Comparison

LocalSend vs PoolLevels

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

Head to head
About

LocalSend

Securely share files offline and without the internet. This app offers fast, encrypted peer-to-peer transfers across multiple platforms, ensuring privacy and data integrity. Ideal for professionals and teams needing reliable, secure file sharing in sensitive environments.

Highlights
  • Offline file transfer over Wi-Fi/LAN
  • End-to-end TLS encryption
  • Cross-platform compatibility (iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux)
  • No internet required
  • No tracking or data collection
  • Open-source and transparent
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

LocalSend is a secure, offline-first file transfer solution, purpose-built for professionals, teams, and organizations operating in high-trust, security-critical environments. With over 8 million downloads globally, LocalSend enables fast, encrypted peer-to-peer file sharing — without the cloud, without internet access, and without surveillance. Fully offline operation – transfer files over local Wi-Fi or LAN, no internet required End-to-end TLS encryption – full confidentiality and integrity of your data Cross-platform compatibility – available on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux No tracking, no data collection, no ads Open-source & fully transparent – trusted worldwide in defense, critical infrastructure, and secure enterprise environments Designed for use cases where control, privacy, and operational integrity are non-negotiable. Ideal for deployment in corporate networks, mobile field units, temporary infrastructures, and air-gapped or connectivity-constrained environments.

About

PoolLevels

Features
Read full description

Type in your pool test readings and PoolLevels tells you what the water is doing and the one thing to add. Most pool apps hand you a wall of numbers and a red or green face. PoolLevels computes the saturation index the way a water chemist would, says whether the water is corrosive, balanced or scaling, and gives you a single dose sized for your pool, with the arithmetic printed underneath so you can check it yourself. WHAT IT DOES Real carbonate chemistry. The saturation index from pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, cyanuric acid and water temperature, using the Plummer and Busenberg equilibria and Davies activity coefficients, with the cyanurate correction most calculators leave out. One thing at a time. Not a list of six chemicals. One dose, sized for your pool's actual gallons, rounded to a precision you can measure with a jug. The working shown. Every recommendation prints the arithmetic that produced it, so you can see where the number came from instead of trusting it. Safe handling on every dose. Half first with the pump running, circulate, retest, then the rest. Never mix chemicals. Always acid into water. These are on the recommendation, not buried in a help page. Your history. Every reading you save, with the date you tested, so you can see whether last month's dose actually did anything. Strip capture and reading. Photograph a test strip and the app finds it in the photo, records each pad's colour, and can turn those colours into readings by matching them against the bottle's printed chart, corrected where we have paired that strip with a store test. Every reading taken from a photo is labelled as such, any pad whose colour sits far from every chart swatch is marked uncertain, and typing the numbers from a store test is always one tap away. WHAT IT WILL NOT DO It will not guess. Leave out calcium hardness or cyanuric acid and it says so rather than assuming a number. That is not fussiness: omitting cyanuric acid moved a real sample by 0.18 and flipped its verdict from corrosive to balanced. A wrong answer delivered confidently is worse than no answer. It will not track you. No account, no sign in, no advertising. Your readings, your pool and your photos are stored on your phone and nowhere else. The app sends anonymous usage events, such as that a strip was read or the upgrade screen was opened, with no readings, no photos and no location. Purchases go through Apple. Delete it and the data goes with it. It is not a substitute for a test kit, a product label, or a professional. It calculates from the numbers you give it, or reads them from a strip. A strip reading is a first look, not a test kit result. Read the label on the chemical you are actually using, because concentrations differ between brands. Terms: https://poollevels.com/terms Privacy: https://poollevels.com/privacy

Screenshots

LocalSend4 screens
PoolLevels4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: LocalSend at #85 against PoolLevels's unranked. LocalSend also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. LocalSend sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and PoolLevels sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LocalSend ships an update every 11 days, PoolLevels every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
LocalSend versus PoolLevels: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLocalSendPoolLevels
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (750 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews81.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings750 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 11 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#85 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTien Do NamALSTIG INC

Bugs and requests

LocalSend

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes after device hibernation
  • Transferred files not appearing in device gallery
  • Inability to delete transferred files from app
  • Compatibility issues with certain OS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add a 'select all' option for media files
  • Improve file organization and management
  • Implement background/automatic file transfer
  • Add support for wired file transfers

PoolLevels

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

LocalSend

One-time4
  • LocalSend Donation$5.00
  • LocalSend Donation$10.00
  • LocalSend Donation$20.00
Show 1 more
  • LocalSend Donation$50.00
2 purchases

PoolLevels

Subscriptions2
  • PoolLevels Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • PoolLevels Pro Annual$41.991 Year

Questions

Is LocalSend free?
LocalSend is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PoolLevels free?
PoolLevels is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do LocalSend or PoolLevels have ads?
Neither LocalSend nor PoolLevels shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LocalSend or PoolLevels?
LocalSend ships an update every 11 days, and PoolLevels every 2 weeks. Most recently, LocalSend was updated on November 3, 2026 and PoolLevels on October 31, 2026.

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