Comparison

nRF Connect for Mobile vs Bluzone

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

nRF Connect for Mobile

This app is a versatile tool for scanning, exploring, and communicating with Bluetooth Low Energy devices. It also enables your device to act as a peripheral and supports firmware updates for compatible devices.

Highlights
  • Scan and discover Bluetooth LE peripherals
  • Communicate with Bluetooth LE devices
  • Advertise as a Bluetooth LE peripheral
  • Update compatible device firmware (DFU)
  • Filter scanned peripherals
  • Live RSSI chart
  • Log BLE function calls
Read full description

nRF Connect is a powerful generic tool that allows you to scan and explore your Bluetooth Low Energy (henceforth Bluetooth LE, also called Bluetooth Version 4.0+ of the Bluetooth specification) devices and communicate with them. nRF Connect also allows your iOS device to advertise as a peripheral, with full support of many of Bluetooth SIG adopted profiles. Additionally, nRF Connect supports Nordic Semiconductor’s Device Firmware Update profile (DFU) capabilities, allowing you to update compatible peripherals! + Features: • Supports DFU on all Nordic Semiconducto-powered devices. • Supports Nordic Thingy™ from Nordic Semiconductor. • Scan and discover nearby Bluetooth LE peripherals. • Filter Scanned Peripherals by Name, Manufacturer, Services (Advertised & Connected) and RSSI Level. • Parsing Multiple Formats of Bluetooth LE Advertisement Data. • Live RSSI Chart of Scanned Bluetooth LE Peripherals. • Complete iPad Support, including Multi-Tasking and Mouse Support as of 13.4. • Logs: Including BLE Function calls, and Export Function as CSV and Text. • Privacy-Oriented: Full-Disclosure of Scanned Data, Advertised Data, and User-Performed Actions held by nRF Connect. • Connecting to Any Connectable Bluetooth LE Smart Device. • Discovery of Services, Characteristics and Descriptors. • Read and Write Characteristics and Descriptors. • Enable and Disable Notifications and Indications. • Advertising as a Bluetooth LE Peripheral. • Setting up a Bluetooth LE (Peripheral) Server and Notifying/Indicating back to connected Central(s). • Low-Fat: nRF Connect for iOS is Very Small, so You Can Always Keep Us With You! >= Requirements: • iOS 16.0 and above. - Notes: nRF Connect also works with our Development Kits, which you may acquire online here: https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/buy-online

About

Bluzone

This application allows developers to remotely manage and monitor Bluvision Beacons and BluFis. It facilitates provisioning, configuration, and real-time alerts for device status and policy violations. Visualize historical sensor data and easily identify nearby devices.

Highlights
  • Remote beacon provisioning and configuration
  • Real-time device status alerts
  • Policy violation notifications
  • Historical sensor data visualization
  • Scan and identify nearby beacons
  • Device location management
Features
Read full description

The Bluzone app provides developers the means to provision, configure, and remotely monitor Bluvision Beacons and Blufi's. For use with Bluvision's bluzone.io This app enables remote beacon management from your device and is linked to Bluzone — Bluvision's cloud solution that allows for remote fleet, event and workflow management of your Bluvision beacons and BluFis (Bluvision's Bluetooth to WiFi gateways.) This app helps you: Provision Bluvision Devices: * Create and edit templates to be applied to your devices and keep your fleet properly configured. * Determine and manage the location of your devices * Upload and modify the image of a device (with an image 'Selfie') so you can easily recognize the beacon or BluFi * Know the status of your device(s) at a glance Receive real-time alerts when: * A user-defined policy is violated and get visibility into which beacon(s) are in violation [Note: The policies are defined by you or other users of your account.] * Get historical graphs for beacon's sensor data - temperature, light, and accelerometer values Scan and Identify nearby beacons: * Scan for beacons near use to provision * Identify beacons that have already been provisioned for (Shows you Provisioned beacons and Unknown beacons.) Note: This app only works with Bluvision Bluetooth Beacons and BluFi's. Sold separately Please note that your device needs to be Bluetooth 4.0 compatible. Supported Devices include: * iPhone 4s or Newer * iPod 5 generation or Newer.

Screenshots

nRF Connect for Mobile4 screens
Bluzone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: nRF Connect for Mobile at 4.5 against Bluzone's 3.8. nRF Connect for Mobile also leads on ratings volume (472 vs 6). Bluzone's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

nRF Connect for Mobile holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: nRF Connect for Mobile has 472 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

nRF Connect for Mobile ships an update every 5 weeks, Bluzone monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
nRF Connect for Mobile versus Bluzone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameternRF Connect for MobileBluzone
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (472 ratings) — better3.8 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews70.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings472 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNordic Semiconductor ASASSI America, Inc.

Customer experience

nRF Connect for Mobile

All ratings466 ratings
Positive85.2%
Neutral6.7%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews239 reviews
Positive70.7%
Neutral8.4%
Negative20.9%

Bluzone

All ratings6 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

nRF Connect for Mobile

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Can't read data from Bluetooth device
  • Tries to ask for Bluetooth connection when Bluetooth is off. Asks to connect to devices when Bluetooth is off. Who knows what this app is doing in the background without permission?! What ever it is , it ain't good
  • Tapping "tabs" doesn't work (nothing changes in the UI). To get some response from tapping UI controls typically requires (a) launching nRF Connect, (b) switching to another app, (c) switching back to nRF Connect. I've tried uninstalling and re-downloading. Same result. This used to be the bee's knees of BLE tools but it's only worth 1 star at the moment (v2.7.11).
  • Cant go past the initial announcement. The app is unresponsive to the taps.

Requested features

4 requests
  • Where's the mac addresses
  • Max rssi limit
  • Log view
  • We need macros in iOS version

Bluzone

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

nRF Connect for Mobile

No in-app purchases

None

Bluzone

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is nRF Connect for Mobile free?
nRF Connect for Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bluzone free?
Bluzone is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, nRF Connect for Mobile or Bluzone?
nRF Connect for Mobile is rated higher. nRF Connect for Mobile averages 4.5 out of 5 from 472 ratings, while Bluzone averages 3.8 from 6 ratings.
Do nRF Connect for Mobile or Bluzone have ads?
Neither nRF Connect for Mobile nor Bluzone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, nRF Connect for Mobile or Bluzone?
nRF Connect for Mobile ships an update every 5 weeks, and Bluzone monthly. Most recently, nRF Connect for Mobile was updated on October 20, 2026 and Bluzone on October 16, 2026.

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