Leave a Review iCircuit
Has issues...
Nice idea, alright GUI but the simulation is pants. None of the chips seem to have a GND (Vss, 0v, whatever's you'd call it) pin, which seems illogical considering its measuring current going through the chip but how can it when there's no pin to complete the circuit?! The oscilloscope simply doesn't work. I made a circuit with a 555 timer and, in theory and in practice, it produces a 31KHz signal at 60% duty cycle; the app shows 125Hz and seemingly 50% cycle. A simple led flashing bar doesn't work either. You set up your 555 timer and counter chips and the app gets confused at which output to turn on and it all ends up as a mess! Lots of the time the voltage colours disappear completely, or for some reason it shows the negative, red, instead of the positive, green. Errors appear saying simply "Singular Matrix" which means nothing to someone without a degree in either maths or electrical engineering. LED colours seem to get stuck, even with the power off, and current is shown going the wrong way through the led. Overall a nice idea, but in practice it still needs a lot of work.Show lessGoy2304
It's good
The app works fine however there may be some glitches with the power calculation, tried a basic astable oscillator circuit and every so and often it would say the LED dissipates 5 or so gigawattWFleete
Great app to test circuit ideas
Once I got used to the way this app works I found it very useful to test out circuits before bread boarding them. It saved me countless components. Exceeding component design limits in the app does not fry the component!
It does crash occasionally but so far has maintained the circuit in the form it was just prior to the crash. It crashes most frequently when changing components when simulating. Stopping simulating alleviates crashes and may stop them altogether but I haven't exhaustively tried that.
For the price, this is a great app - well engineered with a good user interface once mastered. The range of components is OK and I hope that more will be added, I could do with a synchronous up/down counter with pre-load, but maybe with effort I could make one.
I wasn't too sure about buying this at first as it seemed to be a more expensive app, but I'm really glad I did.Show lessOldsirhippy
Excellent learning tool
I am enjoying the usability of this ap. Not so complicated as the spice model as far as flipping back and forth through simulation data. Instead the the simulation takes place as you build the circuit, so you can see how the different components interact. The use of the meter and the scope is genius.
The only nocks against this app are the limited component library and the fact that you can't move the meter scope leads from an a-b configuration to say a and c in an a,b,c,d circuit. You can do a-b, b-c, c-d, and d-a, but to go from two points that aren't right next to each other, is a no go. This however does not seem to limit the app as much as you would think as you can display all the readings on every part of the circuit at the same time. So you can see instantly the pertinent numbers.Show lessSlnies
Exceptional
This is really very good. Ideal for the model railway enthusiast like myself. Since moving to an iMac and iPad from a PC, I have been looking for a replacement for 'Circuit Wizard' which I have used for some years.
Since getting iCircuit, I have been able to design and build circuits for controllers, lighting, diode matrix point control, even real time UK traffic light sequencing using this app.
The only advantage 'Circuit Wizard' has, which would really add to the already great functionality of iCircuit, is the ability to automatically convert a circuit to a well laid out PCB which can then be printed out and used as a photo etch stencil.
Add that ability to iCircuit and this will knock spots off any similar app.
This is still absolutely great value for money. Top marks from me. Keep the development coming.Show lessMaximillian the Great
Great app. Easy to use. Functional. Mostly complete.
I'm an Electrical Engineering student and lab assistant. For my job as a lab assistant, this app is great for demonstrations to the new students. It is also great for hobbyist applications. I really appreciate the simplicity of the user interface. It's really easy to use and I love the included oscilloscope and DMM. Way easier to use than several programs that I've tried previously. The biggest downside that this program has is that you can't create your own symbols. For most of my applications I require the ability to take a full sheet, turn it into a symbol and include that symbol in another schematic. This app is entirely devoid of that option, insofar as I am aware. That is the one feature I wish this app had that it is lacking. Other than that, it's a wonderfully well made app.Show lessonemoorefamily
Accuracy and support concerns
My initial impressions of this app are that it's probably the best circuit simulator currently available for IOS, but that I can't be confident of the results. Based upon my understanding of transformer primary and secondary winding currents displayed on the simulator's scope, power does not appear to be conserved across the windings as it should be. I may be misinterpreting the scope readings. I emailed the developer, but I've received no reply. The user forum is a great means by which users can share insights and help each other, but many questions go unanswered, and the developer rarely posts responses. This app has great potential, and I'm happy to have supported its developer by purchasing it. But my initial experience suggests that simulation results should be carefully scrutinized and that prospects for getting assistance are limited.Show lessBtipf
Great tool but has lots of bugs...
Great for testing circuit designs and setting up arduino projects but this app really lets you down when trying to use the scope function and It continually crashes.
Will be very happy having payed 10 buck when bugs are fixed...Not impressed,iTunes.
Worth the price.
I got this to teach myself electronics. So far, so good. The app has a great user interface -- it seemed easy and intuitive to figure out for me, and I'm a total noob when it comes to the subject of electronics. Kudos on that!
This isn't a criticism, but I'd say there is room improvement in this app, like the addition of a shared online library of user-created circuits with a rating system and comments, etc. More different micro-controllers and other gizmos to plop down. Wouldn't it be cool if you could put in a Mouser or Digikey part number and have it create the item into your circuit directly? There's some potential ad revenue in that! And a few further refinements to usability, stability, etc. which are already good but there's always room to improve.Show lessdarkgoob
Great but still a bit buggy
It's fantastic, probably the most intuitive circuit simulator on the market, but it's still quite buggy here and there. Has great potential to be the go to tool for universities.dcalvs
