BLE Laboratory Pro vs BLE Sniffer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BLE Laboratory Pro
This app allows users to scan for and interact with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices, displaying advertisement data and enabling communication with services and characteristics. It also supports configuring the device as a BLE peripheral with custom profiles and services.
- Discover BLE devices with advertisement data
- Interact with services, characteristics, and descriptors
- Read and write UTF-8 and HEXA data
- Configure as a BLE peripheral
- Create custom services and characteristics
- Detailed runtime performance logs
- Slick UI and efficient navigation
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Are you developing BLE hard- or software? Are you interested in experimenting with BLE devices? Or do you just want to learn about devices in your vicinity? Look no further, you have found the best app! This is the result of years of BLE research and development. Here are the highlights: === Operation Mode Scanner === * Display discovered devices with complete advertisement data, * Interact with found services, characteristics, and descriptors, * Read and write UTF-8 and HEXA data with optimized keyboards. === Operation Mode Transmitter === * Configure as sending BLE peripheral with multiple profiles, * Create as many services and characteristics as you need, * Compose readable values out of static, dynamic, and interactive components. === Besides These === * Detailed log for analyzing the run-time-performance of every operation, * Slick UI and efficient navigation – the UI will never block you. Test the app with both operation modes – later on, unlock what you need via In-App-Purchase. Stay tuned for many more professional features – Version 1.0 is just the beginning!
BLE Sniffer
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BLE Sniffer turns your iPhone into a passive Bluetooth Low Energy scanner. See the BLE devices broadcasting around you, log what they're advertising, and use a proximity radar to gauge how close they are — all without connecting to anything. Think of it as a "sniff raw" mode for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum: capture the advertisements in the air, filter nothing, analyze offline. Whether you're mapping the BLE devices in your own home, auditing your gear, or reverse-engineering your own hardware, BLE Sniffer shows you what's broadcasting nearby. WHAT IT DOES Live device scanning See a real-time list of the nearby BLE devices that are advertising — name, identifier, signal strength (RSSI), manufacturer, service UUIDs, advertisement count, and first/last-seen times. Sort by signal, activity, name, or recency. Device categorization (heuristic) A built-in lookup of the complete Bluetooth SIG manufacturer registry — 4,000+ vendor IDs — plus vendor and name heuristics attaches a visual badge to some devices to help you triage a long list — for example dev boards, smart-home gear, and devices whose manufacturer ID or advertised name matches known camera vendors. These are best-effort guesses based on what a device broadcasts, not confirmed identifications. Proximity radar & "Geiger" mode A radar view plots advertising devices on concentric rings by signal strength. Pick one device and switch to single-device mode: a big live RSSI readout with color-coded background plus audio and haptic feedback that speeds up as the signal gets stronger — walk around and home in on it like a metal detector. Sessions & baseline diffing Save a scan as a named session. Capture a baseline in one location, scan another, and diff the two — see which advertising devices appear in the new scan but not the baseline. A quick way to narrow a long list down to what changed. Full CSV export Export any session or live scan as CSV — one row per advertisement, with timestamps, identifiers, RSSI, manufacturer IDs, service UUIDs, TX power, and raw advertisement bytes. Share it anywhere via the system share sheet for offline analysis. Optional device inspection For devices you own, opt in to connect and browse the GATT service tree — read manufacturer, model, and firmware info and explore characteristics. Connections are always explicit and per-device; the app never auto-connects. PRIVACY-FIRST BY DESIGN • Passive by default — it listens, it doesn't transmit or pair • No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions • No telemetry, no accounts, no cloud — your data stays on your device • Everything is logged locally and exported only when you choose GREAT FOR • Mapping and auditing the BLE devices broadcasting in your own home or office • Hardware hackers, makers, and security researchers • Anyone curious about the invisible radio traffic around them PERMISSIONS BLE Sniffer asks only for Bluetooth access, which it uses to listen for nearby device advertisements. It does not pair, transmit, or request your location. Each device appears under an app-scoped identifier assigned by iOS — no hardware addresses are exposed. NOTE BLE Sniffer is a passive observation tool for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum. It detects Bluetooth Low Energy advertisements only — it is not a hidden-camera or surveillance detector and cannot find devices that don't broadcast BLE (including many cameras, and anything using Bluetooth Classic, Wi-Fi, or cellular). RSSI indicates rough proximity (distance), not direction, and device categories are heuristic guesses, not guarantees. Please use it responsibly and legally.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BLE Sniffer at 5.0 against BLE Laboratory Pro's 3.4. BLE Sniffer also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (monthly vs every 8 months). BLE Laboratory Pro's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and ratings volume (7 vs 2). On price and ads 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. BLE Laboratory Pro sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. BLE Sniffer asks for nothing beyond the download.
BLE Sniffer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 2 respectively.
BLE Laboratory Pro ships an update every 8 months, BLE Sniffer monthly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | BLE Laboratory Pro | BLE Sniffer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (7 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Lauer | Shibby Ventures LLC |
In-app purchases
BLE Laboratory Pro
- Scanner Support$8.99
- Transmitter Support$12.99
- All Operation Modes$17.99
BLE Sniffer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is BLE Laboratory Pro free?
Is BLE Sniffer free?
Which has better reviews, BLE Laboratory Pro or BLE Sniffer?
Do BLE Laboratory Pro or BLE Sniffer have ads?
Which is updated more often, BLE Laboratory Pro or BLE Sniffer?
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