# Circuit Playground — user reviews > 114 indexed App Store user reviews of Circuit Playground by Adafruit Industries, rated 4.30/5 from 19 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/circuit-playground/id492487671/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/circuit-playground/id492487671.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 11 · 4★ 6 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 1 ## What do users think of Circuit Playground? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Clean, intuitive, easy-to-use interface - 🚀 Fast load times and responsive performance - 📚 Comprehensive reference tools and calculators - 🎯 Resistor and capacitor color code tools - 📍 Useful pinout references for various boards - 💡 LED resistor calculator - 📊 Ohm's Law and circuit calculators - 📄 Datasheet storage and reference feature - 🎓 Great for beginners and hobbyists - ⭐ Well-designed and visually appealing - 🔧 Handy workbench companion - 💰 Good value with Adafruit coupon integration **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues - ⚠️ Outdated and needs regular updates - ❌ Limited calculator functionality and flexibility - 🎨 Poor visual design in some areas - 📱 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions - 💸 Expensive for the feature set offered - 🔧 Calculators don't work smoothly - 📊 Limited coverage of Ohm's Law - 🚫 Cannot simulate circuits - ❓ Confusing datasheet management **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes when opening multiple capacitors section - LED Resistor Help Menu crashes the app - Wavelength to Colour slider inoperable until text field activated - Capacitor code function broken (incorrect default values) - Number converter only accepts value 50 - Resistor color codes show conflicting color solutions - iPad side-wiping error with page ghosting - Calculator input issues requiring excessive fiddling - Document folder missing in version 2 - Crashes on iPad mini 1st generation **Most requested features** - Update USB Type-C connector information - Add transistor pinouts and HFE values - Transistor and op-amp calculators - Voltage divider calculator - Arduino and Raspberry Pi pinout references - More Adafruit board pinouts (HATs, KiPPAHs, TFT, Trinkets) - LED parallel circuit handling - Logic gate truth tables (NAND, AND, NOR, etc.) - Function generator with sine, square, sawtooth, triangle waves - Tuned LC circuit calculator - NPN and PNP transistor calculator - Mica capacitor color codes for vintage radios - Better PDF datasheet import (via Safari/Dropbox instead of iTunes) - Ability to rename datasheets for easier identification - Breadboard templates for drawing - Number keypad instead of full keyboard for inputs - Power dissipation calculations on resistor calculator - Schematic symbol reference - iCloud syncing for datasheets - Direct browsing of Adafruit store within app - iOS 11+ compatibility updates ## Newest reviews (13 of 114) ### 4/5 — Has useful stuff *2025-08-17* Some handy knowledge is present, but some other entries could be added for rf/si topics quite readily ### 4/5 — Really good, wish they’d update *2024-12-18* The little calculators are great, especially for beginners. I wish they’d update it, though. ### 4/5 — Need to update USB TYPE C *2022-07-04* Probably a few other updates are needed. ### 4/5 — Almost *2020-11-18* Does not let me decide which values must be fixed and which must be computed, and usually gets it wrong, requiring much fiddling to get the answer desired. Does not have a way for handling LEDs in parallel. Otherwise, really useful piece of software, especially for teaching. ### 4/5 — Bugs [Requires ‘Patch/Update’] *2018-03-18* Major Issue = [Crash to Home Screen]; Cause’1of2’= /Component Values/Multiple Capacitors [Crash on opening]; FIXED Cause’2of2’ = /Circuit Calculators/LED Resistor/i”Help Menu” [Crash on opening]; Minor Issue = [No Operation]; Cause’1of1’ = /Wavelength to Colour [Slider inoperable till ‘Wavelength:”...”’ text field activated] FIXED Resolve = [5 STAR REVIEW] ### 4/5 — Where has Document Folder gone? *2017-09-24* Where has the document folder gone in version 2? ### 4/5 — Update *2017-06-11, version 1.7* Very helpful app with electronic construction. Apparently needs to be updated according to apple ### 4/5 — Great app, but has some glitches *2016-08-13, version 1.7* I bought the bundle of both this app and Mho's Resistance. This is a very useful app. However, the calculators don't work smoothly. Also the "Deals @ Adafruit" button brings you to a webpage that shows an adafruit coupon code for $3 off your next purchase. ### 4/5 — Cool app *2015-10-30, version 1.7* Cool, but it would be nice if it had a better visual design. ### 4/5 — Handy reference, but datasheets feature currently useless *2015-04-27* Great little app, lots of useful info, worth having. Only gripe is that the datasheets storage / reference feature is pretty much useless - seems to only allow datasheets to be added from iTunes