Musical Ear Training & Test vs Functional Ear Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Musical Ear Training & Test
This application tests your musical ear by having you replicate generated sounds using your voice or an instrument. It then scores your accuracy, making it useful for music exam preparation, vocal training, and entertainment with friends.
- Tests musical ear capabilities
- Replicate sounds with vocals or instrument
- Measures sound correctness
- Provides scoring and points
- Useful for music exams
- Trains ear and vocal abilities
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This app tests your musical ear capabilities. It generates some sounds and waits you to repeat the correct sounds, by your vocals or any instrument. Then, it measures the correctness of your sounds and gives you points. You can use it * to study musical exams, * to train/test your ear and vocal capabilities at the same time * to have fun with friends
Functional Ear Trainer
Develop your musical ear by learning to recognize tones within the context of a specific musical key. This app helps you understand the function of each note, improving your ability to transcribe, improvise, and play music by ear. Suitable for all ages and skill levels, with just 10 minutes of daily practice.
- Recognize tones in musical key context
- Understand note function
- Improve transcription skills
- Enhance improvisation
- Develop perfect pitch
- Daily 10-minute practice
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Have you (or maybe one of your friends) ever wanted to learn to transcribe or play music by ear? It is so important for a musician to know what you are hearing. A good musical ear helps when you are composing, improvising, transcribing melodies, or playing with others. Most likely you have already tried different programs to learn to recognize intervals or even to acquire perfect pitch. However, although such programs develop your ear, but can you actually play any melody you hear as soon as you listen to it? Imagine you could understand music... It is like when somebody is talking to you, you not only hear pleasant sounds, but you recognize words and their meaning. One day I came across Alain Benbassat's program called "Functional Ear Trainer" and have been using it ever since. It is based on Alain's method to learn to recognize tones. The main difference between the Functional Ear Trainer and other methods is that it teaches you to distinguish between tones in the context of a particular musical key. You begin to recognize the role (or function) of each tone in this key, which is incredibly similar to its role in other keys of the same scale. And it is *guaranteed* anyone can gradually develop this skill. It does not matter: - who you are - an absolute beginner in music or a virtuoso professional musician; - how old you are - a 3 yo kid or a 90+ adult; - what musical instrument you play (you don't even have to play one). The only requirement is to practice for 10 minutes a day. I was so excited about this ear trainer that I have developed a mobile app based on the Alain Benbassat method. I hope you will find it useful.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Musical Ear Training & Test at none against Functional Ear Trainer's 1. Musical Ear Training & Test also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). Functional Ear Trainer's advantage is ratings volume (3.8K vs 3). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Functional Ear Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Musical Ear Training & Test asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Musical Ear Training & Test against 4.9 for Functional Ear Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Functional Ear Trainer has 3.8K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Musical Ear Training & Test ships an update every 13 months, Functional Ear Trainer every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Musical Ear Training & Test | Functional Ear Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.9 (3.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 96.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 3.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 7 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yasar Bozdag | Serhii Korchan |
Customer experience
Musical Ear Training & Test
Functional Ear Trainer
Bugs and requests
Musical Ear Training & Test
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Functional Ear Trainer
Reported bugs
2 issues- Keyboard display issues when selecting all chromatic notes
- Inconsistent note resolutions in some exercises
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for multiple notes/chords at once
- Implement a mode for training key recognition
- Provide more customization options for exercises
- Include voice input to play the notes
- Add support for German/Norwegian key names
In-app purchases
Musical Ear Training & Test
No in-app purchases
Functional Ear Trainer
- Functional Ear Trainer Plus$19.99
Questions
Is Musical Ear Training & Test free?
Is Functional Ear Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, Musical Ear Training & Test or Functional Ear Trainer?
Do Musical Ear Training & Test or Functional Ear Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Musical Ear Training & Test or Functional Ear Trainer?
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