A third above what?

An interval tells you how far one note is from another. A scale degree tells you where a note lives in the key and where it wants to go. Both are real skills, and they answer different questions — but a song is not a chain of isolated pairs, it circles a home note. That is why people who can name every interval can still be lost inside a melody.

“A major third.”

Interval training. True — and it says nothing about where either note sits in the key.

“Mi — settled and bright, the note that makes the key major.”

Hark. The same sound, named by where it sits and where it pulls.

A cadence or a drone sets the tonic. A note sounds. You answer on the ladder. Then the note steps home to Do and you hear the pull rather than read about it.

What training looks like

A session: the answered degree fills with its own colour, the note sits on the staff, the ladder shows La. — Single degrees, from Do and Sol to all twelve. The staff spells the note the way the key spells it.

The walk home: Fa answered, and Do lights up gold at the bottom of the ladder. — Every answer walks home. The rungs light in time with the sound, down to the tonic.

Home screen with the map of the ear: seven degrees, each with its own colour and accuracy. — Your map: accuracy by degree and chord, and the pairs your ear mixes up.

Hands-free training: a large answer, Ti, and a timer, designed to be listened to rather than watched. — Hands-free: the phone in your pocket, the answer spoken aloud, on a walk or in the car.

Explore: the full ladder in C major, Mi held down and sounding, with its character below. — Explore: hold any degree in any key and just listen. No score, no history.

Melodies and chords in the key use the same ladder — short phrases to name in order, and I, IV, V and the rest heard by function rather than by shape.

Monthly, yearly or once

Monthly: US$3.99; a month
Yearly: US$11.99; a year
Once: US$19.99; keep it for good

The app is free to install, and Hark Pro is the same whichever way you pay. Monthly and yearly start with a one-week free trial for eligible customers — one trial across both — then renew at the price shown in the app until you cancel in your Apple Account settings, at least 24 hours before the trial or the current period ends. The one-time purchase never renews, and it does not cancel a subscription you already have. The free half stays free, with no daily cap and no timers.

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Start training free The free half needs no purchase and no account.

Free teaches the habit in major keys. Pro takes the same ear into minor, chromatic notes, longer melodies and full progressions.

Free, for good

Five degree levels in C major, up to two octaves
Melodies and chords in C major
The first progression level
Hands-free training and Explore
The staff, and a week of statistics

Hark Pro

Chromatic degrees and minor keys
Three octaves, any key
Seven chords, sevenths, progressions
Melodies up to five notes
Custom drills and the full map

Learn

Four pieces on the skill itself, written for people teaching themselves. No sign-up, nothing gated.

How to learn to play music by ear — a practical route, with exercises for a keyboard.
Scale degrees: how to hear what a note is doing — what each degree feels like, and why a cadence comes first.
How to find the key of a song by ear — hum, match, confirm with a cadence, and tell major from its relative minor.
Relative and absolute pitch: what the difference is — two different skills that answer different questions, and what the research actually says about learning each.

Support

I bought Hark Pro and it is not there

Open Settings and tap Restore purchases. Pro — a subscription or the one-time purchase — is tied to the Apple Account that bought it, so check the device is signed in with that one. If it still does not appear, write and include the purchase date.

Cancelling a subscription

Subscriptions are handled by Apple: tap Manage subscription in Hark's Settings, or open your Apple Account's subscriptions in the iPhone's Settings. Cancel at least 24 hours before the free trial or the current period ends. Pro stays until the paid period is over, and your progress stays on the phone either way. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.

Training with the screen off

Tap Hands-free on the home screen, or the headphone icon beside any level. Hark plays the key, then a note, waits for you, and says the answer aloud. Lock the phone and keep walking — the headphone buttons pause and skip.

The sound plays on silent

On purpose. An ear trainer that obeys the silent switch is a broken ear trainer. The instruments are real samples (FluidR3, CC BY 3.0); attribution and links are in Settings, under About.

Languages

English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Korean — with the syllables and note letters each one actually uses: Si rather than Ti in the Romance languages and Russian, H and B in German.

Where your data lives

On your phone. Hark has no account and no third-party trackers, so your training history has nowhere else to be. A few usage events, carrying a random installation identifier rather than anything about you, tell us whether the app works, and the privacy policy lists every one of them.