Best Ear Training Apps in 2026: Listening vs. Singing It Back

Transparency: This roundup is written by the Bloom Vocal team. Bloom Vocal is an AI vocal coaching app, not an ear-training app, and isn't a candidate in this comparison — we have no product in this category to promote. Pricing, ratings, and last-updated dates were verified against official sources as of 2026-08-01 and will drift over time; this list will be revisited quarterly. Check each app's current store listing before relying on any figure here.

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The Question Most Ear Training Roundups Skip

Open any "best ear training apps" list and you'll find the same six names — EarMaster, Functional Ear Trainer, Complete Ear Trainer, Tenuto, Teoria, Perfect Ear — arranged by star rating or feature count. That's a reasonable way to compare apps for musicians studying theory. It's a much weaker way to answer the question a singer is usually actually asking: will this help me sing in tune?

Here's the distinction that gets lost. Almost every app in this category is built on selection: you hear a sound, and you pick the right answer from a list, a keyboard, or a multiple-choice menu. That's a real skill — interval and chord recognition matter for musicianship — but it's not the same skill as reproduction: hearing a target pitch and matching it with your own voice. Being able to correctly click "major third" on a quiz doesn't mean you can sing a major third on command, and plenty of people can do one without the other. We go deeper into why that transfer gap exists, and what closes it, in our piece on getting ear training to actually apply to songs.

So instead of one ranked list, this roundup groups apps by how much of the workflow is microphone-based — because that's the axis that determines whether an app trains what a singer actually needs. There's also a research angle worth knowing before you pick a system: a 2025 study on solfège training (Frontiers in Education) found that movable-do systems, where scale degrees are labeled relative to the key rather than as fixed pitch names, build stronger relative-pitch and transposition skills than fixed-do systems — which matters more for singers who need to sing the same melody in different keys than for instrumentalists reading notated pitches. Whether an app lets you choose a movable notation system (scale degrees or solfège, rather than fixed note names) is a real differentiator, covered in our guide to solfège-based pitch training.

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At a Glance

Verified 2026-08-01. Prices and platforms change — confirm on the official store before buying.

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Mic-Based: Apps That Make You Sing What You Hear

This is the category most "best ear training app" lists don't have a slot for, because almost nothing on the market is built this way.

SingTrue is, as far as this research found, the only app that puts "hear it, then sing it back into the microphone" at the center of its workflow rather than treating it as one exercise among many selection-based ones. It's free to install with one-time in-app purchases ranging $7.99–$12.99, and it covers pitch matching, tone-deaf-style correction drills, and some foundational ear-recognition exercises. A professional review from Kent Tamplin Vocal Academy (updated 2025-01-29) is worth reading in full before you commit: it's positive on SingTrue as an entry point for people who genuinely struggle to match pitch, but notes the exercises don't deepen much once that baseline skill is in place — it's a good on-ramp, not a long-term training system. We could not confirm SingTrue's last update date from the developer or store listing, which is itself worth flagging for an app in this space; verify it's still actively maintained before buying the paid unlock. One naming note: SingTrue's parent company also produces Easy Ear Training content under Christopher Sutton — that's a related but separate brand from Musical U, reviewed below. Don't conflate the two when searching.

If your goal is closing the recognition-to-production gap specifically, rather than picking one app, our guide on building relative pitch as a beginner covers practice structures that work alongside any app in this list.

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Partial Mic: Selection-Based Core, Microphone Add-On

Perfect Ear is primarily a selection-based app — intervals, chords, scales, rhythm, and absolute pitch drills all work by picking the right answer — but it includes a genuine microphone feature: note-singing drills where you sing a target pitch back and the app scores your accuracy. That makes it a middle ground between pure quiz-style ear training and SingTrue's mic-first approach. It's free to install with a real subset of exercises unlocked, and additional content is sold as separate one-time purchases: Premium at $14.99, a Full Exercise Pack at $4.99, and individual topic packs at $0.99–$1.99 (official App Store pricing, checked 2026-08-01) — there's no subscription. The concerning detail is the update cadence: the last version we could confirm is v3.0.6, dated 2024-06-20, which puts it roughly two years stagnant as of this check. We're still including it because the note-singing feature is genuinely useful and the app remains functional, but don't assume active development — if a future update changes pricing or exercise scope, this listing may be outdated by the time you read it. We cover the full purchase map and exercise breakdown in our standalone Perfect Ear review.

