Coco vs Functional Ear Trainer

Coco is an ear-training app for musicians, offering short listening exercises to develop recognition of notes, intervals, chords, scales, and pitch. Its seven games are Sonar, Triad, Climb, Fall, Ladder, Span, and Sound. Rules generate game levels that can introduce more answer options, chromatic notes, wider octave ranges, faster play, and greater difficulty as players advance.

The Daily Workout selects a personalized set of usually one to three games based on practice history and areas to improve. The Daily Challenge instead gives every player the same questions and time limits for the day, with one attempt. Coco is available on Android, iOS, and in a web browser. An account is needed to save progress and sync statistics across devices. Most listening runs locally after content loads, but an internet connection is needed to submit results, update the proficiency index, and retrieve daily content. Coco requires sound and does not currently support a hearing-impaired mode; headphones are recommended for chord and harmonic-interval games. The free plan has daily session limits. Coco Pro offers unlimited daily practice and full progression, with pricing shown in the app at purchase.

Functional Ear Trainer is an ear-training app built around hearing tones in the context of a musical key. Its method asks users to recognize each tone’s function within that key, with exercises and audio tools intended to improve musical ear and understanding of music theory. The app listing describes it as suitable for beginners through professional musicians and says playing an instrument is not required. The maker recommends 10 minutes of daily practice. Features listed in the App Store version history include Melodic Dictations, Sound Plugins and Listener Mode. The app is available on Android, iOS, macOS and Windows, and is free to download, though some features may need a recurring subscription or one-time payment. Functional Ear Trainer is listed at free; Functional Ear Trainer Plus is listed at $19.99, paid once, with no detail on what it unlocks. Subscriptions and trials must be cancelled at least 24 hours before the current period or trial ends to avoid a charge. The service is intended for users aged 16 or older; minors require parental permission and supervision. Support is listed at [email protected].