iSPEX vs Cambridge Spiral
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iSPEX
This educational tool analyzes light entering a smartphone, breaking it down by spectrum and polarization. It requires a specific hardware add-on to function.
- Spectrum analysis
- Polarization analysis
- Hardware add-on integration
- Educational tool
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iSPEX is a hardware add-on for smartphones that analyzes the light that enters it in terms of its spectrum and its polarization.
Cambridge Spiral
Access Cambridge University Press textbooks on your iOS device. Download content for offline reading, add bookmarks, and make personal annotations. Quickly find topics with full-text search capabilities.
- Download textbooks for offline access
- Online and offline reading
- Add bookmarks
- Personal annotations
- Full-text search
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Cambridge Spiral gives you access to textbooks from your institution’s subscription to Higher Education from Cambridge University Press. