Pitch trainer vs Functional Ear Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pitch trainer
Develop perfect and relative pitch with this ear training app focused on just intonation. Learn to identify and match harmonic intervals by ear, moving beyond equal temperament. Ideal for musicians and singers seeking precise intonation.
- Just intonation ear training
- Perfect and relative pitch development
- Double-stop note learning
- Harmonic interval matching
- Beat-based tone adjustment
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Hear a chord, then build it yourself. No multiple choice: slide your finger until your note locks in with the others. 18 ear training games for intervals, chords, relative pitch, play by ear, sight reading and rhythm. Warm up your ears before singing, band, orchestra, choir, guitar or piano practice. Most ear trainers ask you to pick the right answer. Harmonize asks you to make it. A friendly shrimp plays the example; you slide your finger up and down the screen to bend your own note toward it. When it is slightly off you hear beats, a slow wobble in the sound. When the wobble disappears and the notes melt together, you have found it. No music theory needed. ■ New here? Start with the Tutorial The Tutorial card on the home screen walks you through it: hold, slide, listen for the wobble, stop when it melts. The green button replays the example as often as you like. ■ Build the interval - Double Stop: add a second note on top of a reference. Octave, perfect fifth, major third and more - Chords: take one role inside a three-note chord and hold your part - Moon: a slow, low-gravity version of Double Stop for advanced ears - Low Register: the real bass range, so low that a phone speaker cannot reproduce the fundamental; you read the pitch from its overtones - Drone: like a bagpipe, a drone sounds the whole time. Tune shifts and phrases over it, one note at a time, until the beating stops - Trill: hold one finger down and press/lift with another. 6 fingerings x 36 exercises ■ Read the score - Sight Reading: read the notes on the staff and answer on the two-row keyboard. The white keys are labeled with their note names, so you can count lines and spaces even if sheet music is new to you. 10 categories, 200 levels, 1,140 exercises - Bass Clef: the same game on the bass staff, for bass guitar, cello and the piano's left hand ■ Rhythm - Rhythm: tap along with the scrolling score - Polyrhythm: two different pulses at once, one per hand - Mimic Taiko: call and response on Japanese taiko drums. Hear a pattern, play it back - Silent: the sound stops. Count the seconds in your head and tap at the right moment ■ Listen and remember - Play by Ear: reproduce the melody you heard on the keyboard. 9 categories, 129 levels, 516 phrases - Scales: hear a scale, then rebuild it one note at a time - Arpeggios: hear a broken chord and pinpoint each chord tone - Harmonics: a string's fundamental plays, then one of its overtones. Name the note it becomes - Memory: a sound version of the classic card-matching game. Flip takoyaki (Japanese octopus balls) and find the two that ring alike - Goldfish Scoop: a festival game from Japan. An example sound plays; scoop the swimming goldfish that sings in the same tone ■ Tools - Weekly Challenge: 5 tasks that change every week, with the example played only once. 3 runs per week, ranked on a Game Center weekly leaderboard - Metronome - Tuner: live readout in cents through the mic ■ Under the hood - 14 instrument sounds to choose from, plus 5 bass instruments for the Low Register stage - Reference A from 440 to 446 Hz - Note names in English, German, Japanese or Italian - Rhythm games calibrate audio latency for your device - Judged against just intonation, so it carries straight over to choir, wind band, orchestra and ensemble work - Tutorial for first-timers ■ Made for - Singers who want to stop drifting off pitch - Anyone training relative pitch - Players who want to pick up tunes by ear - Musicians chasing that moment when your note locks into the chord ■ About ads and purchases Free to start, with ads. Remove Ads is a one-time purchase that turns off both banner and full-screen ads. Extra content is also a one-time purchase; there is no monthly subscription. Reinstalled the app or switched devices? Tap Settings > Restore Purchases to bring your purchases back. ■ Languages Japanese, English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)
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 ads: Functional Ear Trainer at none against Pitch trainer's shown. Functional Ear Trainer also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.4) and review sentiment (96% vs 68%). Pitch trainer's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 7 months). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Pitch trainer sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Functional Ear Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Functional Ear Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Functional Ear Trainer has 3.8K ratings behind it against 416, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Pitch trainer's written reviews are positive against 96% of Functional Ear Trainer's.
Pitch trainer ships an update every 3 days, Functional Ear Trainer every 7 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Pitch trainer | Functional Ear Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (416 ratings) | 4.9 (3.8K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.3% of reviews | 96.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 416 | 3.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Toshihiko Arai | Serhii Korchan |
Customer experience
Pitch trainer
Functional Ear Trainer
Bugs and requests
Pitch trainer
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
Pitch trainer
- Buy a coffee$4.99
- Unlock Moon Stage$4.99
- Unlock all Rhythm stages$4.99
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- Support generously$9.99
- Unlock All PRO Features$9.99
- Remove Ads$9.99
- Support a lot$29.99
Functional Ear Trainer
- Functional Ear Trainer Plus$19.99
Questions
Is Pitch trainer free?
Is Functional Ear Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, Pitch trainer or Functional Ear Trainer?
Do Pitch trainer or Functional Ear Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pitch trainer or Functional Ear Trainer?
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