Epicentral vs iSeismometer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Epicentral
Explore global earthquake patterns with real-time data and historical context. View recent seismic events on interactive maps and lists, with detailed summaries and links to official information. Understand current activity within the framework of historical seismicity.
- Real-time earthquake lists
- Interactive earthquake maps
- Daily, weekly, and monthly data views
- Event summaries and details
- Links to USGS earthquake information
- Historical earthquake catalogs
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Epicentral is a network-based educational application that displays lists and maps of earthquakes that occurred during the last day, week, or month. This version runs on iPhones, iPads, and Macs (as an iPad App) but requires iOS 26+ and macOS 26+. The data are served by the U.S. Geological Survey or the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (and three other seismological organizations). List updates take at most a few 10s of seconds. For each event, a summary of the event’s properties and relationship to nearby recent seismicity is presented. When using the USGS feeds, a link to the event-specific USGS earthquake information page is available. Several historical earthquake catalogs (sourced from the US Geological Survey) are included to provide context for more recent earthquakes. These catalogs can be used to put more recent activity in context.
iSeismometer
Transform your iPhone into a sensitive seismometer to detect and visualize vibrations. Explore its educational and data-collecting capabilities for fun or serious applications.
- Converts iPhone to seismometer
- Detects and visualizes vibrations
- Data collecting capabilities
- Educational use
- Adjustable frequency settings
- Re-track previous data
- X-Y-Z illustrated graphs
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iSeismometer turns your iPhone or iPad into a seismograph. Set it on a table, tap the desk, and watch the ground move. You will be surprised how sensitive your phone is. It has been doing that since the App Store opened in 2008, when it reached #1 in Education in Japan, Austria, Finland, and Greece. Version 1.7 is a complete rebuild: faster, clearer, and finally a real instrument. LIVE SEISMOGRAPH • Three axes at up to 100 samples per second, drawn like a strip-chart recorder • Scroll back through up to an hour of history while it keeps recording • Gravity filter with a real corner frequency, so slow tilt disappears and earthquakes stay • Live spectrum: see the frequency of footsteps, a washing machine, or a passing truck at a glance • Dark mode and a full iPad layout EVENT DETECTION • A seismologist's STA/LTA trigger flags every tremor with its peak acceleration, duration, and dominant frequency • Three sensitivity levels, from "only real shakes" to "every footstep" • Events are shaded on the traces and listed so you can jump straight to them RECORDINGS • Every session is saved automatically as compact raw data, split into hourly files • Browse by day, open any recording, scrub to its events, and see its spectrum • Export CSV, or pick up the raw files in the Files app and in Finder • Keep them for a day, a week, a month, or forever WAS THAT AN EARTHQUAKE? • Live USGS feed on a globe, filtered by time window and magnitude • Tap a quake for its depth, time, and the official USGS page STREAM TO YOUR MAC • Open iSeismometer on a Mac on the same Wi-Fi and your phone finds it by itself • The Mac shows every device streaming to it side by side, with its own recordings and event detection • Reconnects on its own after the screen locks, the network drops, or the Mac restarts Made for fun and for learning. A phone carries a MEMS accelerometer, not a broadband seismometer, so it feels footsteps and trucks far better than distant earthquakes. Put it on a solid floor, plug it in, keep the screen awake, and you have a home seismic station. iSeismometer is not a substitute for official earthquake early warnings or emergency alerts. Questions and ideas: info@objectgraph.com "This is a novelty app but one that also helps you learn something new... one of those things that is very captivating once you've looked at it once." — The Independent Guide to the iPhone 3GS
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: iSeismometer at Free against Epicentral's $0.99. iSeismometer also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). Epicentral's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
iSeismometer is free to download; Epicentral costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Epicentral ships an update monthly, iSeismometer every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on July 18, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Epicentral | iSeismometer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 3.6 (170 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.3% of reviews | 76.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 170 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Charles Ammon | ObjectGraph LLC |
Customer experience
Epicentral
iSeismometer
Bugs and requests
Epicentral
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
iSeismometer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Buttons/controls not working on newer iOS versions
- Keyboard not appearing in text input fields
- Inconsistent performance across device models
Requested features
6 requests- Add sensitivity control
- Implement zero control for reference plane
- Increase recording time
- Improve UI/UX (e.g. color coding, scrolling, chart speed control)
- Implement Richter scale or other measurement units
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- Add data export/sharing options (e.g. email, save to file)
In-app purchases
Epicentral
No in-app purchases
iSeismometer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Epicentral free?
Is iSeismometer free?
Do Epicentral or iSeismometer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Epicentral or iSeismometer?
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