LightBlue® vs Viam Robotics
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LightBlue®
This toolkit helps developers scan, inspect, and troubleshoot Bluetooth Low Energy devices. It allows you to discover, connect, and interact with nearby BLE devices, isolate SDK issues, and even mimic devices for prototyping.
- Scan and discover BLE peripherals
- Browse services and characteristics
- Read, write, and subscribe to notifications
- Mimic devices by cloning profiles
- Advertise as a custom peripheral
- Log and share BLE events
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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.
Viam Robotics
Control and connect to smart machines running on Viam directly from your mobile device. Manage your robotics projects remotely and efficiently.
- Connect to smart machines
- Control smart machines
- Mobile device control
- Remote machine management
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With this application you can connect to and control your smart machines running on Viam directly from your mobile device. By downloading this app, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. https://www.viam.com/terms https://www.viam.com/privacy [:mav: 1.13.0]
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Viam Robotics at 5.0 against LightBlue®'s 4.4. Viam Robotics also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%). LightBlue®'s advantage is ratings volume (943 vs 7). On price, update cadence, 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.
Viam Robotics holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LightBlue® has 943 ratings behind it against 7, 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 100% of Viam Robotics's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LightBlue® | Viam Robotics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (943 ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 943 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Punch Through | Viam, Inc. |
Customer experience
LightBlue®
Viam Robotics
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
Viam Robotics
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LightBlue®
No in-app purchases
Viam Robotics
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LightBlue® free?
Is Viam Robotics free?
Which has better reviews, LightBlue® or Viam Robotics?
Do LightBlue® or Viam Robotics have ads?
Which is updated more often, LightBlue® or Viam Robotics?
Other comparisons
