Profoto Control vs Lightphase
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Profoto Control
Control Profoto Bluetooth-enabled lighting equipment remotely from your smartphone. Adjust settings with intuitive touch controls and ensure your gear is up-to-date with easy firmware updates.
- Smart remote control
- View and control Profoto Bluetooth products
- Touch, swipe, and tweak lighting
- Easy firmware updates
- Update Profoto Bluetooth products
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The Profoto Control app has been created for the modern, connected photographers that want to get the most out of their creative workflow – whether using a DSLR or Mirrorless camera. This is the Profoto experience at its best. Key features: SMART REMOTE CONTROL View and control all Profoto Bluetooth-enabled products from your smartphone screen. Touch, swipe and tweak until you get the light just right. EASY UPDATES The latest updates for Profoto Bluetooth-enabled products are now available at your fingertips. Update quickly from the app, so you are ready to shoot with the latest, improved firmware. Ultimately, this app lets you be as creative as you can be. LOOKING FOR PROFOTO CAMERA APP? Looking for a way to create images with your smartphone and Profoto lights? Search App Store for “Profoto Camera” and start using it! Please send your feedback and feature ideas to hello@profoto.com! Love, Profoto team.
Lightphase
This app predicts and displays the timing of various light phases, including golden hour, civil twilight, and astronomical twilight. It helps photographers and outdoor enthusiasts plan their activities around optimal lighting conditions, offering detailed information and countdowns.
- Predicts golden hour and twilight times
- Counts down to next light phase
- Displays six distinct light phases
- Visualizes the day's light curve
- Interactive scrubbing through the day
- Watch complications and widgets
- Offline functionality
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Lightphase is a clock for natural light. It tells you which light you are standing in, the minute it changes, and how long you have left. Shooting the overlook at golden hour? Lightphase gives you the minute it starts and the minute it ends. Hiking back after sunset? It tells you when Civil Twilight runs out, the last light you can walk by without a headlamp. Waiting for a dark sky? It shows when night begins, which is often more than an hour after sunset. Every phase of light, named Lightphase divides the day by the sun's angle into the phases photographers and hikers plan around, and names each one in plain words. Daylight. The sun is high, the light is flat and the shadows are short and hard. 35° Window. Low enough for directional light, with fuller color and more contrast than golden hour. The long, workable stretch of morning and afternoon. Golden Hour. Warm, low sun from the horizon to 6 degrees up. Long shadows and raking side light. Civil Twilight. The sun has set and the sky is still bright. Enough light to walk by, or to shoot handheld. Nautical Twilight. Deep blue sky over a faint horizon. Most of what people call blue hour happens here. Astronomical Twilight. The last glow before full dark. The stars are out, and a long exposure still picks up the horizon. Night. Full dark, with no usable light from the sun. The answer comes first The top of the screen holds the answer: the light you are in, when it began and ends, and how much of it is left. Below it sit the next golden hour and the next sunrise or sunset, with the time it gets dark or the first light before it. See the whole day at once Behind the answer, the screen takes the color of the sky at the sun's height where you are, with today's light drawn as a curve across it. Drag the sun along the curve and every reading follows your finger. Find out what the light will be doing at six before you decide where to be at six. Glance without opening anything The Home Screen widget shows the sky, the light you are in and how long it lasts. The medium size adds the next golden hour. On the Lock Screen, a widget shows the phase and when it changes. On your wrist, too The watch app comes with three complications. One names the light you are in and when it changes. One counts down to a light you choose, with a ring that empties as it runs. One draws today's arc with the sun where it stands right now. Readable in direct sun A light palette for bright sun and a dark one for dusk. Every phase is spelled out in words, so you never have to tell one color from another. Times that match the almanac Sunrise and sunset are timed to the sun's upper edge meeting the horizon, and the twilights use their standard angles. Almanacs use the same definitions, so the times agree with the ones you already trust, and the app shows where every number comes from. Works where the signal does not Lightphase works out the light on your iPhone from where you are and the time of day. It keeps working in airplane mode, in a canyon, and anywhere the bars run out. Your location stays on your iPhone, where only the latest position is kept for your widgets and complications. One price, everything in it One purchase covers the iPhone app, the watch app, every widget and every complication. There is no subscription and nothing to buy inside. The sun does not charge a monthly fee, so neither do we. Every light Lightphase tracks Sunrise, sunset, golden hour, blue hour, first light, last light, civil twilight, nautical twilight, astronomical twilight and night.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Lightphase at 100% against Profoto Control's 37%. Lightphase also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Profoto Control's advantage is price (Free vs $4.99) and ratings volume (896 vs 2). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Profoto Control is free to download; Lightphase costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Lightphase holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Profoto Control has 896 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 37% of Profoto Control's written reviews are positive against 100% of Lightphase's.
Profoto Control ships an update every 2 months, Lightphase every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Profoto Control | Lightphase |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (896 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 896 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Profoto | Onyx Mueller |
Customer experience
Profoto Control
Lightphase
Bugs and requests
Profoto Control
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unable to register equipment in the app
- App crashes on launch or when connecting to lights
- Firmware update process is unreliable
- Inconsistent exposure and zoom support
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for more Profoto light models
- Improve camera integration and functionality
- Implement independent light group control
- Provide localization in more languages
Lightphase
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Profoto Control
No in-app purchases
Lightphase
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Profoto Control free?
Is Lightphase free?
Which has better reviews, Profoto Control or Lightphase?
Do Profoto Control or Lightphase have ads?
Which is updated more often, Profoto Control or Lightphase?
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