Comparison

Phonal Tonal vs Selcall Selective Calling Tone

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

Head to head
About

Phonal Tonal

Explore the history of phone phreaking with this app. It generates classic phone tones like Blue Box and Red Box for nostalgic, fun, or educational experiences. Discover a variety of tones used in the past.

Highlights
  • Generates historical phone tones
  • Includes Blue Box, Red Box, Green Box tones
  • Supports Special Information Tones
  • DTMF tone generation
  • Nostalgic and educational purposes
Features
Read full description

Back in the day, phreaks had phun on the phone, using colored boxes to get free phone calls. Of course, none of those tricks work anymore. Phonal Tonal generates a variety of phone tones for nostalgia, fun, and educational purposes. Blue Box, Red Box, Green Box, Special Information Tones, DTMF, and more.

About

Selcall Selective Calling Tone

Generate various selective calling tones for communication. Choose from over 20 tone types, queue multiple tones for burst transmission, and customize tone durations and gaps. Store frequently used sequences for quick access.

Highlights
  • Over 20 tone types
  • Tone queuing and burst transmission
  • Customizable tone duration and gap
  • Memory for storing tone sequences
  • CTCSS continuous tone generation
  • CODAN mode for priority calls
Features
Read full description

SelCall generates Selective Calling Tones. Select your tone type from the extensive selection of available modes, then touch the button for each tone you wish to send. You can even queue up tones and have them sent in a burst, if you wish. The following tone types can be generated: DTMF CCIR1 CCIR7 PCCIR EIA EEA CCITT EURO NATEL VDEW MODAT ZVEI1 ZVEI2 ZVEI3 PZVEI DZVEI PDZVEI ICAO ICAO SELCALL 32 CTCSS CODAN Touch the button on the upper right corner to get a list of SelCall tone modes, and select the mode you wish to use. Then touch the button for each tone you wish to generate. If you turn the switch off, you can queue up several tones (they will be displayed to the left of the switch) and then turn the switch back on to play them. Any tones that you played by turning the switch on can be repeated by tapping the RPT/Repeat button. You can also store commonly used tone sequences. Tap on the Mem button to bring of the list of memory entries, which will by empty at first. To add an entry, tap the Edit button, then the green plus sign to add an entry, which will get a default name of Untitled. Tap Done, then tap on the Untitled entry to edit it. You can change the name, as well as the tone keys to be sent. To send an entry, tap the send button. It will be sent (or stored in the buffer if the switch is off). It will also be placed in the repeat buffer, so you can tap RPT/Repeat to re-send it. The duration of tones and gap between them can be customized for most modes. Enter the values in milliseconds. The maximum allowed values are 500 milliseconds. In CTCSS mode, touch the button for the tone that you wish to continuously generate. There is a switch which turns the tone on and off, and when on, the tone will continuously play, even when you switch to another tone mode, so you can combine CTCSS with other tone modes. In CODAN mode, adjust the center frequency if necessary, select the priority of the message, and dial in the ID to call, and your ID. Then tap Send. Sequence mode allows you to create sequences of arbitrary tones. First, you will see a list of your sequences. You can use Edit to add additional sequences, delete a sequence, or re-arrange them. Three sample tone sequences are created for you, as examples. To rename a sequence, tap on it and edit the text. To edit to send a sequence, tap on the disclosure indicator at the extreme right. Each sequence is a set of lines, each of which has two numbers. The first is the frequency of the tone in Hertz, the second is the duration of the tone in milliseconds. One second is 1,000 milliseconds. Do not put an additional space between the numbers, after them, before them, or use any other characters, or the sequence will not correctly play. You can play two tones at the same time, in that case, three numbers must be entered on each line, the first two are the tone frequencies, the third is the duration. The first sample sequence, Seq 1, sends eight tones. The first is 1200 Hz for 550 milliseconds, then there are six more tones: 1100, 1000, 1100, 1000, 1100, 1000 Hz, each 200 milliseconds. Then a final tone of 1500 Hz for 350 milliseconds. To play a sequence, tap Send. To edit a line, tap on it and edit the text. You need a single space between the frequency and length. You can use Edit to add additional lines, delete a line, or re-arrange them.

Screenshots

Phonal Tonal3 screens
Selcall Selective Calling Tone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Phonal Tonal at 4.8 against Selcall Selective Calling Tone's 3.3. Phonal Tonal also leads on review sentiment (83% vs 50%) and price ($0.99 vs $2.99). Selcall Selective Calling Tone's advantage is update cadence (every 4 months vs every 11 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). On ratings volume, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Phonal Tonal costs $0.99 and Selcall Selective Calling Tone $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Phonal Tonal holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 23 and 15 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Phonal Tonal's written reviews are positive against 50% of Selcall Selective Calling Tone's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Phonal Tonal ships an update every 11 months, Selcall Selective Calling Tone every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Phonal Tonal versus Selcall Selective Calling Tone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhonal TonalSelcall Selective Calling Tone
Price$0.99 — better$2.99
Rating4.8 (23 ratings) — better3.3 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings23 — better15
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKelvin SherlockBlack Cat Systems

Customer experience

Phonal Tonal

All ratings23 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral8.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%

Selcall Selective Calling Tone

All ratings14 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral14.3%
Negative35.7%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral13.2%
Negative36.8%

In-app purchases

None

Phonal Tonal

No in-app purchases

None

Selcall Selective Calling Tone

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Phonal Tonal free?
Phonal Tonal costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Selcall Selective Calling Tone free?
Selcall Selective Calling Tone costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Phonal Tonal or Selcall Selective Calling Tone?
Phonal Tonal is rated higher. Phonal Tonal averages 4.8 out of 5 from 23 ratings, while Selcall Selective Calling Tone averages 3.3 from 15 ratings.
Do Phonal Tonal or Selcall Selective Calling Tone have ads?
Neither Phonal Tonal nor Selcall Selective Calling Tone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phonal Tonal or Selcall Selective Calling Tone?
Phonal Tonal ships an update every 11 months, and Selcall Selective Calling Tone every 4 months. Most recently, Phonal Tonal was updated on October 15, 2026 and Selcall Selective Calling Tone on October 22, 2026.

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