Morse Trail vs Dot Dash
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Morse Trail
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Morse Trail turns learning Morse code into something you can see, hear, and feel. Most apps make you memorize a chart. Morse Trail builds the code into muscle memory by engaging four senses at once: you trace the path of each letter along an interactive Morse tree with your finger, while you hear the tone and feel every dot and dash through haptics. Sight, sound, touch, and motion reinforce each other โ so the code sticks. LEARN BY TRACING The classic Morse tree, redesigned to fit on a single screen. Dots go left, dashes go right. Follow the path with your finger and your hand learns the rhythm. SIX WAYS TO PRACTICE โข Learn โ trace new letters on the tree โข Listen โ decode what you hear โข Key โ tap out symbols yourself โข Words โ build real words from the letters you know, or switch to the ham set: Q-codes, CW abbreviations, RST reports and callsigns โข Challenge โ beat the clock โข Review โ smart spaced repetition brings back what you're about to forget BUILT TO MAKE IT STICK โข A guided 15-unit course from E and T to the full alphabet and numbers โข Reviews are timed by how well you remember each symbol, not by how much you practice โข XP, levels, and daily streaks keep you coming back โข Optional reminders, including an evening nudge when your streak is at risk โข A Home Screen and Lock Screen widget with your streak, level, and mastered symbols โข Adjustable speed with Farnsworth timing โ fast characters, comfortable gaps โข Real sidetone generated on device, plus precise Core Haptics ON YOUR APPLE WATCH The watch app comes with Morse Trail for iPhone and keeps working when your phone is out of reach. Feel every dot and dash on your wrist, with haptics that make a dot (a quick tap) easy to tell from a dash (a long buzz). Switch on Sound to hear the code too, practice with the Feel & Guess quiz, mirror playback from your iPhone in real time, and keep your streak on a watch-face complication. YOURS, PRIVATELY โข Works 100% offline โ learn on a plane, on the trail, anywhere โข No accounts. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. โข Data Not Collected โ everything stays on your device DESIGNED FOR iPHONE & iPAD Beautiful themes, full Dynamic Type and VoiceOver support, and a clean interface available in 12 languages. On iPad, a sidebar keeps every section one tap away, and in Key mode a hardware keyboard works as a telegraph key: tap Space for a dot, hold it for a dash. The first four units and the Learn and Listen modes are free, and Morse Trail Pro, a one-time purchase, unlocks the full 15-unit course, all six modes, and every theme. Whether you're a ham radio operator, a maker, a student, or just curious โ Morse Trail is the most hands-on way to finally learn Morse code. Download and trace your first letter today.
Dot Dash
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Every letter has a rhythm. Dot Dash helps you learn Morse code the way operators always have: by ear, by touch, by repetition. The practice surface is a brass telegraph key from the 1920s, drawn to work like the real thing. Tap it for a dot. Hold it for a dash. It clicks under your thumb, and on iPhones that support it you feel the rhythm as haptics too. A short walkthrough shows you dots and dashes the first time you open the app, and then you choose a tier and go: Easy, for listening. Ten common letters with their patterns always visible. Perfect for your first session. Medium, for learning. The full alphabet. Patterns fade as you tap, so your memory does the work. Hard, for remembering. Letters and numbers, by sound and feel alone. You are hearing the rhythm now. Three speed presets change the room between the marks inside each letter, so a new learner has time to think while every letter keeps its real shape. A full reference chart is one tap away, and tapping any letter plays its rhythm out loud. When a session ends you get a recap in plain English, plus a short quote from the history of telegraphy. Every quote is real, sourced, and public domain. Send a telegram. Pick one of a hundred short phrases, from GOOD MORNING to GOOSE ON THE LOOSE, and Dot Dash paints it in Morse above a brass key, ready to share or save. No typing, nothing stored. The Operator's Pack, if you want more. A one-time purchase adds callsign drills: hear a whole call sign at 5, 13 or 20 words per minute with true Farnsworth spacing, then key it back one letter at a time. It also adds four more app icons and seventeen more sounds for the key. Sixty percent of what is left after costs from every Operator's Pack is committed to CommunicationFIRST, a civil rights organization for people who cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood, and every tenth purchase commits the whole remainder. Quarterly receipts: sillydroose.com/donations/dotdash. No scores. No timers. No streaks. Nothing to keep up with. Just you and the pattern. Dot Dash works entirely offline and collects nothing. I built it because Morse is a small, beautiful skill, and learning it should feel like tapping out messages by lamplight, not grinding a curriculum. The practice is free, and it stays free. No ads. No data collected. Ever.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Dot Dash at none against Morse Trail's 1. On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Morse Trail sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Dot Dash asks for nothing beyond the download.
Morse Trail ships an update every 3 weeks, Dot Dash every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Morse Trail | Dot Dash |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks โ better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch โ better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yevgeniy Gaydabura | Drew Douglass |
In-app purchases
Morse Trail
- Morse Trail Pro$6.99
Dot Dash
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Morse Trail free?
Is Dot Dash free?
Do Morse Trail or Dot Dash have ads?
Which is updated more often, Morse Trail or Dot Dash?
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