Photone User Reviews

Customer Experience

Positive experience54.0% of reviews
Neutral5.9% of reviews
Negative experience40.1% of reviews

~ Based on 237 written reviews from the US App Store.

What users say

Is Photone Safe?

Photone - Grow Light Meter appears safe based on user ratings. AppsHunter Safety Score for Photone is 92/100.

This assessment is based on 4,898 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.6/5.

Safety Analysis

90.7% of ratings point to a safe experience
3.3% of ratings suggest some concerns
6.0% of ratings point to a risky experience

~ Based on 4,898 App Store ratings for Photone.

Is Photone Legit?

Photone - Grow Light Meter appears to be a legitimate app. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Photone is 93/100.

Based on 93 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Angela Rocks!

I haven’t tried the diffuser yet, I’m still in process of “growing my orchid set up”. However the customer service to include the links needed for learning and buying what I need were all given by Angela through email correspondence.
It’s been so long since I had actual customer service -I forgot how nice it feels!
I wish the same team would be involved in all aspects of my life!!!
You all are awesome!
Show more

Response from developer

Hi Justme6970, thank you so much — this one made our day. I have passed your words on to Angela; getting someone properly set up is the part of the job she loves most, so it will mean a lot to her. Good luck with the orchid setup! Whenever you get to the diffuser and your first measurements, we are here. Best regards, Dominik and the Photone team 🌱

No support

I paid for the diffuser. I paid for the led with red light reader. It worked for a while. Now I get no reading at all. Removed and reloaded with no improvement. Go to support page. No support at all. Zero. Dead end on app. Wants you to buy “pro” for support. I just want readings. All my settings are good. Still won’t give any readings at all
Show more

Expensive!

This app works but I am not paying $100 for full functionality and I like to own things completely. This monthly subscription thing is nonsense. I would pay $30 to own this app with all its functionality. Thats what it’s worth and you would make more sales and have happier customers if you were not so greedy. BTW you can just use Rizla paper as a filter. Saves flaff with scissors and tape!
Show more

Can’t test sunlight for free

I made their paper diffuser and started measuring an area only to be stopped. If you want to measure sunlight, you have to pay over $5.

Nothing free about this

Whichever light you want to measure it costs , stop touting this app as free. Unless you count the free download .

You will not find better

100% perfect no quibble

Amazing app for lighting ideas

Been using this for about a week or two it’s a pretty good app works as it should however, sometimes it’s hard to hold the paper under the screen or camera and looking at the screen under the bright light. It’s hard to see the exact numbers, but I figured it out. Hopefully, it’s been fixed in the latest update props to this dev team.
Show more

Response from developer

Hi Zach, Thanks a million for your review 🤩🙏 Regarding your issues: We are aware of the problem of reading the results under very bright light and designed the "Hold" mode for that. If you tap the lower part of your screen while measuring, the numbers will freeze, and you can walk somewhere darker to read them. Another option for pro-users is the read-aloud setting. Further, I am not quite sure I understood the problem regarding the paper correctly. So I kindly ask you to reach out to our support through the feedback option in the app with more details, and we can then look into it properly. Best regards and have fun measuring 💡🌱 Angela and the Photone team

“Free” is misleading

Wanted an app to measure indoor natural light & this one rated really well. Downloaded it & discovered “sun” aka natural light is locked unless you purchase a subscription/membership. This light source is likely the most commonly used for growing plants but yet needs a subscription? No thanks.

Teste

Poderia dar alguns dias de teste gratuitos antes de comprar.

Response from developer

Olá PoA, Obrigada pelo teu feedback. Podes testar as funcionalidades da aplicação gratuitamente com uma das fontes de luz gratuitas durante o tempo que quiseres. Isso deve dar-te uma boa ideia se vale a pena ou não pagar os cerca de 5 $ únicos. É uma pena que, por causa disso, nos dês apenas 1-🌟 😢 Cumprimentos, Angela e a equipa Photone

don’t bother

measuring led lights is paywalled

Brilliant

It took just 5 minutes from download to doing my first readings. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I paid £5 for one month pro which is incredibly good value compared to the cost of the real kit. People complaining about price are living in cloud cuckoo land.
I am a complete beginner with grow lights and had been following manufacturer instructions. I discovered my lights were too high up and too dim, so I have lowered them and undimmed them. That’s £5 well spent.
I also tried it in the greenhouse, on the patio and inside the house and am astonished at the differences in light when to my eyes it all looks much the same. No wonder my indoor seedlings used to struggle. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the app but under the lights it gives broadly the same readings as claimed by the manufacturer, which is good enough for me to trust it.
Show more

Wieso muss man auf Apple Geräten die einzelnen Modi kaufen und auf Android Geräten nicht?

