Apps that actually listen to your lines (and the ones that just play audio)

“Listens to you” covers three different things in line-learning apps: playing audio with gaps, hearing when you have finished a line, and checking the words you said against the script. Most apps that listen today do the second, not the third. We make MasteringTheatre, which is in the third group; this page sorts the apps we checked on 6 October 2026, ours included, and gives a two-minute test you can run on any of them.

Actors · drama students · 6 min read · checked 6 Oct 2026

Why the difference matters

Running lines has two jobs: getting the cue on time, and finding out whether you said the line as written. A player handles neither by itself: it plays your recording on a fixed rhythm. A cue listener solves the first job: the scene waits for you, then moves. Only a word checker handles the second. If you paraphrase the middle of a speech but land the last word, a cue listener carries on happily, and the paraphrase follows you onto the stage.

Neither approach is wrong. For a self-tape tomorrow, a fast cue listener may be all you need. For a play where the writer's exact words matter, you want to know which words drifted.

Family 1: players (they do not hear you)

You record the scene and playback leaves room for your part. The two listings below mention no speech recognition.

• LineLearner (iOS, $3.99 once): you record the scene, choose to leave gaps for your part, and press a prompt button if you forget. Castmates can record and share their lines.
• Rehearsal Pro (iOS, $19.99 once): you record your lines and play them back while the script scrolls like a teleprompter, with a “blackout mode” to test yourself.

ActingPal also offers a timed rehearsal mode, where each line gets a set number of seconds, if you prefer a fixed rhythm.

Family 2: cue listeners (they hear when you stop)

These apps use speech recognition to detect the end of your line, then play the next one. Their listings describe the cue, not a word check:

• coldRead (iPhone, iPad, Mac): “When you say the very last word of your line (the cue), coldRead will ‘read’ the following line back to you.” Recognition happens on the device. Last App Store update: 3 December 2022.
• ActorCue (iOS): assign a cue word; “when ActorCue hears your cue, it instantly plays the reader's response”. It is built around a real reader's recorded audio, with text-to-speech as a stand-in.
• ScenePartner (web, iOS): “listens for your cues and speaks the other lines in real time.”
• Linus (iOS, Android, web): waits for your cue, “only responding when you've finished your line. Paraphrase when needed.”
• ActingPal (iOS, Android): “actively listens, recognises when you've finished your line, and responds naturally”.
• ActOnCue (iOS, web): “Listens and recognizes cues, and responds on cue.”
• Rehearsed (iPhone, web): “hears you land the end of the line, and the scene moves on its own”; it also counts how often you ask for a hint.

Family 3: word checkers (they compare what you said)

• Understudy (iOS): listens, detects when your line is complete, and shows “how close you are to being off book at the line level after every rehearsal”.
• blablabla (iOS, Android): Practice mode “listens for your line and advances automatically”, and the app tracks sessions including “deviations”. Its listing does not say how deviations are shown.
• MasteringTheatre (ours; Android, iOS): on-device recognition transcribes your line; you get a percentage of text accuracy per line, ≥ 90 % green, ≥ 70 % gold, red below. At the end of the scene, the review colours the words you missed or changed.

How MasteringTheatre decides a line is finished

Two ways. On every plan, step-by-step mode waits until you tap Validate. On Pro (€2.99/month; store prices vary by country), fluid mode validates after a silence you set, from 0.5 to 10 seconds (2 seconds by default), so the scene runs hands-free. Scoring forgives homophones at every level; by default it also accepts close-sounding words, and only the strict setting refuses them.

The two-minute test

Run this on a free tier or trial before paying:

1. Import a short scene and pick a role with a line of at least 15 words.
2. Say the line correctly. Note what the app does.
3. Say it again, swapping one word in the middle for a clearly different word, and keeping the last word.
4. Say it a third time, skipping the middle of the line but saying the end.

A player behaves the same all three times. A cue listener that keys on the end of the line moves on at steps 3 and 4 as if nothing happened. A word checker should show a lower result at steps 3 and 4. (In MasteringTheatre, a close-sounding swap can still pass on the default lenient setting; a clearly different word cannot.) That one test tells you which family you have, whatever the store page says. Prices and platforms for each app: best apps to run lines; if you are leaving ScenePartner: ScenePartner alternatives.

What MasteringTheatre does not do

Sources

All checked on 6 October 2026; quotations are from the maker's own page or listing.

• LineLearner: App Store listing id368070258.
• Rehearsal Pro: App Store listing id1116896197 (price, record and playback, blackout mode).
• coldRead: coldreadapp.com; App Store listing id1264354117.
• ActorCue: App Store listing id6479657608.
• ScenePartner: scenepartner.club.
• Linus: getlinus.app; App Store listing id6742599484.
• ActingPal: actingpal.com; App Store listing id6736730265.
• ActOnCue: actoncue.com.
• Rehearsed: rehearsed.app; App Store listing id6766136848.
• Understudy: get.understudy.app.
• blablabla: sayblablabla.com; App Store listing id6760597750.

This page describes the app as it was on 2026-10-06. A score measures text accuracy, not talent. Published 2026-10-06.