on my computer, which I'd never bother with. Why not just "open in" from Safari like every other app? Hope that can be updated to I don't have to just keep things floating around in iBooks or Safari - would be great if this could be my single reference! ### 3/5 — could be improved *2015-04-10* Although the tool selection is nice they could be improved to avoid errors. For example, the resistor color codes, show 2 different color solutions without identifying the correct one; one set as background colors and one set as colors on the resistor image. Having to load PDF datasheets through itunes is a bit roundabout. easier to ljnk directly to them on their website and provide a quick item lookup feature. Maybe more beginner information (like why resistors on your LEDs is a good idea and a list of their upcoming webcasts so that we could quickly add to our calendars. ### 5/5 — Argument settler *2015-03-11, version 1.7* This app is fantastic! Helped me settle my current and power calculations with a coworker who didn't except my solution. I won! Thanks to this excellent app. Love the circuit design models! Awesome. ### 3/5 — Crashes sometimes. *2015-02-07, version 1.7* Good app with good features but crashes. IPad mini 1st gen ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Not what I expect. *2023-12-28* Very disappointed, so requested an immediate refund. Why did I buy it? ### 1/5 — Crashing *2019-06-10, version 2.1.3* The content is fine. Just a handy version of content you can find online. It crashes a lot though. I’ll give it 3 stars when it stops crashing. ### 1/5 — Very good app but now it's outdated! *2016-11-15* Very good app but now it's outdated! Adafruit, please update it. ### 1/5 — Terrible do not buy *2016-10-22, version 1.7* This app is a list of information you can google for free. No significant gain to purchasing this product. Do not waste your money on this dismal app. ### 1/5 — Can't actually construct a circuit *2016-01-27, version 1.7* I bought this hoping to use it to help with my circuit analysis class. ### 1/5 — Very misleading *2014-12-07, version 1.7* I only bought this dumb app because I thought I could "simulate circuits" which would be awesome! But you can't! It's really not worth the money. I want a refund! It's useless! ### 2/5 — Update 2.0.2 is still broken :( *2017-09-14, version 2.0.2* I don't know what happened, but now the capacitor code function is broken. Type in "0.0056 uf" and it defaults to "10 uf". I used to love this app but wish I could downgrade to a previous version. Please fix it. ### 2/5 — Circuit playground *2014-01-12, version 1.7* Not what I was looking for. It is more of a circuit calculator than a circuit playground. ### 2/5 — Nice enough app but expensive *2012-02-07* It's a nice app and will probably come in handy on occasions but it's very expensive for what it is. ### 3/5 — Useful but limited *2017-07-29, version 2.0* If you need help with one of the circuits in the app then this is good. Unless you want to convert numbers, then you are limited to only converting the number 50. It doesn't seem to accept anything else. Good for resistors and capacitor coding and some very basic circuits. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — So handy *2019-05-10* Much more convenient than searching the Internet and handy when checking all kinds of things like USB connector pinouts. ### 5/5 — Just what I needed *2018-01-10* I mainly got this for the resistor codes but I have no doubt I'll put the other tools to use too. It's a nice little app and I'm happy to support Adafruit software! ### 5/5 — Excellent Quick Tech Reference.. *2017-12-26* Found this app to be an excellent reference for my hardware projects. Clean, simple, with lots of spec info for simple circuits. Would like to see more pin layouts for more boards but great resource as it is now. ### 5/5 — Handy reference tool *2017-09-16* Thanks for keeping this app alive with updates. Circuit calculators and pinouts are very handy. ### 5/5 — Very useful app *2017-08-24, version 2.0.1* Love it. Would like to see more info e.g. Transistor pin outs and a very basic bit of code to help user understand where to start programming. ### 5/5 — Great App *2017-07-02, version 1.7* Please update for iOS 11! ### 5/5 — Great help *2017-02-16* I'm new to electronics and have found this app very helpful. ### 5/5 — Still Supported? *2015-08-23, version 1.7* Not that this app needs updating at the moment. I just hope that it is maintained and that features will continue to be added. ### 5/5 — very useful BUT *2015-06-25, version 1.7* pinouts for the adafruit made boards would be so useful!! I have hats and kippahs and tft and trinkets all over the place so having all the pinouts for these devices right on my phone would be amazing ### 5/5 — This app is Arduino GOLD *2015-06-05, version 1.7* Love this app. It has everything you may need to successfully complete an Arduino project. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-03.*