Q vs Photon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Q
Control Q-SYS systems remotely from your iOS device. Design custom user interfaces in Q-SYS Designer software to manage various system elements like audio, video, and lighting. Offers extensive control capabilities for a seamless user experience.
- Remote system control
- Customizable user interfaces (UCIs)
- Source selection
- PTZ camera control with video preview
- Lighting dimmer control
- Volume faders
- Signal meters
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Control Q-SYS systems from your iOS device! Within Q-SYS Designer software, user control interfaces (UCIs) can be created, and nearly any element in the system can be placed in the UCIs for control and monitoring. This enables a near limitless array of control capability, all from your iOS device, including source selection buttons, Q-SYS PTZ camera controls (with video preview frames), lighting dimmer controls, projector on/off selector, signal meters, screen up/down, snapshot recall, volume control faders, and more. This app is designed for use with QSC's Q-SYS Platform only. Q-SYS UCI deployment onto a Core processor for use with TSC touch screens, UCI viewer for PC and iOS app requires license activation. Visit www.qsc.com/uci for more details.
Photon
Control DMX lighting wirelessly for events, clubs, and theaters. Create sequences, synchronize lights to music with beat tracking, and manage fixtures with a user-friendly interface. Offers advanced features via in-app purchase.
- Wireless Art-Net/sACN DMX control
- Multi-touch interface optimized for iPad
- Light group management
- Scene and animation creation
- Beat tracker for music synchronization
- Fixture database and creator
- Sequencer with timeline editing
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Photon, the next generation of professional user friendly DMX lighting console perfect for nightclubs, musicians, live events, filmmakers, theaters... Wireless (Art-Net or sACN through WIFI) and easy to use, Photon reinvents the way to control DMX devices with its single interface for all your lights. Indeed, combine multiple presets to a sequence and synchronize your lights to music. Our beat tracker listens and animates your devices to the rhythm of the music. Live events will have no more secret for you. Features of the free version: - Multi-touch interface designed and optimized for the iPad. ⁃ Light group management. Associate multiple lights together to perform similar controls (colors, positions, brightness ...). - Classic DMX console for sophisticated controls (gobos/fog/focus...) ⁃ Managing scenes. Create and play animations/effects on your lights. ⁃ Smart color manager. ⁃ Art-Net /sACN / DMX output channel analyzer. ⁃ Complete control of an Art-Net universe with 512 channels. ⁃ Art-Net in multicast or unicast. ⁃ sACN in multicast or unicast. ⁃ Database with hundreds of pre-configured devices (fixtures). - Fixture creator to configure your custom devices. Features of the in-app purchase: ⁃ Sound analyzer : sync your lights to music. ⁃ Multi scene / multi group sequencer. Combine multiple cues to a sequence and animate it. ⁃ Edit your sequences as in a video editor with the timeline. ⁃ Automatic, manual or semi-automatic beat control for the sequencer. - Ableton Link support : Sync lights animations with your favorite DJ app or musical instrument. Link is a technology that keeps devices in time over a local network for a perfect synchronization between lights and music. ⁃ Management of the animation curve in/out. - Background mode * Requires an Art-Net (or sACN) Bridge to DMX. Photon is based on the open lighting architecture (open lighting project). ** Purchase of the "Sequencer" with the in-app purchase
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Photon at 4.4 against Q's 3.0. Photon also leads on review sentiment (42% vs 19%) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months). Q's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ratings volume, ads 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
Both are free to download. Photon sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Q asks for nothing beyond the download.
Photon holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 56 and 27 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 19% of Q's written reviews are positive against 42% of Photon's.
Q ships an update every 3 months, Photon every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Q | Photon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (56 ratings) | 4.4 (27 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 18.9% of reviews | 41.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 56 — better | 27 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 10 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | QSC Audio Products, LLC | Photon Studio |
Customer experience
Q
Photon
In-app purchases
Q
No in-app purchases
Photon
- Light Sequencer$24.99








