LightBlue® vs Report It! SMC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Report It! SMC
Easily report illegal dumping to San Mateo County staff by dropping a pin on a map, answering a few questions, and optionally attaching a photo. The app ensures your reports are sent to the right crews for prompt resolution and provides updates on the fix.
- Map-based reporting
- Photo attachments
- Issue details submission
- Crew notification
- Resolution updates
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The Report It! SMC makes it easy to report illegal dumping directly to San Mateo County staff. You simply drop a marker on the map where you noticed a concern and answer a few questions to help us understand the issue. You can even include a photo! We’ll notify our crews and get it fixed as quickly as possible and let you know as soon as we have it resolved.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Report It! SMC at 100% against LightBlue®'s 66%. Report It! SMC also leads on monetization model (free vs ad-supported). LightBlue®'s advantage is ratings volume (942 vs 11) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, 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.
LightBlue® holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LightBlue® has 942 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 66% of LightBlue®'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Report It! SMC's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
LightBlue® ships an update every 3 weeks, Report It! SMC every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LightBlue® | Report It! SMC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (942 ratings) — better | 4.1 (11 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 942 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 145 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Punch Through | San Mateo County |
Customer experience
LightBlue®
Report It! SMC
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
Report It! SMC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LightBlue®
No in-app purchases
Report It! SMC
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LightBlue® free?
Is Report It! SMC free?
Which has better reviews, LightBlue® or Report It! SMC?
Do LightBlue® or Report It! SMC have ads?
Which is updated more often, LightBlue® or Report It! SMC?
Other comparisons
