# Bluebeam vs BLK Live

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Bluebeam at 392 against BLK Live's 11. Bluebeam also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). BLK Live's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.

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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 1.5 for Bluebeam against 1.5 for BLK Live. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bluebeam has 392 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 3% of Bluebeam's written reviews are positive against 0% of BLK Live's.

Bluebeam ships an update monthly, BLK Live every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bluebeam | BLK Live |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [1.5 (392 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bluebeam/id1479484276/reviews) | [1.5 (11 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/blk-live/id1608854881/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **392** | 11 |
| Positive reviews | **2.6% of reviews** | 0.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Monthly** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 288 MB | 145 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Bluebeam, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/489696449) | [Leica Geosystems AG](https://appshunter.io/developer/532477810) |

## What reviewers say

### Bluebeam

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bluebeam/id1479484276)

Access and collaborate on PDF documents directly from your mobile device. Communicate project updates with markups and work offline by syncing files. Seamlessly join live collaboration sessions and manage document revisions from the field.

**Highlights:** Real-time PDF collaboration, Markup and annotation tools, Offline file access, Document syncing, Studio Project management, Live session joining

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- ✅ Automatic saving functionality works well
- 📱 Useful for viewing PDFs on the go
- 🔄 Good for accessing Studio sessions
- 📊 Desktop version is powerful and feature-rich
- 🎯 Cleaner, more modern interface design

**What reviewers complain about**

- ❌ Massive feature loss compared to Revu for iPad
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing issues
- 📉 Severely limited markup tools and capabilities
- 🖊️ Apple Pencil input is unresponsive and laggy
- 💾 Data loss and corruption issues

**Reported bugs**

- Markups fail to load or display correctly
- App deletes markups instead of saving them
- Documents wipe clean when reopened
- Files uploaded disappear from app
- Corrupted file errors when opening PDFs

**Requested features**

- Restore measurement and scaling tools
- Add custom toolsets and tool libraries
- Implement bookmarks for document navigation
- Enable image embedding in callouts
- Add undo/redo functionality


### BLK Live

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/blk-live/id1608854881)

This application allows users to connect to and control Leica 3D imaging laser scanners. It provides real-time visualization of scan paths, 3D viewing for data inspection, and direct export options to common file formats or cloud platforms.

**Highlights:** Connect to BLK scanners, Control scanner settings, Organize data in jobs, Real-time scan path visualization, 3D data inspection, Export scans to e57, Upload to Reality Cloud Studio

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bluebeam free?

Bluebeam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is BLK Live free?

BLK Live is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Bluebeam or BLK Live?

Bluebeam and BLK Live are both rated 1.5 out of 5 on the App Store, from 392 and 11 ratings respectively.

### Do Bluebeam or BLK Live have ads?

Neither Bluebeam nor BLK Live shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Bluebeam or BLK Live?

Bluebeam ships an update monthly, and BLK Live every 2 months. Most recently, Bluebeam was updated on September 26, 2026 and BLK Live on September 21, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*