Comparison

LightBlue® vs Archive Utility

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

LightBlue®

This app allows users to interact with Bluetooth Low Energy devices. It supports scanning for, connecting to, and analyzing BLE peripherals, as well as simulating your own BLE devices. It's a comprehensive tool for developers and enthusiasts working with BLE technology.

Highlights
  • Scan and discover BLE peripherals
  • Connect and view device profiles
  • Read and write characteristics
  • Subscribe to notifications
  • Create and advertise virtual BLE devices
  • Clone peripheral profiles
  • Log and share BLE events
Features
Read full description

LightBlue® by Punch Through® Your ultimate BLE debugging and development toolkit. Trusted by BLE developers and engineers since 2012 to scan, inspect, and troubleshoot Bluetooth Low Energy devices with precision. Scan For Peripherals  Discover, connect, and interact with nearby BLE devices. Quickly view advertising peripherals, sort by signal strength (RSSI), and connect with a single tap. Once connected, explore the device's advertisement data, services, and characteristics. Isolate SDK Issues  Simplify debugging by pinpointing issues in your BLE SDKs. LightBlue lets you isolate your app's business logic and focus on core tasks like connecting, scanning, reading, writing, and receiving notifications, built on years of BLE development experience and platform best practices. Mimic Your Devices  Prototype your application by creating virtual BLE peripherals. Build a profile from scratch or clone an advertising peripheral to mimic your product's functionality, even before your own firmware is ready. Key features: - Scan and discover BLE peripherals nearby - Browse services and characteristics in detail - Read, write, and subscribe to notifications and indications - Send data from notifications to AWS IoT or Adafruit IO via Cloud Connect - Write to characteristics in Hex, Octal, Binary, Decimal, or ASCII - Clone peripheral profiles or build your own from scratch - Advertise as a custom peripheral to simulate your device - Thoroughly log and share BLE events - Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Android LightBlue started in 2012 as an internal tool. Punch Through built it to test and debug BLE devices while working on client projects. It worked well, so we shared it with the community. We've kept it free ever since. Today, LightBlue is used by solo developers and engineering teams alike, including inside some of the world's most respected tech and device companies.

About

Archive Utility

This utility app allows users to create ZIP files and decompress a wide variety of archive formats on their iPhone and iPad. It features a document browser for easy file management, including cloud storage integration and drag-and-drop functionality.

Highlights
  • Create ZIP files
  • Decompress multiple archive formats
  • Document browser view
  • Cloud storage integration
  • File management (move, delete, rename)
  • Drag and drop functionality
Features
Read full description

“Archive Utility” is a small and intuitive application to create .zip file and decompress many different kinds of archive files on iPhone and iPad. It supports to unarchive or expand common formats like Zip, RAR, 7-zip, CAB, Tar, Gzip and Bzip2, as well as older formats like StuffIt, Cpio, LZH, ARJ, ARC, DiskDoubler and LBR. It can also expand unusual formats like ISO, BIN, MDF, NRG and CDI, Windows self-extracting EXE files, and can even extract media from Flash SWF files and images from PDF files. Many more archive formats are supported, tap Developer Website to visit product page for the complete list. Your long time wait for computer like compress-uncompress tool on iPhone and iPad is over with "Archive Utility". It integrates Archive and Expand features with Document Browser View to make easy-to-use yet powerful Archive Utility. * How to create a ZIP file? - Use powerful Browser view to select file(s) and folder(s) you want to compress and tap Archive button to create ZIP file beside original items. * How to expand/unarchive/uncompress/extract an archive file? - Navigate to archive file you want to uncompress in Browser view and tap on it to expand. Decompressed file or folder saved in the same folder as the original archive file. - Use "Copy to Archive Utility" to open archive file received as email attachment, downloaded from the the web or contained in another app. You can even add files in the app's Documents folder from your computer through iTunes file sharing. - It lets you preview files and archives that iOS can support. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT - "Archive Utility" built upon Document Browser view which allows to access files no matter where they’re located — on your device or in the cloud with Archive Utility. Handles access to iCloud Drive and third-party cloud storage services such as Dropbox and Box within the app. - Browse view to navigate folders, organise your files with tags, move files between folders, search and sort. - Share files using the Share button or a drag-and-drop action. - You can move, delete, duplicate and rename a document and folder. - Drag and drop to select files and organise them into folders. - Inherit tagged and favourite items from Files app and allow to create and change within the app. Note: “Archive Utility” is standalone application running natively to archive files and expand archives securely right on your iOS device. You can refer User Manual for any assistance Or Contact Support.

Screenshots

LightBlue®4 screens
Archive Utility4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: LightBlue® at 66% against Archive Utility's 0%. LightBlue® also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 45 months). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

LightBlue® is free to download; Archive Utility costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LightBlue® holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LightBlue® has 942 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of LightBlue®'s written reviews are positive against 0% of Archive Utility's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LightBlue® ships an update every 3 weeks, Archive Utility every 45 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
LightBlue® versus Archive Utility: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightBlue®Archive Utility
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.3 (942 ratings) — better3.9 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews66.1% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings942 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 45 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.415.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPunch ThroughRootRise Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Customer experience

LightBlue®

All ratings942 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral3.8%
Negative12.8%
Written reviews292 reviews
Positive66.1%
Neutral6.2%
Negative27.7%

Archive Utility

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

LightBlue®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes after updates
  • Fails to connect Apple Pencil
  • Doesn't detect all nearby devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to manually name devices
  • More precise location tracking
  • Integration with Siri/Shortcuts

Archive Utility

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

LightBlue®

No in-app purchases

None

Archive Utility

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is LightBlue® free?
LightBlue® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Archive Utility free?
Archive Utility costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, LightBlue® or Archive Utility?
LightBlue® is rated higher. LightBlue® averages 4.3 out of 5 from 942 ratings, while Archive Utility averages 3.9 from 8 ratings.
Do LightBlue® or Archive Utility have ads?
Neither LightBlue® nor Archive Utility shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LightBlue® or Archive Utility?
LightBlue® ships an update every 3 weeks, and Archive Utility every 45 months. Most recently, LightBlue® was updated on October 6, 2026 and Archive Utility on October 7, 2026.

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