Kaleidescape Second Screen vs WLED
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Kaleidescape Second Screen
Enhance your home entertainment system by browsing and controlling your movie and music library. Discover details about titles, cast, and scenes, and instantly play content on your TV.
- Browse movie and music libraries
- High-resolution cover art display
- Instant playback of scenes and songs
- Create favorite scenes
- View movie ratings and details
- Control Kaleidescape players
- Create and save mix albums
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Kaleidescape Second Screen is the perfect addition to your Kaleidescape system! NOTE: This app is for Kaleidescape system owners. Learn more about the Kaleidescape System at www.kaleidescape.com. Kaleidescape Second Screen provides an immersive experience for browsing and searching your collection of movies and music, and controlling any player in your Kaleidescape system. The app extends the Kaleidescape experience to the iPad, displaying your movie collection with vivid high-resolution cover art, synopses, and other details. It even puts the most memorable moments in movies right at your fingertips - just select a scene or song marked by Kaleidescape, and it plays instantly on your TV. Features: • Browse your movie library by title, cast, director, genres and ratings without interrupting playback on your TV • Browse through a beautiful display of your movies and albums with the signature Kaleidescape Covers View • Select a movie or album and watch the covers shuffle to reveal related titles, or press the Shuffle button or just shake the iPad to watch the covers shuffle • View covers of a particular collection, genre, actor, director or rating to help you find the perfect movie to watch • View your movie collections along with movie cover art, synopses, cast, and director listings • Select a movie, scene, song or episode and it plays instantly on your TV • Create your own favorite scenes in movies and musicals • View movie ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and Common Sense Media, and learn more about your favorite movie, actor and director with the “Web Search” button • Browse your music library by artist, title, recently imported and genres • Play individual songs, albums, collections and mix albums • Create and save mix albums • Use the search feature to quickly find a movie you want to watch or an album you want to listen to • Control any Kaleidescape movie or music player in your home • Adjust the volume in any Kaleidescape zone (requires supported control system and software module)
WLED
Control and manage all your WLED light devices from your iPhone or iPad. This companion app works with the open-source WLED software for microcontrollers, offering automatic device detection, customizable names, and software update assistance.
- Automatic device detection
- Centralized light list
- Software update assistant
- Customizable device names
- Hide or delete devices
- Light and dark mode
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With the WLED app, you can easily and efficiently manage and control all your WLED light devices from your iPhone or iPad. This is a companion app for the free and open source WLED software for ESP8266/32 microcontrollers. WLED automatically detects and updates the device list, and offers customizable names, a hide or delete feature, and a light and dark mode. It can also help you install new software updates to your devices. Plus, it supports both phones and tablets. Main Features: - Automatic device detection (mDNS) - All lights are accessible from one list - Software Update Assistant - Custom names - Hide or delete devices - Light and dark mode
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Kaleidescape Second Screen at 75% against WLED's 51%. Kaleidescape Second Screen also leads on rating (4.2 vs 4.0) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). WLED's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Kaleidescape Second Screen holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Kaleidescape Second Screen's written reviews are positive against 51% of WLED's.
Kaleidescape Second Screen ships an update every 8 months, WLED every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Kaleidescape Second Screen | WLED |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (6 ratings) — better | 4.0 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better | 50.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kaleidescape, Inc. | Christophe Gagnier |
Customer experience
Kaleidescape Second Screen
WLED
Bugs and requests
Kaleidescape Second Screen
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
WLED
Reported bugs
42 issues- Unable to connect to LEDs
- Lights randomly turn on
- Connectivity issues, needs re-pairing
- App doesn't work, glitchy
- Brightness control issues
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- Lights flicker after update
- Cannot find discover lights option
- Not connected to iPhone, setup issues
- App won't load, vanishes
- None of my devices show up
- Shows up blank, manual add only
- No longer finds WLED devices
- App doesn't work, no devices showing
- Confusing app, turns off
- App is unusable after update, errors
- App stopped picking up signal
- Only connects when at home
- Doesn't pick up esp8266
- Sound react option missing
- Time and macros section not working
- Update won't update
- Goes offline from time to time
- Update breaks app, beta works
- Drops connection, cannot adjust lights
- Latest release freezes, unstable wifi
- Loading WLED UI stuck
- Inconsistent connection after new update
- Lost all config after update
- Lost all presets after update
- Devices missing and disappearing
- Update ruined everything, random disconnects
- App constantly crashes, won't load
- Stopped working after update
- New upgrade feature killed device
- Inconsistent, can't find boards
- Cannot connect lights, IP address doesn't work
- Missing schedule function
- App doesn't work at all
- Doesn't work properly with WLED 0.14
- App won't allow changing anything, freezes
- Hidden devices reappear
- App goes offline and never connects again
Requested features
6 requests- User-friendly interface
- Simple interface with advanced option
- Widget features for Home Screen
- Sound react option
- Remote control when away from WiFi
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Timer or schedule function
In-app purchases
Kaleidescape Second Screen
No in-app purchases
WLED
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Kaleidescape Second Screen free?
Is WLED free?
Which has better reviews, Kaleidescape Second Screen or WLED?
Do Kaleidescape Second Screen or WLED have ads?
Which is updated more often, Kaleidescape Second Screen or WLED?
Other comparisons
