Comparison

grandMA remote vs Card Decks

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

grandMA remote

Control lighting consoles remotely from a mobile device. This app allows for intuitive operation of moving lights, dimmers, LEDs, and video, offering real-time feedback on attributes and positions. It's designed for flexibility across various entertainment applications.

Highlights
  • Remote control for grandMA consoles
  • Control moving lights, dimmers, LEDs, video
  • Real-time attribute and position feedback
  • Configurable for theatre, TV, touring
  • Supports up to 6 remote units per console
  • Intuitive and flexible operation
Features
Read full description

The grandMA consoles are the core of the fully integrated MA system. The grandMA consoles are able to control – in the most elegant manner – moving lights, conventional lights, and effects, as well as LEDs and video. The reliable and proven operational philosophy allows a direct, flexible and intuitive way of working. As there are more and more moving lights in the market, the use of remote control units together with lighting control systems has become more and more important. The solution of using a state-of-the-art mobile device in connection with a network together with the grandMA console is offering a number of new operating possibilities. All important functions of the grandMA as well as changes of the patching can be realized with the remote control. The grandMA remote can also be easily used in connection with a grandMA onPC. Because of the bi-directional communication between grandMA and remote control it is also possible to show intensities and positions or attributes of moving lights in real-time. Features: - Convenient remote control for all important functions of the grandMA range - High distances and safe use with all grandMA consoles - Up to 6 remote control units can be used with each console or station - Software is available free of charge - Same software for console compatibility: one system – one operating philosophy - Completely configurable for every application: Theatre, TV, Concert Touring, Entertainment, etc. - Elegant programming and control of moving lights, dimmers, LEDs, effects and media servers - Mature software and hardware – extensively field tested – provide unmatched stability and reliability For more information and free copy of the grandMA OnPC checkout our website www.malighting.com

About

Card Decks

Create and share custom card decks for various uses, from team meetings and planning to personal expression and task management. Configure individual cards with display times for timers or reminders, and easily share decks via email or messages.

Highlights
  • Configurable colored text cards
  • Group cards into decks
  • Create custom card sets
  • Timer and countdown functionality
  • Share decks via email/messages
  • Open source
Features
Read full description

Card Decks is a small utility application for your iPhone and iPad which brings you simple, configurable, colored, multi-line text cards that are grouped into card decks. A card deck can be used to show your vote or estimation on a certain topic in a meeting, e.g. in a planning meeting used in agile software development methods like Scrum or Extreme Programming. If the pre-configured cards don't fit your needs, just extend the existing cards or build your own set of cards, e.g. including special estimation numbers like "Pi" or "?". Or, if you are the chair of a session on a conference, you can use a card deck to remind a speaker of the remaining time for the presentation. Or, as a speaker, use a timer card deck to track the remaining minutes. Or, just use your cards to show your opinion, argument, or mood, in a simple, non-verbal way. Or, use the shuffle feature to randomly select a task from a card deck with tasks, or randomly assign tasks to students, team members, etc. Card Decks contains some pre-configured card decks with voting cards, simple colored cards, cards with numbers, colored cards which show remaining minutes, and some timers. Individual card decks can be created with the built-in editor. Each card in a card deck can be configured with a display time. This way, you can build your own countdown timer with individual numbers, texts, reminders, etc. Example timers for 15 and 60 minutes are pre-configured. Additionally, Card Decks supports sending and receiving card decks via e-mail, messages, etc. for sharing your card decks with your friends or colleagues. Either as an URL, or via a JSON-based document. Found a bug? Missing a feature? Drop a line to carddecks@0xc0.de, or open an issue in the project on GitHub. Card Decks is open source and licensed under the terms of the MIT license. Its source code is hosted on GitHub.

Screenshots

grandMA remote3 screens
Card Decks4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Card Decks at 4.5 against grandMA remote's 2.4. Card Decks also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 61%). grandMA remote's advantage is ratings volume (364 vs 2) and iOS requirement (2.2.1 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Card Decks holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: grandMA remote has 364 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of grandMA remote's written reviews are positive against 78% of Card Decks's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

grandMA remote ships an update every 3 months, Card Decks every 5 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
grandMA remote versus Card Decks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametergrandMA remoteCard Decks
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.4 (364 ratings)4.5 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.6% of reviews77.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings364 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS2.2.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMA Lighting Technology GmbHArne Harren

Customer experience

grandMA remote

All ratings367 ratings
Positive32.7%
Neutral6.5%
Negative60.8%
Written reviews33 reviews
Positive60.6%
Neutral15.2%
Negative24.2%

Card Decks

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative22.2%

Bugs and requests

grandMA remote

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Doesn't work for iPhone 4.0
  • Needs an update badly
  • Wifi doesn't show up and renders it useless
  • Blank page
  • Incompatible with version 3 software for iPhone
Show 5 more
  • Can cause rig to flick on and off when disconnecting from console with two or more desks on network
  • Has a tendency to crash the board
  • Can corrupt the file
  • Nothing!!! Tried everything. NFG
  • Tried everything. But helas... No results.

Requested features

13 requests
  • Previous button in highlight function
  • iPad version
  • Better layout for iPad
  • Go- button to go back in a sequence
  • Make an app for Vista T2 lighting board
Show 8 more
  • Next button
  • Help menu or Q&A
  • Ability to scroll values like dimming or pan/tilt
  • Support for more iPhone touch gestures
  • Rethink keeping the 'Consoles' button always accessible at the top
  • Confirmation when signing off console
  • Add an easy 'next' button to toggle through a group
  • Should be able to use the pan and tilt cursors to select fixtures also

Card Decks

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

grandMA remote

No in-app purchases

None

Card Decks

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is grandMA remote free?
grandMA remote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Card Decks free?
Card Decks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, grandMA remote or Card Decks?
Card Decks is rated higher. grandMA remote averages 2.4 out of 5 from 364 ratings, while Card Decks averages 4.5 from 2 ratings.
Do grandMA remote or Card Decks have ads?
Neither grandMA remote nor Card Decks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, grandMA remote or Card Decks?
grandMA remote ships an update every 3 months, and Card Decks every 5 months. Most recently, grandMA remote was updated on October 23, 2026 and Card Decks on October 23, 2026.

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