Nitrox Tools vs Nitrox Buddy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nitrox Tools
This app provides essential tools for divers to plan and blend enriched air nitrox. It calculates dive parameters like equivalent air depth and maximum operating depth, and supports various blending methods for custom gas mixes. Easily switch between metric and imperial units and save custom settings for frequent use.
- Enriched air nitrox blending
- Dive planning calculations
- Equivalent Air Depth (EAD)
- Partial Pressure of Oxygen (PPO2)
- Maximum Operating Depth (MOD)
- Save custom mixes and settings
- Metric/Imperial unit switching
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Enriched Air Nitrox blending and planning tools in your hand and available at a touch. You can use these tools at your air station to provide the information you need to fill a Nitrox tank from any existing mix (or empty). Dive Planning tools provide your Equivalent Air Depth, PPO2 at your planned depth, Maximum & Contingency Operating Depth at various oxygen partial pressures and the "best mix" for a planned depth and oxygen partial pressure. You can easily switch between Metric and Imperial/U.S. systems of measurement to adapt to a new fill station. The dive planning tools also support both salt and fresh water calculations. Chances are you regularly work with a specific set of mixes and and common dive situations. Nitrox Tools includes the convenience of saved settings that you can recall at a touch and adjust to a new situation as needed. You can also select mix values using pre-installed default mixes or your own saved custom mixes. When updating one of the mixes for a tool you are offered a list of saved mixes that you can use directly or adjust as needed. You can save the currently displayed mix by clicking the "+" button. Just like with the saved calculations, you can re-arrange or delete any mixes in your saved list. Do you need to share your planning or blending calculations with other divers? All the tools have the ability to share the results of the calculations from within the application. You can set default email addresses and a subject within Nitrox Tool's settings that will be automatically added when you share a result. Nitrox Tools supports a number of blending methods: • Top Up - blend a final mix from starting mix and pressure using 100% oxygen and air or any available topping mix. • Bleed Down - save expensive oxygen and valuable time by easily calculating how much gas to bleed from an existing cylinder to switch to a different mix using air or any available topping mix. • Mix + Mix - make a specific final mix using the remaining gas in the cylinder and mixing that with banked Nitrox (rather than pure oxygen) and air or another topping mix. This enables the blending of Nitrox without the use of pure oxygen for certain combinations of mixes. Avoiding pure oxygen may increase the safety of the blending process and help manage the cost. • Top Off - determine the expected result from topping an existing cylinder with air or some other topping mix. This situation is common when a diver wants to have the blender top the mix remaining from the first dive with air from the boat's compressor. Remember you must always personally analyze your mix before diving it. This application is not a substitute for proper training and should not be used as a substitute for proper dive planning or the primary Nitrox blending and planning methods taught during training. Please do not attempt to handle high pressure oxygen or fill SCUBA cylinders without proper training.
Nitrox Buddy
This application serves as a straightforward calculator for nitrox and enriched air divers. It quickly computes essential dive data such as Maximum Operating Depth (MOD), Equivalent Air Depth (EAD), Best Mix, and Partial Pressure of Oxygen (PPO2). It supports both imperial and metric units and offers a companion watch app for on-the-go calculations.
- Calculate MOD, EAD, Best Mix, PPO2
- Imperial and metric unit support
- Sea and fresh water options
- Selectable max oxygen content
- Selectable max partial pressure
- Companion watch app
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Nitrox Buddy is a no-frills calculator app for nitrox/enriched air divers - use it to quickly calculate the most important data for your dive: Maximum Operating Depth/MOD, Equivalent Air Depth/EAD, Best Mix and PPO2. The app works with imperial or metric measurements, sea or fresh water, and allows you to select the maximum oxygen content and partial pressure. A companion watch app puts lets you perform all these calculations on your wrist.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Nitrox Buddy at Free against Nitrox Tools's $5.99. Nitrox Buddy also leads on ratings volume (468 vs 4). Nitrox Tools's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence 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
Nitrox Buddy is free to download; Nitrox Tools costs $5.99 up front. Nitrox Buddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Nitrox Tools asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Nitrox Tools against 4.9 for Nitrox Buddy. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nitrox Buddy has 468 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Nitrox Tools's written reviews are positive against 96% of Nitrox Buddy's.
Nitrox Tools ships an update every 5 months, Nitrox Buddy every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Nitrox Tools | Nitrox Buddy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.9 (468 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.5% of reviews | 95.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 468 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Greg Mclaughlin | Gereon Steffens |
Customer experience
Nitrox Tools
Nitrox Buddy
Bugs and requests
Nitrox Tools
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Nitrox Buddy
Reported bugs
4 issues- iPad icon is ugly
- MOD limit of 50% O2 despite 100% O2 setting (resolved)
- MOD limit of 40% O2 (older version)
- Does not work with older iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Add MOD 1.5 option
- Allow MOD calculation up to 100% O2 and indicate max exposure duration
- Change color for inappropriate mixes (e.g., 50% at 40m)
- Support older iOS versions (5 & 6)
In-app purchases
Nitrox Tools
No in-app purchases
Nitrox Buddy
- Tip$0.99
Questions
Is Nitrox Tools free?
Is Nitrox Buddy free?
Which has better reviews, Nitrox Tools or Nitrox Buddy?
Do Nitrox Tools or Nitrox Buddy have ads?
Which is updated more often, Nitrox Tools or Nitrox Buddy?
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