Comparison

Relative vs Active Ear

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Relative

Develop your musical ear with this solfege-based ear training app. Learn to recognize musical intervals and play by ear, essential for improvisation and jam sessions. Offers graduated training and pitch name input for absolute pitch practice.

Highlights
  • Relative-Do solfege training
  • Interval recognition
  • Absolute pitch practice
  • Customizable scale degrees and octaves
  • Multi-note training
  • Streak counter
Features
Read full description

**** Check out our new Sight-Singing app, on 25% off launch sale through September! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sight-singing-trainer/id1028696567 **** ** Combined remove adds and unlock advanced features including multi-note and UI customization in-app purchase now only $2.99! ** This is an ear training app made by a musician for musicians. Whether you play jazz, pop, classical, or any other style, the relative-Do solfege approach is basically the only effective relative pitch approach that allows you to play anything you hear by ear. Interval training, while helpful in a way, is way too slow to apply extensively in a practical manner. The method of recognizing the 12 solfege syllables: do, di/ra, re, ri/me, mi, fa, fi/se, so, si/le, la, li/te, ti based on their characteristic sound against a tonal/key center is widely taught in conservatories. Short of having perfect pitch, this is basically the only way to keep up in improvisations and jam sessions. This training won't be easy. As anyone teaching this method will tell you, it will usually take at least months or even years of hard work, but once you succeed, you'll just be able to play anything by ear. This app aims to provide a graduated training ramp up that will hopefully make the process easier. This app can also help practice absolute pitch by using the pitch name input mode instead of relative-do solfege syllables. Features: · Play reference cadence in any key to train in any key, major or minor · Ramp up starting with one note and work up to eight notes together or played in series · Customizable settings to train specific scale degrees or octaves · Streak counter to track progress · Practice using solfege syllables, scale degree numbers, or pitch names

About

Active Ear

Develop your musical ear with a comprehensive ear training app. It offers various exercises to help musicians identify pitches, intervals, chords, and progressions. Customize your learning with practice modes and test your knowledge with quizzes.

Highlights
  • Pitch Recognition
  • Interval Training
  • Chord Quality Identification
  • Bassline Training
  • Progression Training
  • Chord Inversions
  • Customizable Practice Mode
  • Quiz Mode
Features
Read full description

Active Ear is for musicians of all skill levels and instrument types. With dozens of exercises ranging from beginner to advanced, Active Ear focuses on teaching you to identify pitches, intervals, chords, and progressions using only your Ear. The Practice Mode of the app allows you to customize the challenges to focus only on areas you're interested in improving. Once you're confident with the Practice Mode, you test yourself in the Quiz Mode of the app to see how well you understand the concepts. Active Ear Comes with six Ear Training Programs: -
Pitch Recognition -
Interval Training -
Chord Quality -
Bassline Training
 -
Progression Training
 - Chord Inversions

Screenshots

Relative4 screens
Active Ear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Active Ear at none against Relative's 1. Active Ear also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 60%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). Relative's advantage is iOS requirement (7.1 vs 15.1). On price, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Relative sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Active Ear asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Active Ear holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 50 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Relative's written reviews are positive against 94% of Active Ear's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Relative ships an update every 4 months, Active Ear monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Relative versus Active Ear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRelativeActive Ear
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (66 ratings)4.7 (50 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews93.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings66 — better50
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS7.1 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size127 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRichard FooMCPHERSON'S MUSIC LLC

Customer experience

Relative

All ratings64 ratings
Positive82.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative14.1%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative36.0%

Active Ear

All ratings50 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.3%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Relative

One-time1
  • Unlock Advanced Features + Remove Ads$2.99
None

Active Ear

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Relative free?
Relative is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Active Ear free?
Active Ear is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Relative or Active Ear?
Active Ear is rated higher. Relative averages 4.3 out of 5 from 66 ratings, while Active Ear averages 4.7 from 50 ratings.
Do Relative or Active Ear have ads?
Neither Relative nor Active Ear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Relative or Active Ear?
Relative ships an update every 4 months, and Active Ear monthly. Most recently, Relative was updated on October 24, 2026 and Active Ear on October 21, 2026.

Other comparisons