Banner vs LaMetric Smile
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Banner
Create custom LED-matrix-style displays for messages, time, date, tweets, and music information. Personalize your display with adjustable speeds, orientations, and element styles. Ideal for unique visual notifications and information sharing.
- Customizable messages
- Display time and date
- Show tweet feeds
- Display music info
- Adjustable scroll/blink speed
- Customizable LED appearance
Read full descriptionHide full description
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.
LaMetric Smile
Express yourself with a vast collection of pixel art stickers and animations. Create your own unique pixelated designs or share existing ones through messaging apps. Enhance your smart clock display with custom pixel art.
- Pixel art sticker collection
- Animation sharing
- Built-in creator tool
- Customizable clock faces
- Messaging app integration
- DIY pixel art creation
Read full descriptionHide full description
Share your pixelated emotions! Pixel art is a culture that has created a whole generation. Do you feel nostalgic for that time? Try out the collection of stickers and animations, created by the pixel art community or create your own. Now everyone can share pixelated emotions in Hangouts and other messengers using the LaMetric Smile app. Share your feelings or mood by choosing among thousands of pixelated stickers or create your own with a built-in creator. - Send your favorite pic to a friend to recall the same feeling, festive mood or express your emotions. - Be funny and quirky — express yourself with pixelated stickers - Show your creativity with 8x8 Do-It-Yourself pixelated stickers or animations and send your masterpiece to friends. Be creative! - Make your favorite sticker a clock face or a part of a happy message in your living room or office. With LaMetric Time smart clock you can style up your working desk with the favorite sticker as a clock face, send happy messages to your family directly into the living room, or make your team laugh with an apt joke. Happiness at a glance!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: LaMetric Smile at Free against Banner's $0.99. LaMetric Smile also leads on ratings volume (6 vs 2). Banner's advantage is rating (3.0 vs 2.2) and review sentiment (69% vs 28%). 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
LaMetric Smile is free to download; Banner costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Banner holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 2.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Banner's written reviews are positive against 28% of LaMetric Smile's.
Banner ships an update every 3 months, LaMetric Smile every 27 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Banner | LaMetric Smile |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better | 2.2 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.9% of reviews — better | 27.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 27 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #168 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Masayuki Akamatsu | Smart Atoms Limited |
Customer experience
Banner
LaMetric Smile
Bugs and requests
Banner
Reported bugs
3 issues- Text editing cursor issues
- Orientation-related bugs
- Freezing or crashing
Requested features
5 requests- More color and font options
- Ability to add symbols like heart
- Vertical scrolling or screen saver mode
- Random message playback
- Ability to manipulate individual pixels
LaMetric Smile
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Banner
No in-app purchases
LaMetric Smile
No in-app purchases









