Speco Blue vs Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Speco Blue
Access and manage Speco Technologies' NR and HR recorders remotely. View live feeds, playback recordings, take snapshots, and receive event notifications. The app also allows for local recording and two-way audio communication.
- Live video streaming
- Playback recorded video and audio
- Snapshot capture and sending
- Local video recording
- Event push notifications
- Remote recorder settings adjustment
- Two-way audio communication
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Use Speco Blue to access Speco Technologies' NR and HR models of recorders for the following: - Live view of all channels - Playback of previously recorded video and audio - Take and send snapshots of any channel - Record video to your local device - Receive push notifications of events and tap to directly view on Speco Blue - Change certain remote settings of your recorder - 2-Way audio communication - Analytics search of recordings from NR recorders
Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit
This app provides fire alarm technicians with essential field tools for calculations, project management, and reporting. It includes features for device tracking, service logging, and professional report generation, streamlining on-site work.
- Fire alarm field calculators
- DIP switch and rotary dial addressing
- Barcode and QR scanning
- Battery load and date code tools
- Conduit fill and resistor references
- Project, floor, and device records
- Service tracking for devices and extinguishers
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Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit is a field app for fire alarm technicians who need fast calculations, organized project records, service tracking, and professional reports while working on site. Bring everyday fire alarm tools into one place. Use DIP switch and rotary dial addressing, barcode and QR scanning, battery load calculations, battery date decoding, conduit fill calculations, resistor band references, and technician-focused utilities for service, inspection, troubleshooting, installation, and documentation. Create projects for buildings, panels, floors, and devices. Record device type, location, address, serial number, zone, status, notes, tags, and service dates. Track smoke and heat detectors, pull stations, duct detectors, notification appliances, modules, panels, annunciators, batteries, flow and tamper switches, extinguishers, and other fire protection assets. Service Mode helps technicians work through devices by project, floor, or asset type. Record completed service, dirty devices, trouble conditions, missing or replaced devices, inaccessible assets, extinguisher recharge or hydro requirements, and other field results. Site Notes keeps job details and observations organized with each project. NEW FIELD WORKFLOWS • Shared Scan lets one technician scan device barcodes while another technician receives and organizes the records. • Scan to Plan allows devices to be placed directly on an imported floor plan for faster mapping and documentation. • Barcode Sheet Printing creates printable barcode or QR code sheets for device labeling and field identification. The scanner captures serial numbers and QR codes with duplicate detection and can add scanned values directly to device records. Addressing tools can also send calculated values into records to reduce repeated typing. Generate project PDFs, floor reports, service reports, dirty device reports, extinguisher reports, status reports, CSV exports, and project summaries. Share reports through the device share sheet or create an expiring project link and QR code to transfer project data. KEY FEATURES • Fire alarm field calculators • DIP switch and rotary dial addressing • Barcode and QR scanning • Battery load and date code tools • Conduit fill and resistor references • Project, floor, and device records • Service tracking for devices and extinguishers • Shared Scan collaboration • Scan to Plan floor-plan mapping • Printable barcode and QR code sheets • PDF, CSV, and text reports • Project links and QR transfer • Dark, field-friendly interface MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION PLANS Solo Pro — $4.99/month Premium tools and features for an individual technician. Team — $24.99/month A shared workspace for a small team to collaborate on projects and records. Company — $44.99/month Higher workspace limits and advanced company features for larger operations. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Feature availability, workspace limits, storage, and collaboration options vary by plan. Prices shown are in USD. The App Store displays the applicable local price before purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit is made for technicians who want faster field entry, fewer scattered notes, better collaboration, and cleaner project handoffs. IMPORTANT Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any manufacturer or brand. Names such as Honeywell, Fire-Lite, Silent Knight, Notifier, System Sensor, Edwards, EST, Kidde, Siemens, Simplex, Johnson Controls, Potter, Bosch, Mircom, Gentex, Wheelock, Eaton, Gamewell-FCI, Hochiki, Apollo, Power-Sonic, CSB, Yuasa, Deka, East Penn, EnerSys, Ansul, Amerex, Buckeye, and others are trademarks of their respective owners and are referenced only for technician search and field identification context.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit at 5.0 against Speco Blue's 3.1. Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). Speco Blue's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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
Both are free to download. Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Speco Blue asks for nothing beyond the download.
Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Speco Blue has 102 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Speco Blue ships an update every 5 months, Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Speco Blue | Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (102 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 102 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.1 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 106 MB | 78 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Components Specialties, Inc | Travis Foreman |
Bugs and requests
Speco Blue
Reported bugs
29 issues- Menu comes and goes at will
- Buttons to view camera or review past footage cease to function
- Defaults to unviewable substream settings
- App keeps crashing on iPhone 14 Pro and 13
- Connection of NVR server loses signal randomly
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- Constantly crashing, not able to connect, unexplained logouts
- Bugs and issues with iOS 17, consistently crashing
- App crashes immediately when trying to add a location on iPhone 15 Pro
- App crashes every time you turn to landscape mode on iOS 17
- Can't access camera during business on new iPhone 15 Pro Max
- App keeps freezing and crashes if you go to landscape mode
- Logs you out anytime then you have to reset all over again
- When watching a camera, it downgrades resolutions
- Event notifications not working with iOS 16.5.1
- App is not compatible with iPad operating system 16.3
- Cannot play back anything, playback shows black screen with 'camera not connected'
- Playback is sketchy and sluggish, implodes every few minutes
- App is unusable on iPad OS 16 with Stage Manager
- App struggles with switching from portrait to landscape mode on iPad
- App icons in the top left and right corners are hard to access due to stretched view on iPhone 14 Pro Max
- New update dislikes auto resolution function where app lowers camera viewing resolution
- App crashes any time I try to view more than five cameras
- App is the biggest battery drain ever
- App does not work well on iPhone 13
- App crashed after less than 2 months
- Cannot get app to work to view live feed and recorded
- Cannot see anything with the new orange colors on intelligence view playback
- App will not connect to the NVR after a power outage until you reboot NVR, generate a new QR code and reconfigure app
- Nothing works when needed most
Requested features
14 requests- Allow admin access from app for editing settings and receiving motion notifications
- Improve default substream settings for Speco profile
- Allow changing notification sound
- Implement full setting configurations in the app (like on NVR)
- Improve UX/UI design to match competitors
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- Make app work in landscape mode on iPad
- Create an iPad-specific version that utilizes screen real estate
- Remove auto resolution function
- Optimize for new iPhones (dynamic island)
- Allow viewing notifications in the app without push notifications
- Improve fast forward speed in playback
- Fix playback slowing down
- Allow viewing more than five cameras without crashing
- Reduce battery drain
Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Speco Blue
No in-app purchases
Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit
- 1 Month Solo Pro$4.991 Month
- Team Monthly$24.991 Month
- Company Monthly$44.991 Month
Questions
Is Speco Blue free?
Is Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit free?
Which has better reviews, Speco Blue or Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit?
Do Speco Blue or Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit have ads?
Which is updated more often, Speco Blue or Fire Alarm Tech Toolkit?
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