Die App an sich hat 5/5 Sterne verdient, sie macht mit dem Diffuser das was sie machen soll. Jedoch finde ich es maximal frech, dass ich für jeden einzelnen Modi Geld bezahlen muss, aber mein Kollege auf seinem Android Gerät alles von Anfang an freigeschaltet hat. Finde dieses „Apple User können es ja zahlen“ so albern, deshalb muss ich einfach ein paar Sterne abziehen. Man hätte wenigstens sagen können „Ey wenn ihr den Diffuser bei uns kauft, dann bekommt ihr auch alle
Modis kostenlos (oder wenigstens die wichtigsten), dann wäre da wenigstens irgendein Kompromiss.
Show more

Response from developer

Hallo VitaShn, Vielen Dank für dein Feedback 🙏 Es freut uns wirklich sehr, dass unsere App von dir 5/5 🌟 verdient für ihre Funktionen 💪 Die Gründe für die unterschiedlichen Preissysteme liegen aber woanders und wir wollen auf keinen Fall Apple User stärker zur Kasse bitten. Bei Apple sind ALLE Geräte IMMER auf Photone kalibriert und die App läuft optimal auf allen Geräten. Auf Android hingegen, da es viel viel mehr unterschiedliche Hersteller und Geräte gibt, decken wir nur circa 50% der Handys mit einer Kalibrierung ab, die anderen können Photone nur mit einer deutlich ungenaueren Messvariante nutzen. Wir fänden es unfair, wenn diese den vollen Preis bezahlen müssten, und haben uns daher für eine Mischrechnung entschieden, bei der nun 50% der Android-User einen Preisvorteil haben. Auch den zweiten Punkt, den du ansprichst, haben wir uns bereits überlegt. Wir fänden es auch super, wenn man mit dem Kauf des Diffusors bereits Funktionen freischalten könnte. Es ist technisch jedoch kompliziert und wirft auch wieder Fragen der Fairness auf - Was machen wir mit jenen, die zuerst Funktionen kaufen und erst dann den Diffusor bestellen? Wir haben uns auf alle Fälle bereits viele Gedanken zu deinen Punkten gemacht und sind auch bei beiden noch nicht vollständig zufrieden mit unseren Lösungen. Wir haben einfach noch keinen praktikableren Weg gefunden. Ich hoffe, das erklärt unser Vorgehen ein bisschen. Nun wünsche ich dir viel Spass beim Messen und dir und deinen Pflanzen alles Gute 🌱 Angela und das Photone Team

Best app ever it works

Best ever really works 914 buy the diffuser .

Useful

This app is helpful for getting the correct amount of light for my plants. I bought the diffuser and I printed out the lighting chart for autoflowers from their website. I use the dli mode and follow it almost exactly, except I find that 45 dli is a bit much for some plants, so I usually aim for 40-43 dli.

If I was going to improve this app, I would add a feature where I could select the type of plant, what week my plants are on, and the number of hours the lights are on, then it could tell me if I need more or less light. In other words, the plant light calculator would be built-in.

The upgrade for LED and the diffuser are worth the money, but they should be upfront about it and disclose it before getting the app. I think people would be more willing to pay if they didn’t think they were being misled from the beginning.
Show more

Response from developer

Hi Midsantiam, Thanks for your detailed review and your support! It would be interesting to know what phones you tried in your comparison. We factory calibrate for all supported iPhones and with the diffuser accuracy, we can pretty much guarantee that the measurements are within a few percent of each other when used correctly. Android is another story, as our current Beta version works differently and accuracy can't be influenced as much. I'm pretty sure that your iPhone + diffuser accessory would measure close to e.g. an Apogee PAR meter. Please feel free to reach out to our support if you think that isn't the case and would like some troubleshooting help. Best, Dominik & the Photone Team

No trial

I couldn’t even try this because it doesn’t offer any lighting options to test the lights I have.

I’m not going to buy a subscription without testing it. I bought a standalone light meter instead.

False free app

Free to download, but heavy restrictions on usage make it useless for the average user. Need to pay to get a ppfd reading for led lights.

In app purchases!

App is full of in app purchases!!!!

Asked to pay twice within 10 seconds for basic features

Within 10 seconds of using the app, I discovered that you can only only use it to measure manmade light sources not sunlight which you'd expect to be the default for plants. Two seconds after I was told that a diffuser needed to measure the light level despite the claims that your phone front camera is enough. To the bin it goes.
Show more

Sunlight not Free

I downloaded the app because it claims to work for simple measurements without additional purchases. However, if you want to see if your plants are getting enough sunlight from a window, you must pay for “pro.”

Paywalled

They paywall the functionality most home growers would need. Avoid these scammers.