Comparison

Dabble vs Virtual Gamepad

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Virtual Gamepad

Control cloud games on your Samsung Smart TV directly from your iPhone. Connect seamlessly through the SmartThings app and Gaming Hub by scanning a QR code. Enjoy a gamepad-free experience for supported titles.

Highlights
  • Gamepad-free cloud gaming
  • Connects to Samsung Smart TV
  • Uses SmartThings mobile app
  • QR code connection via Gaming Hub
  • iPhone compatibility (iOS 15+)
Read full description

With the Samsung Virtual Gamepad app, enjoy gamepad-free cloud games on your mobile by simply connecting to your Samsung Smart TV. 1. Easy to use in the SmartThings mobile app Try using Virtual Gamepad with the SmartThings TV plug-in. 2. Simply connect to Gaming Hub on your Samsung Smart TV To connect your Virtual Gamepad, just scan the QR code in Gaming Hub. (Availability and supported devices may differ by country.) ※ The Virtual Gamepad is available on iPhone (iOS 15 or later). ※ Availability may vary across cloud games and countries.

Screenshots

Dabble4 screens
Virtual Gamepad3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Dabble at 65% against Virtual Gamepad's 16%. Dabble also leads on rating (3.9 vs 2.4) and ratings volume (128 vs 24). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Dabble holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Dabble has 128 ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Dabble's written reviews are positive against 16% of Virtual Gamepad's.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Dabble versus Virtual Gamepad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDabbleVirtual Gamepad
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (128 ratings) — better2.4 (24 ratings)
Positive reviews64.8% of reviews — better15.8% of reviews
Number of ratings128 — better24
Update frequencyEvery 6 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB30 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSTEMpediaSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Dabble

All ratings128 ratings
Positive71.9%
Neutral7.8%
Negative20.3%
Written reviews122 reviews
Positive64.8%
Neutral4.9%
Negative30.3%

Virtual Gamepad

All ratings24 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral4.2%
Negative62.5%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive15.8%
Neutral5.3%
Negative78.9%

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 more
  • 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 more
  • Motor control on iPhone
  • Pro version with more options

Virtual Gamepad

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Dabble

No in-app purchases

None

Virtual Gamepad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Dabble free?
Dabble is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Virtual Gamepad free?
Virtual Gamepad is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Dabble or Virtual Gamepad?
Dabble is rated higher. Dabble averages 3.9 out of 5 from 128 ratings, while Virtual Gamepad averages 2.4 from 24 ratings.
Do Dabble or Virtual Gamepad have ads?
Neither Dabble nor Virtual Gamepad shows ads.

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