NASA PVT+ vs PISON
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NASA PVT+
This app provides a validated tool for conducting psychomotor vigilance tests, crucial for sleep, alertness, and performance research. It offers multiple study frameworks, including simple tests, basic multi-day studies, and specialized aviation research protocols.
- Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT)
- Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS)
- Sleep Diary
- Simple PVT mode
- Basic Study framework
- Aviation Study framework
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The official NASA PVT+ (Psychomotor Vigilance Test) is a validated iOS based touchscreen PVT that includes multiple industry standard research forms for collecting a wide range of research data for sleep, alertness and performance studies. The app has three principle data collection schemes designed to accomidate a wide range of research studies. The Simple PVT: The Simple PVT is a single presentation of the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT; described below). Participants can be instructed to take a PVT at any time. There is no limit to the number of PVTs that a participant can take. Basic Study: The Basic Study provides a single or multiday pre-set framework for collecting research data. Participants are prompted to complete a sleep diary after their main sleep episode. The participant is then prompted to complete three PVT and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) responses during the day. The participants also complete a sleep diary before bed. Aviation Study: The Aviation Study provides a multiday pre-set framework for collecting aviation related research data. Split into Off-Duty Days and Duty Days. Participants are prompted to complete a sleep diary after their main sleep episode. The participant is then prompted to complete three PVT and KSS responses during off-duty days. On duty days, the participant is prompted to complete a PVT and KSS pre- and post-duty. They are also prompted to complete a PVT, KSS, hassle factors, use of fatigue countermeasures, and inflight rest at the top of descent for each flight. The participants also complete a sleep diary before bed. The number of flights within a duty day can be adjusted. The aviation study also includes a pre-study baseline questionnaires that can be completed at study enrollment. The specific components of the application include: - Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT): A simple reaction-timed test that is sensitive to sleep loss and circadian misalignment. The PVT displays a box on the screen and participants are instructed to tap the screen with their dominant thumb when a millisecond counter appears in the box and begins to count up. After the participant taps the screen, the counter briefly displays the reaction time in milliseconds, then the counter disappears, and the participant is instructed to refrain from touching the screen until the next millisecond counter appears in the box. The counter appears randomly every 2 to 10 seconds. The PVT can be configured by the investigator to the desired duration (currently validated for a 5-minute test). - Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS): The KSS is a self-reported sleepiness rating where the participant is asked to rate their level of sleepiness within the last five minutes on a scale from 1 to 9. - Sleep Diary: The Basic Study and Aviation Study each include a sleep diary that the study participant is prompted to complete at the beginning and at the end of the main sleep episode. The pre-sleep sleep diary asks the participant to record any naps that were taken prior to the main sleep episode, along with indicating the time of bedtime. The post-sleep sleep diary asks the participant to record the time that it took to fall asleep, number and duration of night awakenings, final wake time, and a sleep quality rating. - Study Enrollment Information: The Aviation Study includes a demographic questionnaire and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire along with a practice sleep diary and practice PVT to orient the participant to study procedures. Data collected from study participants using the NASA PVT+ iOS application does not include Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Research data is never collected directly by NASA unless a volunteer is participating in a NASA study. Data collected for research studies conducted outside of NASA, through use of the NASA PVT+ application, is never sent to NASA without a specific agreement between the outside organization and NASA.
PISON
This app provides insights into your cognitive and physical performance using data from compatible smartwatches. It helps you understand readiness, mental agility, and focus, with advanced metrics for sleep, stress, and health available through membership tiers.
- Cognitive performance metrics (Readiness, Agility, Focus)
- Sleep and fatigue tracking
- Stress and health monitoring
- Fitness metrics (respiratory rate, calories)
- Community leaderboards and groups
- Insights from neural sensor technology
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Unlock Your Mind. Unleash Your Potential. Pison helps you reach new heights of human performance and health. The Pison app enables you to improve your whole self. It works in tandem with smartwatches or fitness trackers that are powered by Pison sensors to give you unprecedented insights into your mind, body, fatigue, health, and safety. Note - a Pison-powered wearable and a Pison membership are required. Innovative Sensor Technology Your unique performance and health insights are possible because of Pison’s innovative sensor technology. Unlike other wearables, all Pison-powered wearables include Pison’s novel neural sensor which decodes signals from your mind and nervous system, discreetly collected at the wrist, and gives key insights about your mental state that were never before possible. Some Pison-powered wearables also include other sensors that monitor vital signals such as your heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing frequency, pulse rate, and stress. When this information is blended with the insights from Pison’s neural sensor, you get richer information about your sleep, fatigue, fitness and health. Measure. Understand. Excel. The Pison app enables anyone with a Pison membership, including Pison READY and Pison PERFORM memberships, to monitor three critical cognitive performance metrics: - Readiness - A real-time indication of your ability to mentally perform. It can reveal impairment from fatigue, head injury, diet and disease. - Mental Agility - How quickly you process information, make decisions, and react. In competitive sports or high-stress professional scenarios, Mental Agility is crucial to success. - Focus - A reliable indicator of your ability to maintain attention. This is the gold standard measurement for fatigue testing. If you have a Pison PERFORM membership, you can also monitor additional metrics, including: - Sleep/Fatigue - Sleep time, sleep stages (REM, light, deep, and awake), sleep quality, sleep debt, circadian rhythm - Stress - Emotional reactions - Health - Heart rate, resting heart rate (RHR), heart rate variability (HRV), skin temperature - Fitness - Respiratory rate, calories burned - Safety - Sustained attention (PVT-B) In addition, all Pison memberships allow you to engage with the Pison community through leaderboards and personal groups where you can share and benchmark your performance scores with elite performers, friends, family, and peers. Revolutionary insights drive success Pison helps you measure and track your cognitive performance and physical performance metrics so you can improve your performance. Pison can help you improve cognitive and physical performance: - Optimize training programs. - Adjust diet, sleep schedules or other lifestyle factors. - Understand your circadian rhythm to optimize your preparation schedule. - Detect decreases in performance that may indicate impairment from head injury, fatigue or lifestyle choices, such as drugs or alcohol use. Get focused. Play smarter. Think clearer. Whatever your challenge, wherever your opportunity, Pison delivers unprecedented awareness of your mental and physical state. Realize your full potential—on the field, in the boardroom and beyond.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PISON at every 3 weeks against NASA PVT+'s every 3 months. PISON also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). NASA PVT+'s advantage is iOS requirement (13.6 vs 15.0). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PISON holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 7 respectively.
NASA PVT+ ships an update every 3 months, PISON every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 15, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NASA PVT+ | PISON |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (10 ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 25.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.6 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NASA | Pison Technology |
Customer experience
NASA PVT+
PISON
In-app purchases
NASA PVT+
No in-app purchases
PISON
No in-app purchases









