BLE Hero vs Smart NFC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BLE Hero
This app is a powerful development tool for Bluetooth Low Energy. It offers comprehensive scanning, connection management, GATT interactions, and detailed logging. Features include DFU support, real-time RSSI plotting, and customizable display formats for data.
- Bluetooth Low Energy scanning
- Device connection management
- GATT service exploration
- Characteristic read/write operations
- Detailed BLE event logging
- DFU support for Nordic, Cypress, Silabs
- Real-time RSSI plot
Read full descriptionHide full description
BLE Hero is a comprehensive development tool for engineers, software developers, or anyone developing Bluetooth Low Energy enabled products or applications. Light and Dark Modes! Tutorials: - Video Tutorials Under the Help Section DFU Support: - Nordic Semiconductor - Cypress, Silabs, + STMicro coming soon BLE Scanning: - Company IDs from Bluetooth SIG - Search function: Search by any values included in advertisement data - Real-time RSSI plot for each discovered peripheral - Real-time estimated advertisement interval - Full listing of all advertisement data for each discovered peripheral - Favorites support - Ability to permanently ignore devices - Locator Mode! Connections: - Ability to maintain connections to many devices at the same time GATT Interactions: - Attempt reconnection from anywhere in the app! No need to return to the scan results to reconnect - Explore GATT services, characteristics, and descriptors - Read characteristics, notifications/indications ----> Display formats: HEX, ASCII, or UInt8 byte array ----> Read and notification history with timestamps within characteristic view - Write characteristics ----> HEX, ASCII, and Decimal keyboards ----> Write formats: HEX, ASCII, and Decimal ----> Viewable write history with timestamps within characteristic view - Descriptors and descriptor values - Notifications/Indications Logging: - Most detailed logging available - Search function to search for specific events - Logging occurs at a low level, providing detailed information about all BLE events - Advertisement data - Connection events with error descriptions - Disconnection events with error descriptions - Read/write characteristic events with error descriptions - Notification/indication events - GATT discovery events - System status events - Fully configurable: enable or disable each of the log event types - Export logs as text files via email, text, etc..., or save to files
Smart NFC
This app allows users to read, write, and interact with NFC tags directly from their compatible iPhone. It supports various record types, tag formatting, and direct memory access for advanced customization. Background reading is also available on newer devices.
- Read, write, duplicate, erase, and lock NDEF tags
- Format tags as NDEF
- Interact with links and social media records
- Background tag reading
- Direct tag memory access
- Send custom commands to tags
Read full descriptionHide full description
NFC is supported on iPhone 7 or newer only; iPad and iPod Touch do not have the hardware to interact with NFC tags. ----- Read, write, interact, and hack your NFC tags on your supporting iPhone! Smart NFC is one of the first apps to support native NFC writing directly from your device. With numerous custom records to get you started, you'll be writing to most NDEF-formatted NFC tags in no time. Don't have any NDEF-formatted tags? Format them in the Advanced section. Tag-specific features are being added that allow you to edit a tag's memory directly, which opens the doors to all kinds of new features! Tag not scanning? NDEF format new tags from the Advanced section to get them working right! An NFC tag is written with a single "Message" which contains any number of "Records." These records define text, links, and data to be stored on the tag. Most tags can be scanned by holding the top of your iPhone within a few centimeters. A chip is only limited only by its size. As long as the chip is NDEF-formatted (most are, and other formats will be supported in a later version) and it has enough space, the limits are endless! Features: - Read, write, duplicate, erase, and permanently lock NDEF-formatted tags - Monitor a tag's max capacity (usually somewhere between 256-1024 Bytes) - Read, write, and interact with links (https://, sms://, facetime://, mailto:, etc.) - Write a variety of pre-defined Social Media and website records - Read and write text records with multiple language localizations - Use Background Tag Reading to interact with NFC tags without an app. Write a link to a tag and then tap it to your phone. Voila! (Supported on iPhone XS and newer) - Review and rewrite previous messages from your History to another tag - Format factory-programmed tags as NDEF tags in-app (Supports most common tags such as Type 2 and Type 5 NFC tags) - Read and write directly to a tag's memory - Send custom commands directly to a tag - And of course, target your users better by using a tag's unique identifier Extras: - Dark Mode - Privacy: we collect nothing as you use the app. Supported Devices: - NFC scanning is available on iPhone 7 and newer. iPad and iPod Touch do not have the required hardware. - Background Tag Reading is available on iPhone XS and newer. iOS will present a notification for the first valid link stored on a tag. Supported Tags: - Any NDEF-formatted tags - MIFARE Ultralight - NTAG 213/215/216 - NXP ICODE® Tags, ISO 15693 Tags, and Type 5 Tags Future support for: - MIFARE DESFire Limitations: - MIFARE Classic tags are not currently supported by iOS Future features: - Include a tag's ID and/or its read count in a record - Password-protect an NFC chip - Connect to a Bluetooth device Feel free to Tweet feature requests to me at @0xA1EC
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: BLE Hero at Free against Smart NFC's $1.99. BLE Hero also leads on review sentiment (92% vs 48%) and rating (4.9 vs 4.5). Smart NFC's advantage is chart position (#57 vs #207). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
BLE Hero is free to download; Smart NFC costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
BLE Hero holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 87 and 92 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of BLE Hero's written reviews are positive against 48% of Smart NFC's.
BLE Hero ships an update every 2 weeks, Smart NFC fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BLE Hero | Smart NFC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (87 ratings) — better | 4.5 (92 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.9% of reviews — better | 47.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 87 | 92 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #207 | #57 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | onceLabs LLC | Alec O'Connor |
Customer experience
BLE Hero
Smart NFC
In-app purchases
BLE Hero
No in-app purchases
Smart NFC
No in-app purchases









