Comparison

LightBlue® vs Tank IOT

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

Tank IOT

This utility app enables users to remotely monitor liquid levels from their mobile devices. It's designed for industrial production and daily life, offering real-time status updates and warning notifications for better control and safety.

Highlights
  • Remote liquid level monitoring
  • Real-time status updates
  • Warning information notifications
  • Data sharing capabilities
  • User-friendly interface
  • Sensor/instrument connection
Features
Read full description

Tank IoT APP is a very practical mobile application that can help users monitor the level of liquids anytime and anywhere. This APP plays a very important role in industrial production and daily life. It allows users to keep track of the status of liquids at all times, thereby better controlling the production process and ensuring safety. Using the Tank Boss APP is very simple and convenient. Users only need to connect the sensor or measuring instrument to the mobile phone, and then they can monitor the liquid level, view warning information, share data and other functions through the APP. The APP’s intelligent design and friendly user interface allow users to monitor liquid level and manage data anytime and anywhere.

Screenshots

LightBlue®4 screens
Tank IOT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Tank IOT at 5.0 against LightBlue®'s 4.3. Tank IOT also leads on monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). LightBlue®'s advantage is ratings volume (942 vs 2). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Tank IOT holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LightBlue® has 942 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LightBlue® ships an update every 3 weeks, Tank IOT every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
LightBlue® versus Tank IOT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightBlue®Tank IOT
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (942 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings942 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.413.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB30 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperPunch ThroughShenzhen EPT Technology Co.,Ltd

Customer experience

LightBlue®

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

Tank IOT

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Tank IOT

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

LightBlue®

No in-app purchases

None

Tank IOT

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is LightBlue® free?
LightBlue® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tank IOT free?
Tank IOT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, LightBlue® or Tank IOT?
Tank IOT is rated higher. LightBlue® averages 4.3 out of 5 from 942 ratings, while Tank IOT averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do LightBlue® or Tank IOT have ads?
Neither LightBlue® nor Tank IOT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LightBlue® or Tank IOT?
LightBlue® ships an update every 3 weeks, and Tank IOT every 5 weeks. Most recently, LightBlue® was updated on October 14, 2026 and Tank IOT on October 17, 2026.

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