Frequently asked questions
Clear answers about the Coco ear-training app, from first session to daily challenges, CPI, subscriptions, audio, and account support.
Coco is a daily ear-training app for musicians. It helps you recognize notes, intervals, chords, scales, and pitch by ear through short, focused listening sessions. You hear something, answer quickly, get scored honestly, and come back the next day to keep building real listening skill.
Coco is built for adult musicians who want better ears: singers, producers, guitarists, pianists, composers, songwriters, DJs, and music students. It works equally well for beginners who know they need ear training but find traditional drills dry, and for intermediate players who want faster recognition of intervals, chords, and scales.
No. Early levels start with very few options - major vs. minor, a handful of notes, the largest interval out of three - and gradually expand. The first time you meet a new chord quality or interval, you'll see its name and hear it before you're tested on it.
No. Coco only requires your ears and a tap. Headphones are recommended for accuracy, especially for chord and harmonic-interval games, but you don't need a keyboard, guitar, or microphone.
Coco trains practical listening skill - relative pitch, chord recognition, scale color, interval size, and pitch memory. We don't promise perfect pitch, and any app that does should be treated with skepticism. What you can expect is sharper recognition and faster reactions over time, with consistent daily practice.
Most sessions are 10 to 25 questions and take a few minutes. Coco is designed for short, focused practice rather than long marathon drills.
You hear a note, interval, chord, scale, or tone. You see answer choices. You tap before time runs out - usually within 8 to 20 seconds depending on the level. Correct answers turn green and advance quickly. Wrong answers turn red and reveal the correct answer so you learn from the miss. Timeouts count as missed.
Most levels give you 2-3 lives. Each wrong answer or timeout costs one life. Run out of lives and the session ends. Lives reset every time you start a session - they are a per-session mechanic, not a daily budget.
You need to hit the level's accuracy threshold, usually 80%, by the end of the session. Pass and you earn stars. Miss the threshold and you can try again.
One star means "you made it." Three stars means "you mastered it cleanly."
Coco is designed to be honest. Letting you retry a single question would inflate scores and hide real weak spots. The stats you see are the ear you actually have right now, which is the only useful signal for improvement.
Sessions are short on purpose so pausing rarely matters. If you leave the app mid-session, the session ends. Your accuracy on questions answered is preserved in your history, but the session won't count as a pass.
Seven core games, each focused on a specific listening skill:
Descending intervals can feel different from ascending ones, even when the size is the same. A descending minor sixth doesn't sit in the ear like an ascending minor sixth. Splitting them into two games means you train the direction most people neglect alongside the one they already know.
Climb asks you to name an interval. Span asks you to compare intervals - which of three is widest. Span builds intuitive size perception without leaning on memorized labels, which is why it's a useful complement to Climb and Fall rather than a replacement.
A pure tone plays for a moment and then fades. After a brief pause, you drag a dial up or down to match the pitch you remember. The closer your match, the higher the score. There are no answer buttons - it's a continuous, tactile pitch-memory exercise.
Yes. The seven listed above are the current core set. The game library expands over time as new skill areas become a priority.
Levels are generated from rules, not pre-written question lists. As you advance, levels add more answer options, more chromatic notes, wider octave ranges, faster time limits, more questions per session, fewer lives, and harder-to-distinguish sounds. The progression is precise, not random.
Each game has its own progression with multiple levels. The number grows over time. You unlock the next level by passing the current one.
Yes. Replays are good for chasing 3 stars, recovering CPI in a domain you haven't touched in a while, or just getting reps on a sound you want to lock in.
CPI stands for Coco Proficiency Index. It's a 0-5,000 skill score that represents how strong your ear is right now across notes, intervals, chords, and scales. Coco shows you an overall CPI plus a separate CPI for each domain.
Mostly accuracy. Speed, lives kept, your longest in-session streak, and level difficulty all contribute. Sessions are also compared against your own historic performance on that level - beating your usual score moves CPI up. Playing different games in the same domain within a week gives a small variety bonus.
