AsteraApp vs WLED
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AsteraApp
Control complex lighting setups with customizable programs and effects. Prepare lights for wireless DMX, diagnose, update, and reset them. Features include beat-synced effects, group management, and power-saving standby.
- Customizable programs and effects
- Wireless DMX preparation
- Light diagnostics and updates
- Beat-synced effects (Auto BPM)
- Group management (Targets)
- Scheduled Standby
- Dynamic PowerBoost
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The AsteraApp™ offers intuitive and fast control of complex lighting setups with fully customizable programs and effects. The App is also used to prepare Astera lights for wireless DMX by sending addresses and profilesto them. In addition, lamps can be diagnosed, updated or reset from the AsteraApp™. Here are some of the features: Talkback+ Detect all available lights, set them up, check their status, configure DMX addresses and DMX profiles. Seamless Runtime Set the length of your production and be sure that your lights won`t run out while still getting the maximum brightness. Effects Quickly build programs out of colors and effects, trigger them or make them match a beat. Targets Quickly create groups of lights, assign positions and select which lights should receive commands. Scheduled StandBy Switch lights into power-saving standby and schedule them to wake up when the production starts. Dynamic PowerBoost This exclusive feature makes the light able to display the maximum brightness at all time and intensify non-white colors. Green/Magenta Correction Adjust green/magenta during content creation to reduce postproduction work. Emergency Lights Switches to white light when AC power is cut to keep your event save DJ Feature Auto BPM analyzes the beat and matches programs to it, flash buttons can trigger special effects while being held down. Other Features The AsteraApp™ is packed with many additional items and new features are frequently added via software update.
WLED
Control and manage all your WLED light devices from your iPhone or iPad. This companion app works with the open-source WLED software for microcontrollers, offering automatic device detection, customizable names, and software update assistance.
- Automatic device detection
- Centralized light list
- Software update assistant
- Customizable device names
- Hide or delete devices
- Light and dark mode
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With the WLED app, you can easily and efficiently manage and control all your WLED light devices from your iPhone or iPad. This is a companion app for the free and open source WLED software for ESP8266/32 microcontrollers. WLED automatically detects and updates the device list, and offers customizable names, a hide or delete feature, and a light and dark mode. It can also help you install new software updates to your devices. Plus, it supports both phones and tablets. Main Features: - Automatic device detection (mDNS) - All lights are accessible from one list - Software Update Assistant - Custom names - Hide or delete devices - Light and dark mode
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: WLED at 4.0 against AsteraApp's 2.3. WLED also leads on review sentiment (51% vs 28%). AsteraApp's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (51 vs 10). 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.
WLED holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AsteraApp has 51 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of AsteraApp's written reviews are positive against 51% of WLED's.
AsteraApp ships an update every 3 weeks, WLED every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AsteraApp | WLED |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (51 ratings) | 4.0 (10 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 28.2% of reviews | 50.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 51 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 10.3 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 111 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Astera LED Technology GmbH | Christophe Gagnier |
Customer experience
AsteraApp
WLED
Bugs and requests
AsteraApp
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
WLED
Reported bugs
42 issues- Unable to connect to LEDs
- Lights randomly turn on
- Connectivity issues, needs re-pairing
- App doesn't work, glitchy
- Brightness control issues
Show 37 moreShow fewer
- Lights flicker after update
- Cannot find discover lights option
- Not connected to iPhone, setup issues
- App won't load, vanishes
- None of my devices show up
- Shows up blank, manual add only
- No longer finds WLED devices
- App doesn't work, no devices showing
- Confusing app, turns off
- App is unusable after update, errors
- App stopped picking up signal
- Only connects when at home
- Doesn't pick up esp8266
- Sound react option missing
- Time and macros section not working
- Update won't update
- Goes offline from time to time
- Update breaks app, beta works
- Drops connection, cannot adjust lights
- Latest release freezes, unstable wifi
- Loading WLED UI stuck
- Inconsistent connection after new update
- Lost all config after update
- Lost all presets after update
- Devices missing and disappearing
- Update ruined everything, random disconnects
- App constantly crashes, won't load
- Stopped working after update
- New upgrade feature killed device
- Inconsistent, can't find boards
- Cannot connect lights, IP address doesn't work
- Missing schedule function
- App doesn't work at all
- Doesn't work properly with WLED 0.14
- App won't allow changing anything, freezes
- Hidden devices reappear
- App goes offline and never connects again
Requested features
6 requests- User-friendly interface
- Simple interface with advanced option
- Widget features for Home Screen
- Sound react option
- Remote control when away from WiFi
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Timer or schedule function
In-app purchases
AsteraApp
No in-app purchases
WLED
No in-app purchases
