Banner Basic vs Neon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Banner Basic
Create custom LED-matrix-style messages and display them on your device. Show text, symbols, dates, times, tweets, and music information with various customization options for speed, appearance, and display settings.
- Customizable LED-matrix display
- Show user-defined messages
- Display date and time
- Show tweet feeds
- Display music information
- Adjustable scroll and blink speeds
- Customizable LED appearance (size, shape, color)
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Banner is an LED-matrix-like display with which you can show custom messages. The following items can be shown: - 5 user-defined messages - 35 types of symbol characters - Date (3 formats) - Time (3 formats) - Bluesky (3 defined feeds based on user's timeline or keyword search) - Music (Artist, Song, Album) The application has the following settings: - Scroll speed - Blink speed - Landscape-only mode - Upside-down display - Mirror display - Double-tap editing - Sleep disable - Character size (3 sizes) - Element (LED) size (3 sizes) - Element (LED) shape (6 shapes) - Element (LED) color (Hue, Saturation) - Element (LED) color randomization Note - Bluesky posts will be updated every minutes or every posts displayed. - "Banner Basic" is a free version with ads; "Banner" and "Banner Extreme" are paid versions with no ad. - "Banner Extreme" has a little bit different from the others on the style and the speed.
Neon
Create custom neon signs with a simple interface. Design unique text-based neon art for your device. Personalize your creations with ease.
- Create custom neon signs
- Simple operation
- Text-based neon art
- Lightweight design
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Lightweight, simple NeonSign App A simple operation can make the Neon Sign on me.
Screenshots
Verdict
Banner Basic and Neon both sit at 3.2 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Neon's written reviews are positive against 56% of Banner Basic's. Neon also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 7 months). Banner Basic's advantage is ratings volume (25 vs 3). On price, rating, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.2 for Banner Basic against 3.3 for Neon. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Banner Basic has 25 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 56% of Banner Basic's written reviews are positive against 100% of Neon's.
Banner Basic ships an update every 7 months, Neon every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Banner Basic | Neon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (25 ratings) | 3.3 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 56.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 25 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Masayuki Akamatsu | Hyun-Woo Kim |
Customer experience
Banner Basic
Neon
Bugs and requests
Banner Basic
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on launch
- Distorted text display
- Incompatibility with iOS updates
Requested features
5 requests- Speed control for scrolling
- Color and font customization
- Ability to save/recall preset messages
- Orientation and display options
- Improved performance and stability
Neon
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Banner Basic
No in-app purchases
Neon
No in-app purchases
