Beta Direct vs Boardsesh
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Beta Direct
Easily create and share climbing routes on any wall by uploading a photo. Draw climbs, track your progress, and collaborate with friends by sharing your wall and their routes. Update your wall's configuration as holds change.
- Upload and adjust climbing wall photos
- Draw and create custom climbs
- Track and sort all created climbs
- Update wall configurations with new photos
- Share walls and climbs with friends
- Climb friends' routes on your wall
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Beta Direct allows any climber to make the most of their climbing wall - a home wall or even any gym wall. Take a photo of a climbing wall, add it to Beta Direct, and start creating climbs. Share your wall with friends and let them add climbs too. When some climbing holds change - take a new photo, adjust it so the holds still line-up, and keep climbing. Features: * Easily upload a photo of a climbing wall * Adjust your wall photos to best fit the climbing holds * Create climbs by drawing over your wall photo * Track and sort all climbs on your wall * Update your wall at any time - adjust a new photo so that old existing holds still line-up * Share your wall with friends, including your wall photo * Climb your friend’s climbs on your wall
Boardsesh
This app connects to various LED climbing boards via Bluetooth to light up holds on your wall. Browse and filter thousands of community-created climbs, build a queue, and track your progress. It supports group sessions for climbing with friends, whether in the same gym or remotely.
- Connects to LED climbing boards
- Lights up holds on the wall
- Browse and filter community climbs
- Build and manage a climb queue
- Track climbing attempts and sends
- Supports group climbing sessions
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Search a climb, watch your wall light up. Less time on your phone, more time on the wall. ONE APP FOR EVERY BOARD YOU CLIMB Kilter, Tension and MoonBoard each ship their own app for their own board. Boardsesh works across all of them, plus Woods, Decoy, Touchstone, Grasshopper and So iLL, in one place. Your whole climbing history across every board lives here. BOARD HISTORY, ALWAYS ON Share a board and you lose track of the last climb fast, and someone always wipes it by accident. In Boardsesh every board you connect to has a live feed of what's lit on that wall right now: the climb's name, who lit it, who set it, the grade and angle, and recent sends. It updates as the wall changes, so you always know what's up there. SESSIONS WITH YOUR CREW Start a session and you and your crew can share one queue everyone can drive. Anyone can light the next climb on the wall. When you're done you get a recap and tracking: sends and attempts, grade spread, your hardest send, and progress over time. CONTROL FROM YOUR LOCK SCREEN (iOS 17+) iOS Live Activities tell you what climb is on from your lock screen, and allow you to change it without leaving your lock screen. BUILD A WORKOUT Pick Volume, Pyramid, Ladder or Grade Focus, set a target grade and warm-up, preview the climbs, then push them to the wall one at a time. TRACK YOUR CLIMBING Record sends, flashes and attempts, get a recap with duration, grade spread and your hardest send, and watch your sends and grades climb on the Progress tab. BRING YOUR HISTORY WITH YOU Save your session to Apple Health, and import your past Kilter and Tension logbook from Aurora Climbing. FIND MORE TO CLIMB Follow your crew and setters, search climbers, and pin playlists from Discover. Supported boards: Kilter, Tension, MoonBoard (2010, 2016, 2024, Masters 2017, Masters 2019), Woods (12x12, 8x10), Decoy, Touchstone, Grasshopper and So iLL. Boardsesh is a community effort that works with these boards and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any board manufacturer.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Boardsesh at 4.6 against Beta Direct's 4.0. Boardsesh also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). Beta Direct's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and device support 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. Beta Direct sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Boardsesh asks for nothing beyond the download.
Boardsesh holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 24 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Beta Direct's written reviews are positive against 75% of Boardsesh's.
Beta Direct ships an update every 8 days, Boardsesh every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Beta Direct | Boardsesh |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (9 ratings) | 4.6 (24 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 24 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 9 days |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 67 MB | 100 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Robert Pierce | Marco de Jongh |
Customer experience
Beta Direct
Boardsesh
In-app purchases
Beta Direct
- Remove Ads$0.99
- Wall Image Credit$0.99
- Unlimited Wall Image Credits$4.99
Boardsesh
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Beta Direct free?
Is Boardsesh free?
Which has better reviews, Beta Direct or Boardsesh?
Do Beta Direct or Boardsesh have ads?
Which is updated more often, Beta Direct or Boardsesh?
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