Comparison

BLE Serial Pro vs PhotoFolia

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

Head to head
About

BLE Serial Pro

Transform your iOS device into a wireless serial terminal for Bluetooth Low Energy devices. Send commands and receive data in real-time from various IoT hardware, making debugging and development seamless.

Highlights
  • Connect to any BLE serial device
  • Send commands and receive data
  • Programmable buttons for quick commands
  • Live console strip for real-time feedback
  • Customizable display options
  • Smart alerts for specific data patterns
Features
Read full description

A range of devices use Texas Instruments’ CC2540/CC2541 system-on-chip as a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface and are compatible with Android and iOS platforms. BLE boards as the AT-09, MLT-BT05, HM-10, JDY-08, JDY-10 et cetera use CC2540/41 chips and can be connected to the serial ports of Arduino's and Raspberry's. Features: • Fully customisable console view, with options like: - Display format (ASCII, Hex, Dec, etc.) - Line numbers and timestamps - Newline behaviour - Style (code or chat) and sound effects • Send data how it suits you: - In different formats (ASCII, Hex, Dec, etc.) - With or without newline/carriage return character at the end - All at once or in chunks (to accommodate for processing time) • Create buttons to send pre-determined messages - Customise the messages, titles, color and layout - Optionally send message repeatedly while button is pressed - Optionally append newline character to messages - These buttons can be exported, to be imported on other devices • Completely functional bluetooth explorer included! Find out the services, descriptors and other properties of any bluetooth device in range • "Send on Connect" option, to send a preset message after pairing • "Auto Reconnect" option, to reconnect automatically to the previous device • Easily copy or share the sent and received messages • Editable service/characteristic UUIDs to connect to • Read/Write characteristic UUIDs can be set separately • Easy to use minimalist layout

About

PhotoFolia

Read full description

Plant life depends upon photosynthesis, which starts with absorption of light energy by the green pigment chlorophyll. The chlorophyll concentration in a leaf can be inferred from its colour. PhotoFolia uses a colour standard and proprietary algorithms to provide a calibrated measurement of leaf spectral reflectance, from which chlorophyll and nitrogen concentration as well as SPAD value can be inferred. Photofolia allows users to select the particular plant species to give the best possible meausrment. Results are stored in the cloud, and can be viewed on a web browser at https://colourworker.com/apps/photofolia/showmeasurements

Screenshots

BLE Serial Pro4 screens
PhotoFolia2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PhotoFolia at Free against BLE Serial Pro's $3.99. PhotoFolia also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

PhotoFolia is free to download; BLE Serial Pro costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BLE Serial Pro ships an update every 5 months, PhotoFolia every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
BLE Serial Pro versus PhotoFolia: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBLE Serial ProPhotoFolia
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.614.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEd NieuwenhuysMiguel Garvie

In-app purchases

None

BLE Serial Pro

No in-app purchases

None

PhotoFolia

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BLE Serial Pro free?
BLE Serial Pro costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PhotoFolia free?
PhotoFolia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do BLE Serial Pro or PhotoFolia have ads?
Neither BLE Serial Pro nor PhotoFolia shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BLE Serial Pro or PhotoFolia?
BLE Serial Pro ships an update every 5 months, and PhotoFolia every 2 months. Most recently, BLE Serial Pro was updated on November 3, 2026 and PhotoFolia on October 30, 2026.

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