CPI reflects current proficiency, so it can move up or down. The most common reasons it drops:
No. CPI means current proficiency. It goes up and down and answers "How strong is my ear right now?" Experience means lifetime effort. It only increases and answers "How much have I trained over time?"
No. CPI is a product skill index based on your performance inside Coco. It's a useful, honest signal for tracking your own progress over time - not a clinical or academic credential.
Complete at least one session on a given day and your streak grows by one. Skip a day and the streak resets. Streaks use your local calendar day, so it doesn't matter what time zone you're in.
Any completed game session, daily workout pick, or daily challenge counts.
A short, personalized practice plan for the day. Coco picks a small set of games, usually 1-3, based on what you've been training and where your ear could use a push. You can complete them in any order.
A single shared challenge that's the same for every player on a given day. You get one shot. The same questions, the same time limits, the same chance to do well. It's designed for repeatable daily play and easy comparison with friends.
No. The daily challenge is once per day by design. The next one appears tomorrow.
Your streak resets, but your progress, levels, stars, and Experience are all preserved. You can pick up exactly where you left off.
Free users can play every game in the lineup. Early levels in each game are unlocked, and you can build a daily habit, track stats, complete daily workouts, and join the daily challenge. Daily session limits apply.
Coco Pro unlocks unlimited daily practice with no session caps, access to the full level progression in every game, and the complete game library as it grows.
Coco Pro is a subscription. Pricing and trial details are shown inside the app at the time of purchase, and your subscription is managed through your App Store account.
Subscriptions are managed through your Apple ID on iOS or Google account on Android. Cancel anytime from your device's subscription settings - Coco doesn't gate or delay cancellations.
No. Your levels, stars, streaks, CPI, Experience, and history all stay on your account. You'll just be limited to the free tier going forward.
Refund requests go through Apple or Google directly, depending on where you bought the subscription. Coco can't issue refunds for purchases made through the App Store or Google Play.
Yes. Coco is an ear-training app - it's audio-first. The app does not currently support a hearing-impaired mode.
Headphones are recommended, especially for chord and harmonic-interval games where pitch separation matters. Phone speakers work for casual practice but can blur close intervals and complex chords.
Yes. Notation preference can be set in the app settings.
Coco uses high-quality piano samples by default. The sound preference can be adjusted in settings.
Yes. An account is required to save progress, sync across devices, and keep your CPI and streak intact. Sign-up is quick and free.
Yes. Sign in with the same account and your progress, subscription, and stats sync across devices.
Yes. Account deletion is supported from inside the app. Deleting your account removes your profile and associated training data.
Most of the listening flow runs locally once content is loaded, but session results are submitted to the backend, so a connection is needed to record progress, update CPI, and pull daily content.
Streaks use your local calendar day. If you traveled across time zones, your "yesterday" may have shifted. Open a support ticket with the dates and time zones involved and we'll take a look.
Force-close and reopen the app first. If that doesn't refresh your status, sign out and back in - that triggers a fresh subscription check. If you're still stuck, contact support with your purchase receipt.
Check your device volume, Bluetooth connection, and any active EQ apps. If the issue is reproducible on a specific level or game, please report it - it helps us diagnose audio engine issues quickly.
That's a useful signal. Try the level just before it again to confirm the prior skill is locked in. If you keep hitting the same wall on the same level, drop us a note - level difficulty is something we tune based on real player data.
Email us at hi@cocomusic.app. We read every message. Feedback from active users shapes the roadmap directly - new games, level pacing, and difficulty tuning have all been adjusted based on player input.
Coco is designed for adult musicians and music students. The interface, vocabulary, and pacing assume a serious learner rather than a young child. There's no kid-specific mode at the moment.
Coco is available on iOS and Android worldwide. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/it/app/ear-training-for-musicians/id6757191153. Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marcosantonocito.coco&hl=en.
Coco is currently available in English. Italian, Spanish, French, German, and additional Asian languages are in progress and will roll out in upcoming updates.