Mantis Laser Academy vs SafetyStop
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mantis Laser Academy
This app provides a smart dry-fire laser training system using your smartphone's camera to detect hits, score shots, and time your performance. Enhance your marksmanship and speed with various drills, including competitive dueling modes, all from the convenience of your home.
- Automatic hit detection
- Automatic scoring
- Shot timing
- Marksmanship drills
- Speed drills
- Dueling drills
- Save training history
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TRAIN SMARTER: Mantis Laser Academy is a dry-fire laser training system, built around smart targets that support automatic hit detection, scoring, and shot time in the Laser Academy app from data provided by the camera on your smartphone. TRAIN AT HOME: Mantis Laser Academy enables you to set up a dry fire laser range that is powerful, safe, convenient, and very inexpensive. Laser Academy drills are built to enhance your shooting performance, in both marksmanship and speed. Test your skills against your friends using dueling drills that allow you to shoot side by side. KEY FEATURES: - Automatic target detection - Automatic shot detection - Automatic scoring - Marksmanship, speed, and reaction time drills - Shooter-to-shooter dueling drills - Save to history GETTING STARTED: Once you have your gear, you are ready to train. Before getting started check the training area and all firearms for safety. Ensure any firearms are unloaded and remove live ammunition from the training area. - Place the smart targets in the desired location. Avoid areas where glare from lights and windows may the affect detection of shots on the targets. - Place your smartphone on the tripod and point the rear camera at the target(s) you have placed. - If you are using a laser cartridge, load the laser cartridge into the chamber of your firearm. - Launch the Mantis Laser Academy app on your phone, select a drill, and proceed to train. DRILLS and SMART TARGETS: The Mantis Laser Academy app has a variety of drills focused on different aspects of shooting. Some drills require specific smart targets. Other drills work with any smart target. Several drills support multiple targets and allow local competition between shooters. Smart targets are automatically detected and scored by Mantis Laser Academy. Using smart targets provides the most enjoyable and valuable training experience. The Control Target allows you to Start, Stop, Clear, and Close in the app by shooting specific regions on the Control Target. Mantis Laser Academy has a selection of free drills and a selection of drills that can be purchased or unlocked. You can purchase a single drill or Full Access in the app. Our mission is to help every shooter improve their accuracy and confidence. Mantis Laser Academy is the latest innovation in our next-level shooting systems designed to help you achieve a higher level of proficiency. Train smarter, train better, train with Mantis.
SafetyStop
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SafetyStop is the dive app I wanted and could not find: quick enough to use on a boat, honest about what it does not know, and built so your dive log is never trapped anywhere. THE LOGBOOK IS THE STAR Log a dive in seconds. Tap Use My Location and SafetyStop names the water you are actually in and sets salt or fresh for you — the two things every other app makes you type twice. Depth, time, gas, buddy, conditions, notes. Imperial or metric, your choice, switchable any time. NITROX, WITHOUT THE GUESSWORK Enter your mix and get MOD, EAD and PPO2 at working and contingency depths, each marked safe, warning or danger against the limit you set. An acronym key explains every term, because "EAD" should not require a textbook. PLAN THE DIVE, FILL THE TANK Dive planning works out your gas, rock bottom and turn pressure. The tank refill calculator tells you what to add for a target mix, and what pressure to stop at on the gauge. READ YOUR DIVES OFF YOUR COMPUTER If you dive a Shearwater, SafetyStop reads your dives straight off it over Bluetooth, depth profile included. Re-importing is safe: dives already in your log are skipped. WORKS OFFLINE, SYNCS WHEN YOU WANT IT TO Your dives are saved on your device and the whole app works with no signal and no account — the logbook, every calculator, dive planning, dive-computer import and export need neither. Cloud sync is optional. SafetyStop Cloud Sync costs $4.99 per year and keeps a backup of your log and syncs it across your devices; the copy on your phone stays exactly where it is. Either way you can export your whole log to a file and import it back, so it is never locked in. WHAT THIS IS NOT SafetyStop shows no-decompression limits from published recreational tables, and it plans your gas. It has no decompression model of its own and it does not replace your dive computer, which tracks your actual profile. Table limits are for a first dive only. Always dive within your certification and follow your computer. Developed by Divers, for Divers. SUBSCRIPTION SafetyStop Cloud Sync — $4.99 per year, auto-renewing. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://safetystop.cloud/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Mantis Laser Academy at 3 against SafetyStop's 1. Mantis Laser Academy also leads on iOS requirement (15 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Mantis Laser Academy sells 15 one-off in-app purchases and SafetyStop sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Mantis Laser Academy ships an update every 3 weeks, SafetyStop every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mantis Laser Academy | SafetyStop |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (4.1K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 68.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4.1K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 284 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Mantis Tech LLC | Kevin Ross |
Bugs and requests
Mantis Laser Academy
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes during Pistol Marksmanship course
- Inability to add firearms and view history
- Calibration tool obstructs view of crosshairs
- Tripod instability causes false readings
- Sound not working unless headphones are connected
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to customize drills and courses
- Integrate with Mantis X app for more comprehensive training
- Implement daily shot count tracking
- Allow manual entry of firearm settings
- Add more training modes and game-like features
SafetyStop
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mantis Laser Academy
- Open Shooting - Multi-target$4.99
- Duel - Five Shot$4.99
- Shot From Guard/Low Ready$4.99
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- Bullseye - 10 Shot$4.99
- Compressed Surprise Break$4.99
- Holster Draw - Par Timed$4.99
- Holster Draw$4.99
- Multiple Shots and Targets$4.99
- Close Contact from Holster$4.99
- Hunt$4.99
- Duel - Hunt$4.99
- Emergency Reload$4.99
- 01 Darts$4.99
- Duel - High Score$4.99
- Lifetime Membership$49.99
SafetyStop
- Cloud Sync$4.991 Year
Questions
Is Mantis Laser Academy free?
Is SafetyStop free?
Do Mantis Laser Academy or SafetyStop have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mantis Laser Academy or SafetyStop?
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