Functional Ear Trainer

In-app purchases
4.8
21K reviews
1M+
Downloads
Content rating
PEGI 3
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About this app

Ear training can be easy and fun! With a right approach.

Have you (or 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 ā€œFunctional Ear Trainerā€ and have been using it ever since. It is based on Alain's ear training 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 an Android app based on the Alain Benbassat method. I hope you will find it useful.

Download this app right now, and have fun with your ear training!
Updated on
May 24, 2025

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
This app may collect these data types
Location, Personal info and 4 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

4.8
19.7K reviews
Nick Chesterton
October 15, 2024
Simple, intuitive, clean... effective! I am loving the app. Paid version is worth it: you can listen and watch hands-free and just train mentally if your hands are busy with dishes, etc. And you can listen to harmonic intervals from the very start and get good at distinguishing multiple notes at the same time. The approach is very purposeful and it works for me! I'm glad you made the app. Thank you. :)
19 people found this review helpful
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Kaizen9 Apps
October 15, 2024
Thanks so much for your kind words, Nick! I'm glad you enjoy the app!
A Google user
March 11, 2020
This app is absolutely worth it! But I'd love to see more variability in the Custom Level feature: 1. I want to be able to name my levels. 2. I want to bundle them, like the major and minor courses are bundled. 3. I really want to practice in more modes and strange scales. Therefore it'd be great if I could CREATE scales, so the representation of e.g. the Dorian mode would look different. Like the major representation is different to minor. In my opinion premium is just too expensive. Thanks!
9 people found this review helpful
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Kaizen9 Apps
March 11, 2020
Thank you for your review and valuable suggestions!
Donna Welsh
April 8, 2025
I am a senior (not yet 90+) interested in preserving/sustaining my hearing and appreciation of classical music as long as possible. I hope practicing for 10 min./ day will allow me to enjoy recordings and live performance for years with no hearing aids. I dislike electronically generated sound. It lacks richness, is tinny . . . However, I am thankful for this app.
2 people found this review helpful
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Kaizen9 Apps
April 8, 2025
Dear Donna, I'm really touched by your motivation to keep improving yourself — it's truly inspiring! To help set up the sound correctly, please tap the gear icon at the top right of the main menu, go to Audio Settings, and try toggling "MMAP" and "Low latency audio" off and on. I hope this helps to get the sound working properly.

What’s new

*** If you like Functional Ear Trainer, please take the time to give it a nice review: it really helps.
– Payment accounts: verification via 6-digit code, password update, and email update.
– Bug fixes and stability improvements.