice journal for jazz musicians, built on the card system. See whether you're actually getting better — or just spending more time with the instrument. THREE PHASES. ONE CARD. Every exercise is a card that moves through three phases — Explore, Integrate, Master — each with its own color and rep counter. You decide when a card is ready to move forward; Riffshed remembers when it did and how long it stayed in each phase. REPS, NOT MINUTES A timer rewards sitting with the instrument. A rep counter rewards doing the work: running a phrase through twelve keys, taking a head clean. Minutes are still tracked — but reps are the unit you optimize. FOCUS BLOCKS A 20/5 focus cycle tuned for instrumental practice: twenty minutes on one card, five minutes of mandatory break. Both intervals are configurable; the open-ended mode drops the clock entirely for jams and lessons. START FROM ANYWHERE (new in 1.1) A Home Screen widget starts a session in one tap and shows today's minutes, your streak and the weekly goal. The live timer follows you to the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island — pause and finish without unlocking; the session saves itself. Map practice to the Action Button, ask Siri, or add a Control Center switch. A METRONOME YOU'LL ACTUALLY USE Full-screen metronome with pendulum, subdivisions and swing. Configure click and accent per beat and per subdivision: silence the "and" of 2, accent any sixteenth, build polyrhythm grids. EVERYTHING LIVES IN THE CARD Notes, target tempo, separate rep counters per phase, PDF sheet music that opens full-screen (pages flip with a swipe while the metronome keeps playing), and one-tap links out to iReal Pro, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and more. SEE A YEAR OF WORK A calendar heatmap of your practice. Tap any day to see what you played, for how long, and which cards moved forward. CURATED LIBRARIES TO START Jazz Piano Fundamentals (67 cards ordered by difficulty) and iReal Pro — Essential Standards (30 standards with deep links) are pre-installed. Build your own libraries, or import a curriculum a teacher shared as a single file. YOUR DATA IS YOURS Fully offline. Full JSON backup including scores. Library export and import in one tap. No account, no ads. Free. Built for daily practice — for iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Riffshed at Free against Ear Training L3's $7.99. Riffshed also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). Ear Training L3's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, ads 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
Riffshed is free to download; Ear Training L3 costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Ear Training L3 against 5.0 for Riffshed. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Ear Training L3 ships an update every 5 days, Riffshed every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ear Training L3 | Riffshed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Paul Russell | Anton Rozhkovskiy |
Customer experience
Ear Training L3
Riffshed
In-app purchases
Ear Training L3
No in-app purchases
Riffshed
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Ear Training L3 free?
Is Riffshed free?
Which has better reviews, Ear Training L3 or Riffshed?
Do Ear Training L3 or Riffshed have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ear Training L3 or Riffshed?
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