nRF Connect for Mobile vs Magic Smoke
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Magic Smoke
Establish custom TCP connections to send specific commands. Save up to ten commands for quick access, or type any message directly. This utility is ideal for testing network connections and embedded systems.
- Custom TCP connection setup
- Save up to ten custom commands
- Send any typed message
- Appends carriage return and linefeed
- Supports IP address and port input
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This app allows you to send custom commands via a TCP connection. You input the IP address and port number for the TCP connection you would like to create, and then you can customize the ten buttons to have ten saved commands. The “Any Command” text field can send any message that is typed into the text field. A carriage return and linefeed are appended to all messages. It was originally developed for the NCSU Embedded Systems course ECE 306, but it works for any TCP connection you would like to create!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Magic Smoke at 5.0 against nRF Connect for Mobile's 4.5. Magic Smoke also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 71%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). nRF Connect for Mobile's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (476 vs 11). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Magic Smoke holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: nRF Connect for Mobile has 476 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of nRF Connect for Mobile's written reviews are positive against 100% of Magic Smoke's.
nRF Connect for Mobile ships an update every 5 weeks, Magic Smoke every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | nRF Connect for Mobile | Magic Smoke |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (476 ratings) | 5.0 (11 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 476 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nordic Semiconductor ASA | Caleb Barnett Wheeler |
Customer experience
nRF Connect for Mobile
Magic Smoke
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
Magic Smoke
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
nRF Connect for Mobile
No in-app purchases
Magic Smoke
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is nRF Connect for Mobile free?
Is Magic Smoke free?
Which has better reviews, nRF Connect for Mobile or Magic Smoke?
Do nRF Connect for Mobile or Magic Smoke have ads?
Which is updated more often, nRF Connect for Mobile or Magic Smoke?
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