Comparison

BLE vs BLE Sniffer

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

Head to head
About

BLE

This open-source project offers Bluetooth Low Energy scanning capabilities. It allows users to discover and interact with nearby Bluetooth LE devices.

Highlights
  • Bluetooth LE scanning
  • Device discovery
  • Open source project
  • Interact with devices
Features
Read full description

An open source code project to provide a Bluetooth LE scan features.

About

BLE Sniffer

This app transforms your iPhone into a passive Bluetooth Low Energy scanner. It reveals nearby BLE devices, logs their advertisements, and offers a proximity radar to estimate distance, all without establishing a connection.

Highlights
  • Live BLE device scanning
  • Device categorization with vendor lookup
  • Proximity radar and Geiger mode
  • Session saving and baseline comparison
  • Full CSV export of scan data
  • Optional GATT service inspection
Features
Read full description

BLE Sniffer turns your iPhone into a passive Bluetooth Low Energy scanner. See the BLE devices broadcasting around you, log what they're advertising, and use a proximity radar to gauge how close they are — all without connecting to anything. Think of it as a "sniff raw" mode for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum: capture the advertisements in the air, filter nothing, analyze offline. Whether you're mapping the BLE devices in your own home, auditing your gear, or reverse-engineering your own hardware, BLE Sniffer shows you what's broadcasting nearby. WHAT IT DOES Live device scanning See a real-time list of the nearby BLE devices that are advertising — name, identifier, signal strength (RSSI), manufacturer, service UUIDs, advertisement count, and first/last-seen times. Sort by signal, activity, name, or recency. Device categorization (heuristic) A built-in lookup of the complete Bluetooth SIG manufacturer registry — 4,000+ vendor IDs — plus vendor and name heuristics attaches a visual badge to some devices to help you triage a long list — for example dev boards, smart-home gear, and devices whose manufacturer ID or advertised name matches known camera vendors. These are best-effort guesses based on what a device broadcasts, not confirmed identifications. Proximity radar & "Geiger" mode A radar view plots advertising devices on concentric rings by signal strength. Pick one device and switch to single-device mode: a big live RSSI readout with color-coded background plus audio and haptic feedback that speeds up as the signal gets stronger — walk around and home in on it like a metal detector. Sessions & baseline diffing Save a scan as a named session. Capture a baseline in one location, scan another, and diff the two — see which advertising devices appear in the new scan but not the baseline. A quick way to narrow a long list down to what changed. Full CSV export Export any session or live scan as CSV — one row per advertisement, with timestamps, identifiers, RSSI, manufacturer IDs, service UUIDs, TX power, and raw advertisement bytes. Share it anywhere via the system share sheet for offline analysis. Optional device inspection For devices you own, opt in to connect and browse the GATT service tree — read manufacturer, model, and firmware info and explore characteristics. Connections are always explicit and per-device; the app never auto-connects. PRIVACY-FIRST BY DESIGN • Passive by default — it listens, it doesn't transmit or pair • No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions • No telemetry, no accounts, no cloud — your data stays on your device • Everything is logged locally and exported only when you choose GREAT FOR • Mapping and auditing the BLE devices broadcasting in your own home or office • Hardware hackers, makers, and security researchers • Anyone curious about the invisible radio traffic around them PERMISSIONS BLE Sniffer asks only for Bluetooth access, which it uses to listen for nearby device advertisements. It does not pair, transmit, or request your location. Each device appears under an app-scoped identifier assigned by iOS — no hardware addresses are exposed. NOTE BLE Sniffer is a passive observation tool for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum. It detects Bluetooth Low Energy advertisements only — it is not a hidden-camera or surveillance detector and cannot find devices that don't broadcast BLE (including many cameras, and anything using Bluetooth Classic, Wi-Fi, or cellular). RSSI indicates rough proximity (distance), not direction, and device categories are heuristic guesses, not guarantees. Please use it responsibly and legally.

Screenshots

BLE4 screens
BLE Sniffer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: BLE Sniffer at 5.0 against BLE's 2.0. BLE's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs monthly) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.4). On price, ratings volume, 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

BLE Sniffer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BLE ships an update weekly, BLE Sniffer monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
BLE versus BLE Sniffer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBLEBLE Sniffer
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEmbeda Technology Inc.Shibby Ventures LLC

In-app purchases

None

BLE

No in-app purchases

None

BLE Sniffer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BLE free?
BLE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BLE Sniffer free?
BLE Sniffer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, BLE or BLE Sniffer?
BLE Sniffer is rated higher. BLE averages 2.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while BLE Sniffer averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do BLE or BLE Sniffer have ads?
Neither BLE nor BLE Sniffer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BLE or BLE Sniffer?
BLE ships an update weekly, and BLE Sniffer monthly. Most recently, BLE was updated on November 2, 2026 and BLE Sniffer on October 31, 2026.

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