Comparison

Bluetooth Inspector vs socket

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

Head to head
About

Bluetooth Inspector

Explore nearby Bluetooth devices and examine their services and characteristics. View real-time signal strength, battery levels for your own devices, and identify model names. Extract software versions and read or write characteristic values.

Highlights
  • Real-time signal strength and device information
  • Apple device battery level monitoring
  • Device model identification
  • Software and firmware version extraction
  • Read and write characteristic values
  • Characteristic value history
  • Log and export data
  • Background scanning with Live Activity
Features
Read full description

Discover nearby Bluetooth peripherals and inspect their services for information and characteristics. • View information and signal strength for all peripherals and devices, updating in real time as you move around. • Get battery level for your own Apple devices — no need to install the app on all your devices. • See model identification broadcast by devices around you, mapping device identifiers to the marketing name. • Extract software and firmware version strings from devices broadcasting this information. • Read any characteristic's value, even for services not well known and are custom to the device being interrogated. • Write characteristic values back to the peripheral as string, numeric or hex. • See a history of the value of a characteristic since the session started, timestamped to when the value changed. • Log found peripherals, services, characteristics and values, and export a .log file of timestamped events for your analysis. • Shortcuts integration with actions for scanning and interrogation, enumerating services and characteristics, and reading values. • Background scanning by advertised service IDs with device count mapped by location found and status shown in a Live Activity. Get support @grgarside or georgegarside.com/apps/bluetooth-inspector Constant use of Bluetooth connectivity can drain your device's battery. Bluetooth connectivity is only used when this app is in the foreground and up to a few seconds after being backgrounded to safely disconnect from peripherals being interrogated, unless Background Scanning is enabled in the app and the Live Activity is running.

About

socket

A modern, native SSH and SFTP client for iOS and iPadOS. It offers secure connections, a real interactive terminal with customizable options, and efficient file transfer capabilities. Includes network diagnostic tools and is built with privacy in mind.

Highlights
  • Secure SSH and SFTP connections
  • Interactive terminal with ANSI color
  • Concurrent file transfer queue
  • Quick commands and history
  • On-device SSH key generation
  • Network diagnostics (ping, DNS, traceroute)
  • Private by design, no account needed
Features
Read full description

socket is a modern, native ssh and sftp client built for ios and ipados, designed to feel like a real apple app rather than an admin tool bolted onto a phone screen. connect add your servers once, then connect in a tap. password or key-based authentication, per-host folders and favorites, and real host key verification keep every connection secure. real terminal a genuine interactive terminal with proper ansi colour support, adjustable fonts and cursor styles, and multiple themes. run several sessions at once across different servers and switch between them instantly, each one staying connected in the background. sftp, done properly browse remote files, create folders, rename and delete, and transfer multiple files at once with a real concurrent transfer queue, not a fake one-at-a-time spinner. quick commands & history save frequently used commands per host and run them in a single tap. socket also remembers what you've typed, so recalling and rerunning a recent command takes seconds. ssh keys, handled right generate real ed25519 keys on-device, see their actual fingerprints, and manage them without ever touching a config file. everything sensitive lives in the ios keychain. network diagnostics ping, dns lookup, traceroute, port checking, an http inspector, a real speed test, and ip info tools, all built in and running natively. no ads, no gimmicks. private by design socket works entirely without an account. nothing you configure is ever sent to us, because we don't operate any servers your data passes through. lock the app with face id or touch id for extra peace of mind. built entirely in native swiftui for ios 18 and later, with full support for light and dark mode, dynamic type, and apple's latest design language.

Screenshots

Bluetooth Inspector4 screens
socket4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: socket at 100% against Bluetooth Inspector's 59%. socket also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). Bluetooth Inspector's advantage is chart position (#38 vs unranked) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and ads 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. Bluetooth Inspector sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. socket asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Bluetooth Inspector versus socket: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBluetooth Inspectorsocket
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.6K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews58.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.6K — better—
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#38 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGeorge GarsideHammad Ally

Customer experience

Bluetooth Inspector

All ratings1,561 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral5.3%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews172 reviews
Positive58.7%
Neutral12.8%
Negative28.5%

socket

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Bluetooth Inspector

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to refresh device list without reinstalling
  • Inconsistent behavior when selecting devices
  • Mapping feature not functioning as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to rename detected devices
  • Option to filter or hide known devices
  • Integration with device location tracking
  • Support for other wireless protocols (Wi-Fi, etc.)

socket

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Bluetooth Inspector

One-time1
  • Bluetooth Inspector Pro$3.99
None

socket

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bluetooth Inspector free?
Bluetooth Inspector is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is socket free?
socket is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Bluetooth Inspector or socket have ads?
Neither Bluetooth Inspector nor socket shows ads.

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