Blue Box vs Audio Function Generator
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.
Audio Function Generator
Generate various audio test tones, including sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth waves. Explore frequency and volume sweeps, noise generation, and custom preset creation. Advanced features like extended frequency ranges and multi-tone playback are available with an upgrade.
- Generate sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth tones
- Frequency and volume sweep generation
- Noise generation (white, pink, violet, etc.)
- Custom preset creation and saving
- Extended frequency range (PRO feature)
- Multi-tone playback (PRO feature)
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This is the highly recommended and praised Function Generator App - an amazingly great and powerful tone generator. Enriched with a vast amount of features yet it is extremely intuitive and designed for simplicity. Get to know this great App now! It is very well maintained and has received considerable upgrades over the past years. So, … what can you do with this App? • PLAY TEST TONES Sine, Rectangular, Triangular and Sawtooth. • PLAY FREQUENCY SWEEP TEST TONES in both directions (minimum to maximum frequency and maximum to minimum frequency). • PLAY VOLUME SWEEPS (from minimum to maximum volume). • Try the SWEEP REPEAT / WOBBLE function. • Try the MUSIC TONES PLAYBACK. • Experiment with the huge FINE TUNE SELECTON, PRESETS SELECTION! • Or create your own CUSTOM PRESETS! • And SAVE an endless amount of CONFIGURATIONS (Frequency, Sweep, Noise) for later quick access and direct playback function. • Even play back different kinds of NOISE – White, Pink, Violet, Grey, Brown, Blue is also supported. The Function Generator is AMAZINGLY INTUITIVE and SIMPLE to use! AND THESE ARE THE ADVANCED SETTINGS/FEATURES (upgrade to PRO required): => Extending The Frequency Range (1Hz - 21kHz) => Extending The Sweep Times (0.1s - 600s) => Changing Min/Max Slider Frequency Ranges => Changing Max Sweep Time Slider Range => Changing Signal Amplitude => Enabling Of The Sweep Repeat / Wobble Function => Frequency Slider Setting to Linear or Logarithmic => Left/Right Channel Individual Selection => Permanently Saving Custom Presets => Saving Of Endless Number Of Audio Configurations => Phase Out Setting (custom phase shift of the generated signal) => BPM (Beats per Minute) Feature => Dual Function Generator => MultiTone Generator (playback of up to eight individual tones) => Background Theme Selection (Light/Dark) Check out the tutorial page: www.ee-toolkit.com/audio-function-generator
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Audio Function Generator at Free against Blue Box's $4.99. Audio Function Generator also leads on ratings volume (2.2K vs 3) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 7 months). Blue Box's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On ads, 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
Audio Function Generator is free to download; Blue Box costs $4.99 up front. Audio Function Generator sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Blue Box asks for nothing beyond the download.
Blue Box holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Audio Function Generator has 2.2K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of Blue Box's written reviews are positive against 77% of Audio Function Generator's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Blue Box ships an update every 7 months, Audio Function Generator every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blue Box | Audio Function Generator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.7 (2.2K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews | 77.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 2.2K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #192 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sunshine Valley Systems | Thomas Gruber |
Customer experience
Blue Box
Audio Function Generator
Bugs and requests
Blue Box
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Audio Function Generator
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes on launch
- Volume slider issues
- Airplay not working
- Sound distortion when display is active
Requested features
6 requests- Add download/save feature for custom sounds
- Improve sweep function (continuous mode, better frequency control)
- Add more multi-frequency rows
- Implement 432Hz base frequency option
- Add phase control for noise generators
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- Improve accessibility (VoiceOver support)
In-app purchases
Blue Box
No in-app purchases
Audio Function Generator
- Upgrade to PRO$9.99
Questions
Is Blue Box free?
Is Audio Function Generator free?
Which has better reviews, Blue Box or Audio Function Generator?
Do Blue Box or Audio Function Generator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Blue Box or Audio Function Generator?
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