Blue Box vs Antenna+
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blue Box
Encode and decode DTMF signals using your device's microphone or keypad. Play back tone sequences with adjustable settings, and save them for easy recall. Explore various tone systems, including trunk control and coin signals, for educational and utility purposes.
- Encode/decode DTMF signals
- Adjustable tone, delay, and volume
- US, UK, and European tone systems
- Multi-frequency and trunk control tones
- Coin tone sequences (Red Box mode)
- Custom tone creation
- Save and organize sequences
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Blue Box is utility for encoding and decoding DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) or Touch Tone signals. Generate tones by using the phone style keypad or decipher tones using the device’s microphone. Tone combinations can be played back with adjustable tone, delay and pause lengths and volume. Choose from US, UK and Europe based systems. Enable Multi-frequency tones, which were a precursor to DTMF. Additional trunk control signals will be available including KP, ST1, ST2, ST3, KP/ST2. Additional tones include the Dial Tone, Ring Back Tone, Busy Signal and 2600Hz. A comma can be used as a pause character to provide extra time between tones during playback. Save and organize any number of sequences for easy recall using the Favorites feature. Choose numbers from your contacts to display and play back tones. Share an encoded or decoded number with the Phone, FaceTime or Messages app. Use Red Box mode to play coin tone sequences, including 5¢, 10¢ and 25¢ for the US system and 10p and 50p for European systems. Create a custom tone with control over individual frequencies and volumes. The custom tone can consist of any number of on and off pulses and can optionally be continuous. Record interactions with the encoder and play them back with the same timing. The recording feature works with all tones, including the dial tone, busy signal, ring back tone, 2600Hz and coins and trunk control tones. A help manual is including, with step-by-step instructions for all features. When the app is first run, pop-ups will be displayed indicating what the controls are used for. Warning: Blue Box is designed as an educational tool and utility. Do not attempt to use Blue for any illegal or malicious purposes. Blue Box can be used to assist in dialing numbers, but can not be used to manipulate digital telephone utility services. Limitations: Blue Box is software based decoding and is processor intensive. Performance may vary between devices. Tones that are less than 100 ms with pauses that are less than 100 ms are difficult to process in software. Future versions and processors may increase the reliability of faster tone sequences. If you need touch tone decoding for higher speeds, a hardware solution is recommended. Blue Box can not play tones into the iPhone phone feature while in a call. Blue Box is useful for entering numbers into touch tone operated systems such as an answering machine passcode or a dial-up service that requires the entering of several touch tones to navigate a menu system. Simply enter the numbers once and then play back the numbers into the phone's microphone with a touch.
Antenna+
This toolkit offers amateur radio operators and RF hobbyists essential formulas and instant results for antenna design, feedline loss, and signal utilities. It includes calculators for antenna length, frequency conversion, VSWR, and propagation planning, along with DTMF and Morse code tools.
- Antenna length calculators
- Frequency-to-wavelength conversion
- VSWR and ERP calculators
- Horizon visibility and solar calculators
- DTMF decoding/keying
- Morse/PSK31 tools
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Your care and curiosity make every radio project better. Thank you for using Antenna+. From your first dipole to your next Morse practice session, keep useful antenna calculators, RF tools and saved results close on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. PLAN YOUR ANTENNA - Size a 5/8 wave vertical for your operating frequency. - Find half-wave dipole lengths and the length of each leg. - Compare dipole and inverted vee dimensions. - Work out ground plane radiators and radials. - Calculate cubical quad loops, double bazooka antennas and extended Zepp dimensions. - Convert frequency to full and fractional wavelengths. - Choose metric or imperial length units. - Read the formulas and assumptions in Help. CHECK YOUR RF NUMBERS - Convert watts, milliwatts, dBW and dBm. - Calculate ERP and EIRP from power and antenna gain. - Include feed line and connector loss in EIRP estimates. - Explore VSWR, mismatch loss and reflected power. - Estimate geometric and radio horizon distances. - Look up sunrise, sunset, solar noon and twilight for a chosen place, date and time zone. - Save the inputs alongside each calculated result. PRACTICE MORSE AND TONES - Turn text into Morse code and audible practice tones. - Use a straight key or enter individual dots and dashes. - Adjust Morse speed and sidetone settings. - Decode Morse and DTMF audio through the microphone. - Microphone listening starts only when you choose Receive or Start Listening. - Play standard DTMF keypad tones and sequences. - Exchange acoustic text with nearby devices using their speakers and microphones. - Replay the latest sent chat message from its bubble. - Stop a transmission when you need to cancel. - Search Q codes and add them to a message draft. KEEP YOUR WORK ORGANIZED - Give saved calculations and signal records a title and notes. - Mark favorites, filter by date and search by tool or content. - Review original inputs and results without recalculating. - Read all your saved results without spending another use. - Scroll through your records with automatic loading. - Explore charts and summaries of your saved calculations. - Back up and restore records with JSON import and export. - Skip matching records during import. - Export records to CSV for a spreadsheet. - Process up to 10,000 records per transfer, with a 100 MB JSON archive limit. TAKE IT TO APPLE WATCH - Use all 14 calculators without a usage limit or Pro purchase. - Calculate on your watch without the iPhone app or a phone connection. - Keep the watch screen clear with short text labels. - Find Save, Share and Help at the bottom of calculator pages. - Save calculations locally on your watch and reopen them in Saved. - Share full calculation details using the watch's available sharing options. - Practice Morse with Key, Dot, Dash, Play and Stop. - Get haptic feedback and sound when audio is available. - Keep watch records separate from the records on your phone. FIND WHAT YOU NEED - Keep favorite chats, signal tools and calculators within easy reach. - Use the iPad's list and detail layout to browse while viewing a tool. - Open ham radio and antenna references in the app's browser. - Bookmark useful web pages for another visit. - Choose System, Light or Dark appearance on iPhone and iPad. - Restore your previous Pro purchases from inside the app. Use calculated antenna dimensions as a starting point, then tune for your installation. Acoustic chat uses sound between nearby devices. iPhone and iPad include a one-time allowance of 50 uses per device. Continue with monthly or annual auto-renewing Pro, or a one-time Lifetime Pro purchase. Apple Watch calculators and Morse remain unlimited without Pro. Web references require an internet connection. For monthly subscriptions: Monthly Pro is a 1-month auto-renewable subscription. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Antenna+ at Free against Blue Box's $4.99. Antenna+ also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months). Blue Box's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (4 vs 1). On review sentiment, ads, monetization model 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
Antenna+ is free to download; Blue Box costs $4.99 up front. Antenna+ sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Blue Box asks for nothing beyond the download.
Antenna+ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of Blue Box's written reviews are positive against 60% of Antenna+'s.
Blue Box ships an update every 7 months, Antenna+ every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blue Box | Antenna+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.5 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Sunshine Valley Systems | Verosocial Studio |
Customer experience
Blue Box
Antenna+
In-app purchases
Blue Box
No in-app purchases
Antenna+
- Monthly All Access Pro Usage$1.991 Month
- Antenna Pro lifetime Upgrade$14.99









