Thunder & Lightning vs BluePD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Thunder & Lightning
Measure the distance to loud events like thunder, fireworks, or rocket launches by timing the visual and auditory cues. Adjust for temperature for greater accuracy and choose your preferred units. It also functions as a stopwatch, speed-of-sound calculator, and unit converter.
- Distance measurement to sound events
- Temperature adjustment for accuracy
- U.S./Imperial and metric units
- Stopwatch functionality
- Speed-of-sound calculator
- Fahrenheit/Celsius converter
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Thunder & Lightning has (barely) one practical purpose: to measure your distance to a sound source. It works for thunder and lightning, fireworks, rocket launches, or other loud events visible from a (hopefully safe) distance away. Just press the Lightning button when you see the event, and Thunder when you hear it. Modern technology does the rest. To perform this trivial task even more accurately, you can enter the temperature of your surroundings to more precisely calculate the speed of sound. You can also choose between U.S./Imperial and metric measurements depending on your personal unit preferences. Should its intended purpose be insufficiently useful, this application can also be used as a reasonably precise (if redundant) stopwatch, a speed-of-sound calculator, a Fahrenheit/Celsius converter, or as an odometer if you happen to be traveling at precisely the speed of sound. Note: Use of application while operating supersonic aircraft is not recommended or approved.
BluePD
A quick legal reference tool for law enforcement officers, providing instant access to case law, statutes, and Miranda warnings. Designed for speed and clarity in the field.
- Quick legal reference
- Miranda warnings (English/Spanish)
- Official state statutes access
- SFST workflow support
- Clean and fast design
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BluePD is a fast, practical legal reference tool built for law enforcement officers in the field. Access critical legal information in seconds without searching multiple sources. KEY FEATURES Quick Legal Reference Search case law by stop type or issue using a clean and simple interface. Miranda Warnings (English and Spanish) Clear and complete Miranda warnings with a language toggle for real world use. Official State Statutes Instant access to verified state code and statute websites. SFST Workflow Support Structured input fields help keep field sobriety testing organized and consistent. Clean Design Built for speed and clarity when it matters most. BUILT FOR REAL WORLD USE BluePD is designed for officers who need fast access to legal information and reliable reference tools in the field. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER This app is a reference tool only. It does not replace formal training, department policy, or legal advice.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Thunder & Lightning at none against BluePD's 1. Thunder & Lightning also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 16.0). BluePD's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 128 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 87%). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. BluePD sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Thunder & Lightning asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Thunder & Lightning against 5.0 for BluePD. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 4 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Thunder & Lightning's written reviews are positive against 100% of BluePD's.
Thunder & Lightning ships an update every 128 months, BluePD every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Thunder & Lightning | BluePD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (7 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 128 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Bryan Figler | TYLER RICHARD CLAMPITT |
Customer experience
Thunder & Lightning
BluePD
Bugs and requests
Thunder & Lightning
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crash
- App does not work anymore
Requested features
11 requests- Option to have both miles per hour and centigrade
- Switch to a single button for lightning and thunder
- Allow typing temperature instead of slider
- Display average time and distance of records
- Use light sensor and camera for lightning detection
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- Use microphone to detect thunder
- Log time, location, and estimated distance of lightning
- Pull weather data for accuracy
- Use compass to input heading of lightning
- Plot estimated location of lightning on a map
- Update for iOS 7
BluePD
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Thunder & Lightning
No in-app purchases
BluePD
- BluePD Pro$4.99