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Selection-Based: Listen and Identify

These apps are the traditional model — you hear a sound and choose the answer. They're genuinely useful for building interval, chord, and scale recognition, which matters for sight-singing, transcription, and general musicianship. None of them include a microphone-based singing component, so treat them as a complement to vocal practice, not a substitute for it.

EarMaster is the reference point most other apps in this category get compared against. It ships across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and a web-based Cloud version, covering intervals, chords, scales, rhythm, and sight-singing, plus a dedicated ABRSM exam-prep add-on. Official pricing as of 2026-08-01: a One-Year All-Access Pass at $49.95, a Pro 7 perpetual license at $59.95, a Vocal Trainer add-on at $19.95, and Cloud/education tier pricing ranging $5.00–$21.50 depending on plan — there's also a reduced "free forever" version. One limitation worth knowing before buying: EarMaster's officially supported languages do not include Korean (Japanese is supported, Korean is not), so non-English speakers should confirm interface language before purchasing a paid tier.

Functional Ear Trainer is the strongest free option in this category. The core exercises — full functionality, not a trial — cost nothing; a Plus upgrade at $19.99 adds sound options and extras, though the developer has signaled that some features are moving toward a subscription model, so check current terms before assuming the free scope stays this generous. Its approach is distinctive and directly relevant to the movable-do research above: it plays a I-IV-V-I cadence to establish a key, then asks you to identify a single note by its scale degree, with a toggle between roman-numeral and solfège notation. That toggle is exactly the kind of movable-pitch-system flexibility the research points to as useful for singers working across different keys. It's actively maintained (v3.28.0, updated 2025-10-22, including iOS 26 support) and holds a 4.9/5 rating from roughly 3,700 App Store reviews as of this check.

Complete Ear Trainer covers a wide exercise set — 24 interval types, 36 chord types, 28 scales, melodic dictation, and harmonic progression drills — for a low one-time cost: free to install, $6.99 to unlock everything, with optional cloud sync at $0.99–$9.99. It's actively maintained, with the most recent confirmed version (v2.7.2) dated 2025-05-07.

Teoria is a web-based, completely free resource combining music theory lessons with ear-training modules. There's no app to install and no purchase anywhere on the site. We confirmed the site itself was active and reachable as of 2026-07-28; we couldn't verify a separate "last updated" date specifically for the ear-training modules, so treat the content as stable rather than frequently revised.

Tenuto, from the makers of musictheory.net, offers 24 practice types and 6 music calculators on iOS/iPadOS. It's a paid one-time app, but we could not confirm an exact current price from the official product page — third-party sources mention $4.99, but we were unable to verify that figure directly, so we're not presenting it as confirmed. We also could not confirm a last-updated date. If pricing accuracy matters to your decision, check the current App Store listing directly before buying.

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Niche: Membership and Exam-Specific Tools

Musical U isn't an app in the same sense as the others on this list — it's a web-based membership combining ear training, rhythm, and improvisation modules with community support and a personalized learning path across roughly 10 modules. Official pricing is $29.95/month, with additional instrument-specific packs at +$10/month each (confirmed on the official pricing page, checked 2026-08-01); we could not confirm whether an annual plan exists or what it costs, so budget based on the monthly figure only. Because it's a broader membership rather than a single-purpose app, we cover it in more depth separately — see our full Musical U review.

