Note Trainer Lite vs ChordIQ
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Note Trainer Lite
This app helps users improve their music reading skills with various exercises for notes and chords. It tracks progress and indicates readiness for new lessons, supporting multiple notation systems and input methods.
- Note and chord reading exercises
- Progress tracking and statistics
- Multiple notation systems supported
- Singing or instrument input
- MIDI device input
- Time challenge mode
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This is the LITE version of Note Trainer with 9 exercises. The full version has 30 exercises as well as custom exercises. Note Trainer is designed to help train your ability to read music. It is aimed at beginners, music students, musicians and anyone interested in musical reading. Note Trainer includes exercises reading musical notes and musical chords. When an exercise is complete the users' statistics are saved allowing them to track their progress and easily return to areas that need more training. Note Trainer indicates when a user is ready to move on to the next exercise. Features: - Preset exercises for notes and chords - Note Trainer guides you and instructs when you are ready to continue to new lessons - Note Trainer supports English (B, Bb), German (H, B), and Solfége (Do, Re, Mi) notation - Supports transposing instruments - Answer by singing or playing an instrument (iPhone 5s and newer) - Answer using MIDI device (*), virtual piano or answer buttons - Visual feedback on virtual piano and note view - Statistics - Time challenge mode - Studio sound quality *) Using a MIDI-input device may require an Apple USB Camera Connection Kit
ChordIQ
Learn to read music notes on the staff with interactive games. Practice clefs, key signatures, chords, scales, and ear training on various instruments. Compete on global leaderboards and track your progress.
- Treble and bass clef note identification
- Key signature recognition
- Chord and scale practice
- Ear training and intervals
- MIDI keyboard connectivity
- Global leaderboards
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ChordIQ is the fun way to learn to read music notes on the staff. Master treble clef, bass clef and key signatures, then keep going with chords, scales, theory, rhythm, ear training and singing across more than 35 fast-paced games on piano, guitar, ukulele or bass. STAFF & SIGHT READING Guess Note on treble, bass, alto and grand staff. Marathon, Survival Mode, Note Values, Rests, Intervals on the Staff, plus chords and scales read straight from notation. CHORDS Two Chords, Major or Minor, Major Chords, Minor Chords. Guess Chord and Play Chord over any chord set you choose, plus Inversions on the piano. SCALES Guess Scale and Play Scale: major, natural and melodic minor, pentatonic, blues and the modes. MUSIC THEORY Key Signature, Circle of Fifths on an interactive wheel, Chord Progressions in Roman numerals, Cadences (authentic, plagal, half, deceptive), Build the Chord and Transposition. INSTRUMENT Note Finder: find any named note on the keyboard or the fretboard against the clock. EAR TRAINING Guess Note by Ear, Intervals by Ear, Chords by Ear, Chord Qualities (m7, maj7, m7b5, sus4, 9), Solfège, Melodic Dictation and Perfect Pitch. SINGING & PITCH Sing or Play: sing the note on screen and the microphone scores your pitch. Match the Pitch keeps you on target with a live cents meter. RHYTHM Rhythm Trainer: read a notated rhythm and tap it in time, ten levels of difficulty. Echo plays a pattern for you to tap back. NEW Rhythm games, singing and pitch matching with the microphone, Perfect Pitch, Melodic Dictation, Chord Progressions, Cadences and the Circle of Fifths. INSTRUMENTS, MIDI & MICROPHONE Piano and keyboard, guitar, ukulele and bass. Connect a MIDI keyboard and play your answers on real keys. The singing modes listen through the microphone. WORLD CHART Every game feeds the World Chart, so you can track your progress among fellow ChordIQ players from all over the world. Are you the music master? Then download ChordIQ today and prove it! CHORDIQ PRO ChordIQ is free to download and most of the games are free to play. Pro removes the ads and unlocks the custom practice configurators (your own note, chord, scale and rhythm sets), Inversions, saved libraries and the daily plan reroll. ChordIQ PRO PRICING & TERMS ChordIQ Pro is offered as a yearly subscription (with a 3-day free trial where the store offers one), a weekly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Prices are set per country and shown in your local currency before you confirm. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, and the cost of the renewal will be provided. Subscriptions may be managed by the user. Auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. Terms of Use: https://www.songtive.com/pages/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.songtive.com/pages/privacy Web: http://chordiq.info Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/ChordIQ/ Community: http://forums.songtive.com Email: support@songtive.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Note Trainer Lite at none against ChordIQ's 4. Note Trainer Lite also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 64%) and ratings volume (903 vs 220). ChordIQ's advantage is update cadence (every 11 days vs every 3 months). On price, rating, ads 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. ChordIQ sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Note Trainer Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Note Trainer Lite against 4.5 for ChordIQ. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 903 and 220 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 78% of Note Trainer Lite's written reviews are positive against 64% of ChordIQ's.
Note Trainer Lite ships an update every 3 months, ChordIQ every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Note Trainer Lite | ChordIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (903 ratings) — better | 4.5 (220 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.0% of reviews — better | 64.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 903 — better | 220 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.1 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 283 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | thoor software AB | Songtive |
Customer experience
Note Trainer Lite
ChordIQ
User reviews
Note Trainer Lite
From 903 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and interactive interface
- 🚀 Quick learning curve for note recognition
- 🎯 Effective for sight-reading improvement
- 💰 Robust free version with many features
- 🎧 USB adapter support for silent practice
Room to improve
- 🐛 Audio stops working after running in background
- ❌ Limited exercise variety for mixed staff positions
- ⚠️ Microphone input can be slow and tedious
- 📊 Lacks scale training exercises
ChordIQ
From 220 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎶 Helps with reading music
- 🎵 Great for beginners
- 💡 Affordable subscription
- 🏆 Fun competition/leaderboards
- 🎹 MIDI keyboard support
Room to improve
- 💸 Lifetime membership issues
- 🚫 Dead end in note names
- 😩 Stressful for kids
- 🎛️ Option to remove sharps/flats missing
- 🚫 Ukulele features broken
Bugs and requests
Note Trainer Lite
Reported bugs
2 issues- Sound stops playing after app runs in background (iPadOS 18.3.2)
- Microphone note detection is inconsistent and slow
Requested features
5 requests- Add scale training exercises
- Option to filter by treble clef only
- Option to filter by bass clef only
- Exercises combining notes on lines and spaces simultaneously
- Clef-specific practice modes
ChordIQ
Reported bugs
6 issues- App crashes on open
- Ukulele chord guessing game incorrect
- Ukulele games show six-string fingerboard
- Ads interrupt and lock up the app
- Intervals are incorrect, sometimes playing unselectable intervals
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Chord play mode only shows seventh chords
Requested features
7 requests- Option to remove sharps and flats
- Ability to switch back from note name to piano keys
- More advanced learning courses
- Option to replay sound
- Ability to skip questions
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Fix for chord play mode to include more chord types
- Training for third octave and small octave notes in treble clef
In-app purchases
Note Trainer Lite
No in-app purchases
ChordIQ
- One Week PRO$3.997 Days
- 1 Month Pro3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- 1 Year Pro3 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime$59.99








