Carnets vs SensorStream, powered by ROS 2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Carnets
This app offers a standalone Jupyter notebook environment for creating and running code snippets, combining them with text and Markdown. It includes pre-installed scientific packages and allows for offline use, making it ideal for education and research.
- Standalone Jupyter notebook implementation
- Embedded Python interpreter
- Offline functionality
- Pre-installed scientific packages
- Supports Jupyterlab
- Package installation via %pip
- Notebook sharing and opening
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Jupyter notebooks are a powerful tool used in education and research. You can write small snippets of Python code and observe the result on screen, combine with paragraphs of text, using Markdown. Carnets provides a complete, stand-alone, implementation of Jupyter notebooks. Everything runs on your device, using the embedded Python interpreter; you do not need an internet connection. You can chose between Jupyter notebooks and the more advance Jupyterlab using Settings. Numpy, Sympy, Matplotlib, Pandas, lxml, bokeh, nbextensions (including ipywidgets) and many other packages are pre-installed. To see the full list of installed packages, type "%pip list" in a code window. You can add more packages using "%pip install packageName", but only if they are pure Python. If you need scipy, seaborn or scikit-learn, please use our other App, "Carnets - Jupyter (with scipy)". You can share your notebooks with other apps and also open notebooks or directories managed by other apps. Partial list of installed packages: astropy, babel, bokeh, cryptography, cvxopt, Fiona, geopandas, geopy, lxml, matplotlib, numpy, openCV, pandas, pillow, pyFFTW, pyproj, rasterio, regex, shapely, sympy, wordcloud.
SensorStream, powered by ROS 2
This app transforms your iPhone into a powerful sensor platform, streaming LiDAR depth, RGB camera, IMU, and GPS data to your computer. It's designed for robotics development and research, offering both Wi-Fi and USB connection options for seamless integration with ROS 2.
- LiDAR depth streaming
- RGB camera feed
- IMU data (accelerometer, gyroscope)
- GPS location data
- Wi-Fi and USB transport options
- ROS 2 integration
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SensorStream turns your iPhone into a sensor platform, streaming LiDAR depth, RGB camera, IMU, and GPS data to your host computer over Wi-Fi or USB. Built for robotics prototypers, researchers, or anyone who wants to use the iPhone's powerful built-in sensor suite. SENSOR STREAMS • LiDAR Depth — 256×192 depth frames at up to 30 FPS from front and back (Wide) cameras (requires a LiDAR-equipped iPhone) • RGB Camera — JPEG-compressed colour frames at up to 30 FPS from the wide-angle camera, or front-facing camera • IMU — accelerometer, gyroscope, and quaternion orientation data at a configurable frequency • GPS — GNSS position TRANSPORT OPTIONS • Wi-Fi (TCP) — connect wirelessly over your local network; scan the server's QR code from the app for instant pairing • USB — low-latency wired connection via PeerTalk / iproxy for demanding real-time applications INTEGRATION • Driver for integration with ROS 2 — a companion driver publishes sensor data directly to ROS 2 topics (/depth_image, /color_image/compressed, /imu/data, /gps/fix) using sensor_msgs message types ON-DEVICE PREVIEW • Real-time depth overlay with adjustable min/max range and colour thresholds • Live camera preview • IMU visualiser for orientation feedback • Per-sensor toggles and settings — configure each sensor independently before streaming HOW IT WORKS 1. Start the companion driver on your computer 2. Open SensorStream, go to Settings → Network, and connect via Wi-Fi (scan the QR code or enter IP/port manually) or USB. 3. Enable the sensors you need on the Dashboard. 4. Tap Start Streaming, that's it. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone with iOS 15.6 or later • LiDAR sensor required for depth streaming (iPhone 12 Pro and later) • Host computer running Python 3.9+ and ROS 2 Humble for the companion server
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Carnets at 78% against SensorStream, powered by ROS 2's 0%. Carnets also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (321 vs 1). SensorStream, powered by ROS 2's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). 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.
Carnets holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Carnets has 321 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of Carnets's written reviews are positive against 0% of SensorStream, powered by ROS 2's.
Carnets ships an update monthly, SensorStream, powered by ROS 2 every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Carnets | SensorStream, powered by ROS 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (321 ratings) — better | 3.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.4% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 321 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #58 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.4 GB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nicolas Holzschuch | Martijn Habers |
Customer experience
Carnets
SensorStream, powered by ROS 2
Bugs and requests
Carnets
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes and freezes
- Issues with saving and loading notebooks
- Problems with running scripts and notebooks
- Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for SciPy, Scikit-learn, and other scientific computing libraries
- Improve file management and integration with cloud storage services
- Implement split-screen or multi-window support
- Add more keyboard shortcuts and customization options
- Improve error handling and provide more detailed error messages
SensorStream, powered by ROS 2
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Carnets
No in-app purchases
SensorStream, powered by ROS 2
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Carnets free?
Is SensorStream, powered by ROS 2 free?
Which has better reviews, Carnets or SensorStream, powered by ROS 2?
Do Carnets or SensorStream, powered by ROS 2 have ads?
Which is updated more often, Carnets or SensorStream, powered by ROS 2?
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