ABRSM Aural Trainer is worth knowing about only if you're specifically preparing for ABRSM graded music exams in the UK exam system — it is not a general-purpose ear-training app for singers or casual learners. The Lite version is free; Grades 1–3 or 4–5 packs cost £2.99, and the full Grades 1–5 pack is £4.99 (official pricing, checked 2026-08-01). Note that EarMaster also sells a separate ABRSM-specific add-on ($34.95 for the desktop version, or included in subscription tiers at $3.30–$5.50/month) if you'd rather stay inside one app for both general ear training and exam prep.

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Excluded: An App You'll Still See Recommended, But Shouldn't Use

Toned Ear shows up on several older "best ear training apps" roundups, and as of this check it shouldn't. Its Android build was removed from Google Play entirely on 2024-01-21, and the last confirmed real update to the app predates that by years — 2018-04-12. An iOS listing technically still exists, but the developer (Tone Savvy LLC) has not submitted required Apple privacy details, and user reviews describe an unresolved bug where the app freezes when tapping "hear next" or "hear again" during quizzes. We're calling this out specifically because other roundups still list it as current — if you see Toned Ear recommended in a 2026 "best of" list elsewhere, treat that as a signal the list hasn't been refreshed recently.

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Which Category Should You Actually Use?

• You want to sing more accurately, and selection-based drills haven't translated into better singing: start with SingTrue's mic-based workflow, and don't expect it to replace structured practice once basic pitch-matching clicks — pair it with a routine like the one in our relative pitch beginner's guide.
• You want a middle ground — quiz-style drills plus some singing practice: Perfect Ear's note-singing feature covers this, with the caveat that the app hasn't been meaningfully updated since mid-2024.
• You're a musician or instrumentalist who wants rigorous interval/chord/scale recognition, and singing transfer isn't the primary goal: EarMaster is the most complete option; Functional Ear Trainer is the strongest free one, especially if you want the flexibility of scale-degree or solfège notation over fixed pitch names.
• You want zero cost and don't mind a web-only interface: Teoria.
• You're preparing for a specific graded exam: go straight to ABRSM Aural Trainer or EarMaster's ABRSM add-on rather than a general app.

Whatever you pick, remember the core limitation that applies across this entire category except SingTrue and Perfect Ear's note-singing mode: correctly identifying a sound is not the same skill as reproducing it with your voice. If ear training alone hasn't moved your singing accuracy, that's not necessarily a sign you're "tone deaf" — see our breakdown of what the research actually says about pitch matching difficulty and our common mistakes that block pitch accuracy progress before assuming the problem is you rather than the training method.

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Sources

• EarMaster — official site and version comparison — accessed 2026-08-01
• Perfect Ear (App Store) — accessed 2026-08-01
• Complete Ear Trainer (App Store) — accessed 2026-08-01
• Functional Ear Trainer (App Store) — accessed 2026-08-01
• Toned Ear (App Store) — accessed 2026-08-01
• Teoria — ear training and music theory — accessed 2026-08-01
• Musical U — membership pricing — accessed 2026-08-01
• Kent Tamplin Vocal Academy — SingTrue review — accessed 2026-08-01 (review last updated by author 2025-01-29)
• ABRSM Aural Trainer — official app page — accessed 2026-08-01
• Frontiers in Education — fixed-do vs. movable-do solfège research (2025) — accessed 2026-08-01

Note: Tenuto's exact price, EarMaster's per-platform "last updated" date, ABRSM Aural Trainer's update history, and SingTrue's last-update date could not be confirmed from official sources as of this check. Those gaps are called out directly in the sections above rather than presented as confirmed figures — verify current pricing and version status on the official store listing before purchasing.

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This roundup was written by the Bloom Vocal team. Bloom Vocal builds AI-driven vocal training software, not an ear-training app, and is not evaluated as a candidate in this comparison. Pricing, ratings, and update dates were verified against the sources listed above as of 2026-08-01 and may change — check each app's official listing before subscribing or purchasing. This post does not constitute professional music-education advice.