phyphox vs MetaWear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
phyphox
Unlock your phone's sensors for scientific exploration. Conduct pre-built experiments or create your own using accelerometers, magnetometers, and more. Analyze and export data in various formats for further study.
- Pre-defined experiments
- Data export (CSV, TSV, Excel)
- Web-based remote control
- Custom experiment editor
- Access to phone sensors
- Advanced analysis functions
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Did you know that you are carrying a 3D magnetometer? That you can use your phone as a pendulum to measure earth's local gravitational acceleration? That you can turn your phone into a sonar? phyphox gives you access to the sensors of your phone either directly or through ready-to-play experiments which analyze your data and let you export raw data along with the results for further analysis. You can even define your own experiments on phyphox.org and share them with colleagues, students and friends. Selected Features: • A selection of pre-defined experiments. Just press play to start. • Export your data to a range of widely used formats • Remote-control your experiment through a web interface from any PC on the same network as your phone. No need to install anything on those PCs - all you need is a modern web browser. • Define your own experiments by selecting sensor inputs, defining analysis steps and creating views as an interface using our web-editor (http://phyphox.org/editor). The analysis consists of just adding two values or using advanced methods like Fourier transforms and crosscorrelation. We offer a whole toolbox of analysis functions. Sensors supported: • Accelerometer • Magnetometer • Gyroscope • Pressure • Microphone • Proximity • GPS • Camera • LiDAR/ToF *some sensors are not present on every phone. Export formats • CSV (Comma separated values) • TSV (Tab-separated values) • Excel (if you need other formats, please let us know) This app has been developed at the 2nd Institute of Physics A at the RWTH Aachen University.
MetaWear
Stream sensor data from MetaWear BLE sensor boards. This platform provides a comprehensive solution for building wearable devices and collecting sensor information.
- Stream sensor data
- MetaWear BLE sensor board compatibility
- Build wearable devices
- Gather sensor data
- Complete platform solution
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The MetaWear App lets you quickly and simply stream sensor data from any wireless MMS or MMRL sensor board.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: phyphox at 79% against MetaWear's 50%. phyphox also leads on ratings volume (276 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). MetaWear's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months). 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.
MetaWear holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: phyphox has 276 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of phyphox's written reviews are positive against 50% of MetaWear's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
phyphox ships an update every 3 months, MetaWear every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | phyphox | MetaWear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (276 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 276 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | RWTH Aachen University | MBIENTLAB INC |
Customer experience
phyphox
MetaWear
Bugs and requests
phyphox
Reported bugs
21 issues- App crashes on older devices
- Barometer not working on iOS 17.4
- Network error: Generic error
- Sound measurement curve disappears
- App crashes frequently
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- Cannot be opened on iPhone 6
- Light sensor not implemented
- Recording stops when phone is locked or app is minimized
- Green lines on screen and faded to black after using barometer sensor
- WLAN not working after using the app
- Pressure no longer displayed on iOS 17.5
- Barometer not working on iOS 17.4
- Latest version cannot be opened on iPhone 6
- Sound chronometer reset button not working
- iPad destroyed after update
- App displays Russian language by default
- Experiments not working on iPhone 7
- Magnetometer not working after update on iPhone 5s
- GPS shows 0 satellites with 6m accuracy
- App claims iPhone 11 is comparable to a low-cost tablet
- App crashes every time
Requested features
33 requests- Add infrasound detector
- More units of measurement (G-force, PSI, feet)
- NFC/RFID support
- In-app bug report feature
- Allow other sensors via USB-C
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- Ability to plug in external sensors
- Slo-mo recording with timestamps
- Add attitude sensor (roll, pitch, yaw)
- Integration with Apple Shortcuts
- Ability to record audio/dB simultaneously with other sensors
- Adjustable sampling frequency for all sensors
- Dark mode option
- Experiment editor integrated into the app
- More documentation for the editor
- Ability to form averages
- Support for older iPhones (iPhone 6)
- Add GPS satellite count display
- Add speedometer functionality
- Add Lux measurement using light sensor/camera
- Ability to play recorded audio
- Limit input for sound analyzers (dB/Hz range)
- Wi-Fi and RF module access for EMF analysis
- iWatch integration
- Improve audio generator capability
- Allow background/screen locked recording
- Add light sensor functionality
- Change units of measurement
- Add more precise measurements for static cases
- Add FFT and spectral generation for accelerometer
- Support for older devices
- Improve UI/UX for new users
- Add support for more languages
- Add a donate option
MetaWear
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
phyphox
No in-app purchases
MetaWear
No in-app purchases
