nRF Connect for Mobile vs IoT MQTT Panel Pro
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
IoT MQTT Panel Pro
Create DIY smart home projects with a configurable dashboard. Supports MQTT and Websocket protocols with SSL for secure communication. Offers a variety of panels for real-time updates and data visualization.
- Always-on dashboard
- MQTT & Websocket support
- SSL secure communication
- JSON message support
- Real-time panel updates
- 250+ customizable icons
- Dark theme
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With this app you can make DIY Smart Home project in a minute. The configurations are very simple. Well documented FAQ and User Guide are available at application info page. Features: 1. Can run as always on Dashboard. 2. Supports both MQTT (TCP) and Websocket protocol. 3. SSL for secure communication. 4. JSON Support for both subscribe and publish message. 5. Panels subscribe and / or publish the topic automatically, hence get updated in real time. 6. Designed to work with public broker efficiently (using device prefix). 7. Sent and Received timestamp from broker. 8. Material design. 9. Flexible panel width, merge any panels 10. More than 250 icons to customize specific panels. 11. Dark theme for comfortable use in low light. 12. Clone connection, device or panel for effortless configuration 13. Import/Export application configuration for easy share with multiple devices. 14. Re-connects automatically if connection lost. 15. Persist export message for log and graph. Available panels: -Button -Slider -Switch -LED Indicator -Combo Box -Radio Buttons -Multi-State Indicator -Progress -Gauge -Color Picker -Time Picker -Text Input -Text Log -Image -Barcode scanner -Line Graph -Bar Graph -Chart -URI Launcher This list will grow upon feedback from users. Your feedback is much appreciated. If you find any issue please feel free to leave a comment in my blog with steps to reproduce. https://blog.snrlab.in/iot/iot-mqtt-panel-user-guide/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: nRF Connect for Mobile at Free against IoT MQTT Panel Pro's $12.99. nRF Connect for Mobile also leads on ratings volume (478 vs 14). IoT MQTT Panel Pro's advantage is review sentiment (92% vs 71%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
nRF Connect for Mobile is free to download; IoT MQTT Panel Pro costs $12.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
IoT MQTT Panel Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: nRF Connect for Mobile has 478 ratings behind it against 14, 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 92% of IoT MQTT Panel Pro's.
nRF Connect for Mobile ships an update every 5 weeks, IoT MQTT Panel Pro fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | nRF Connect for Mobile | IoT MQTT Panel Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $12.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (478 ratings) | 4.8 (14 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.7% of reviews | 91.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 478 — better | 14 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nordic Semiconductor ASA | Rahul Kundu |
Customer experience
nRF Connect for Mobile
IoT MQTT Panel Pro
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
IoT MQTT Panel Pro
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
nRF Connect for Mobile
No in-app purchases
IoT MQTT Panel Pro
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is nRF Connect for Mobile free?
Is IoT MQTT Panel Pro free?
Which has better reviews, nRF Connect for Mobile or IoT MQTT Panel Pro?
Do nRF Connect for Mobile or IoT MQTT Panel Pro have ads?
Which is updated more often, nRF Connect for Mobile or IoT MQTT Panel Pro?
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