Dabble vs 8BitDo Ultimate Software
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dabble
Control and communicate with hardware like Arduino and ESP32 using your smartphone's sensors and Bluetooth. This app transforms your phone into a virtual controller, offering modules for LED control, terminal commands, gamepad functionality, and access to phone sensors.
- LED Brightness Control
- Terminal for text and voice commands
- Gamepad control (analog, digital, accelerometer)
- Pin State Monitor
- Phone Sensor access (GPS, mic, accelerometer, etc.)
- Scratch & Arduino compatible projects
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Dabble is a versatile project interaction & Bluetooth controller app for Arduino, ESP32 & evive that replaces a wide variety of electronic components and exploits the inbuilt features and sensors of your Smartphone like the GPS, mic & accelerometer thus transforming into a virtual treasury of infinite shields & more. It lets you control & communicate with hardware via Bluetooth. It also provides you with dedicated projects compatible with Scratch & Arduino to help you learn by doing. What Dabble has in store: Currently Available Modules: • LED Brightness Control: Control brightness of LEDs and digital/analog pins. • Terminal: Send and receive textual and voice commands over Bluetooth. • Gamepad: Control devices/robot in analog (Joystick), digital, and accelerometer mode. • Pin State Monitor: Remotely monitor the live status of devices and debug them. • Phone Sensor: Access different sensors of your Smartphone such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, magnetometer, light meter, sound meter, GPS, temperature sensor, and barometer to make projects and conduct experiments. Coming Soon: • Motor Control (Coming Soon): Control actuators such as the DC motor and servo motor. • Inputs (Coming Soon): Provide analog and digital inputs via buttons, knobs, and switches. • Camera (Coming Soon): Use the camera of your Smartphone for taking photos, record videos, colour picking, and face recognition (coming soon). • IoT (Coming Soon): Log data, publish it on cloud, and access data from API. • Oscilloscope (Coming Soon): Visualize and analyse the input and output signals given to the device using the oscilloscope module. • Music (Coming Soon): Receive commands from the device and play tones, songs, or other recorded audio files on your Smartphone. • Projects (Coming Soon): Make dedicated projects to experience different concepts of the real world first-hand like home automation, line-follower, and robotic arm. Boards Compatible with Dabble: • evive • Arduino Uno • Arduino Mega • Arduino Nano • ESP32 Bluetooth Modules Compatible with Dabble: • HM-10 BT 4.0 BLE (or AT-09) Want to know more about Dabble? Visit: https://thestempedia.com/product/dabble/ Module Documentation: https://thestempedia.com/docs/dabble/ Getting Started with Dabble: https://thestempedia.com/docs/dabble/getting-started-with-dabble/ Projects that you can make: https://thestempedia.com/product/dabble-app/ Permissions required for: Bluetooth: to provide connectivity. Microphone: to send voice commands and use the sound meter. Location: to use Location sensor and BLE.
8BitDo Ultimate Software
Gain complete control over your compatible gamepad. Customize button layouts, fine-tune analog stick and trigger responses, and manage vibration intensity. Create custom macro commands for advanced gameplay.
- Button mapping customization
- Stick and trigger sensitivity adjustment
- Vibration power control
- Macro creation
- Controller compatibility management
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8BitDo Ultimate Software gives you elite control over every piece of your controller: customize button mapping, adjust stick & trigger sensitivity, vibration power control and create macros. Controller Compatibility: * 8BitDo Pro 2 Bluetooth Controller * 8BitDo Pro 2 Wired Controller for Xbox * 8BitDo Ultimate Wired Controller for Xbox * 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller * 8BitDo Micro Gamepad * 8BitDo Ultimate 3-mode Controller for Xbox Please visit support.8bitdo.com for further information and additional support.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Dabble at 75% against 8BitDo Ultimate Software's 26%. Dabble also leads on rating (3.9 vs 2.4). 8BitDo Ultimate Software's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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.
Dabble holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 128 and 197 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Dabble's written reviews are positive against 26% of 8BitDo Ultimate Software's.
Dabble ships an update every 6 months, 8BitDo Ultimate Software every 2 months. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Dabble | 8BitDo Ultimate Software |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (128 ratings) — better | 2.4 (197 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better | 26.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 128 | 197 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 167 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | STEMpedia | 8BitDo |
Customer experience
Dabble
8BitDo Ultimate Software
User reviews
Dabble
From 128 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use for beginners
- 🚀 Works well with ESP32 and Arduino
- 💰 Free and fully functional
- 💡 Great for robotics projects
- 📱 Useful phone sensors
Room to improve
- 🐛 Gamepad issues on iOS
- 🐛 Not all functions available on iPhone
- 🐛 GPS data transfer unreliable
- 🐛 Phone sensor data flaky
- 🐛 UI issues on older versions
8BitDo Ultimate Software
From 197 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Functional app
- 💡 Helpful for left-hand device use
- 🚀 Seamless controller connection
- 🚀 Intuitive key mapping
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 🐛 Lack of support for certain controllers
- 🐛 Buggy firmware updates
- 🐛 Profiles not saving properly
Bugs and requests
Dabble
Reported bugs
15 issues- Gamepad doesn't work on iOS
- Joystick values are blank on iOS
- Buttons do not show for gamepad
- Controller function broken on iPhones without a home button
- Gamepad won't turn, only shows left/right controls, format off
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- Gamepad doesn't load properly, shows only two arrows
- Game pad section is useless after iOS 16 update, doesn't show entire gamepad
- Lag and robot continues to move
- Joystick resets values when action button is pressed
- GPS data transfer not reliable
- Phone sensor data is flaky
- UI completely messed up due to no updates
- Auto connect problem (BLE services in reverse order)
- Doesn't connect to Nintendo Switch Lite, no SYNC button
- Gamepad doesn't display on iPhone 8, works on iPad
Requested features
7 requests- More buttons on gamepad or custom gamepad creation
- Additional controller types (joystick, button rows)
- Ability to map terminal commands to virtual actions/notifications
- Offline automation and scripts for iOS
- Xbox controller support
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Motor control on iPhone
- Pro version with more options
8BitDo Ultimate Software
Reported bugs
4 issues- App unable to detect connected controllers
- Key mapping not working as expected
- Profiles resetting after app restart
- Firmware update issues bricking controllers
Requested features
5 requests- Support for more controllers (e.g. 8bitdo Zero 2, SN30 Pro+)
- Add ability to remap command/option keys for macOS/iOS
- Improve macro functionality (e.g. adjustable delay, ability to hold keys)
- Add media control key mapping options
- Implement Bluetooth firmware update capability
In-app purchases
Dabble
No in-app purchases
8BitDo Ultimate Software
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Dabble free?
Is 8BitDo Ultimate Software free?
Which has better reviews, Dabble or 8BitDo Ultimate Software?
Do Dabble or 8BitDo Ultimate Software have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dabble or 8BitDo Ultimate Software?
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