Circuit Playground vs Meshtastic
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Circuit Playground
This app serves as a comprehensive electronics reference and calculation tool. It helps makers and hobbyists by simplifying complex calculations for various circuits, deciphering component codes, and providing essential diagrams.
- Circuit value calculations
- Resistor and capacitor code deciphering
- Ohm's Law and power calculators
- Number and character conversions
- Series/parallel component calculations
- IC and connector pinout diagrams
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Circuit Playground simplifies electronics reference & calculation – so you can have more fun hacking, making, & building your projects. Features: • Calculate component values for Op Amp, 555, RC Filter, Resistor Divider circuits & more • Decipher resistor & capacitor codes with ease • Calculate power, resistance, current, and voltage with Ohm's Law & Power Calculators • Quickly convert between decimal, hexadecimal, binary or ASCII characters • Calculate values for multiple resistors or capacitors in series or parallel • Pinout diagrams for widely-used ICs, connectors, & boards • Find color for LED wavelength • Detect a magnet's polarity • Show off your project by submitting pics to Adafruit's Show & Tell • Access exclusive deals from Adafruit Industries All that, plus more functions & enhancements to come!
Meshtastic
This app enables off-grid, decentralized communication via a low-power mesh network. Send text messages in areas lacking cellular or WiFi service.
- Off-grid communication
- Decentralized mesh network
- Low-power LoRa radio support
- Text messaging
- No cellular/WiFi required
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Meshtastic® is an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on low-power Lora radios letting you send text messages in areas without reliable cellular or WiFi service.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Meshtastic at Free against Circuit Playground's $2.99. Meshtastic also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (803 vs 19). Circuit Playground's advantage is review sentiment (86% vs 44%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.5). On rating, ads, in-app purchases 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
Meshtastic is free to download; Circuit Playground costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Circuit Playground against 4.2 for Meshtastic. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meshtastic has 803 ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Circuit Playground's written reviews are positive against 44% of Meshtastic's.
Circuit Playground ships an update every 6 weeks, Meshtastic every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Circuit Playground | Meshtastic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (19 ratings) — better | 4.2 (803 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.0% of reviews — better | 44.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 19 | 803 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 76 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Adafruit Industries | Meshtastic LLC |
Customer experience
Circuit Playground
Meshtastic
User reviews
Circuit Playground
From 19 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Clean, intuitive, easy-to-use interface
- 🚀 Fast load times and responsive performance
- 📚 Comprehensive reference tools and calculators
- 🎯 Resistor and capacitor color code tools
- 📍 Useful pinout references for various boards
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- ⚠️ Outdated and needs regular updates
- ❌ Limited calculator functionality and flexibility
- 🎨 Poor visual design in some areas
- 📱 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Meshtastic
From 803 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Well-made app
- 🚀 Polished and intuitive interface
- 🚀 Powerful features for off-grid communication
- 👍 Great community and responsive developers
- 👍 Continuously improving with updates
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bluetooth connectivity issues
- 🐛 Unreliable messaging and node connections
- 🐛 Crashes and stability problems
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 👎 Lacking feature parity with Android version
Bugs and requests
Circuit Playground
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes when opening multiple capacitors section
- LED Resistor Help Menu crashes the app
- Wavelength to Colour slider inoperable until text field activated
- Capacitor code function broken (incorrect default values)
- Number converter only accepts value 50
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- Resistor color codes show conflicting color solutions
- iPad side-wiping error with page ghosting
- Calculator input issues requiring excessive fiddling
- Document folder missing in version 2
- Crashes on iPad mini 1st generation
Requested features
21 requests- Update USB Type-C connector information
- Add transistor pinouts and HFE values
- Transistor and op-amp calculators
- Voltage divider calculator
- Arduino and Raspberry Pi pinout references
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- More Adafruit board pinouts (HATs, KiPPAHs, TFT, Trinkets)
- LED parallel circuit handling
- Logic gate truth tables (NAND, AND, NOR, etc.)
- Function generator with sine, square, sawtooth, triangle waves
- Tuned LC circuit calculator
- NPN and PNP transistor calculator
- Mica capacitor color codes for vintage radios
- Better PDF datasheet import (via Safari/Dropbox instead of iTunes)
- Ability to rename datasheets for easier identification
- Breadboard templates for drawing
- Number keypad instead of full keyboard for inputs
- Power dissipation calculations on resistor calculator
- Schematic symbol reference
- iCloud syncing for datasheets
- Direct browsing of Adafruit store within app
- iOS 11+ compatibility updates
Meshtastic
Reported bugs
4 issues- Canned messages configuration issues
- Location sharing and traceroute functions not working
- Settings screen bugs and crashes
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Offline maps support
- Ability to customize notifications
- More sorting and filtering options for nodes
- Apple Watch and Shortcuts integration
- Improved documentation and user guidance
In-app purchases
Circuit Playground
No in-app purchases
Meshtastic
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Circuit Playground free?
Is Meshtastic free?
Which has better reviews, Circuit Playground or Meshtastic?
Do Circuit Playground or Meshtastic have ads?
Which is updated more often, Circuit Playground or Meshtastic?
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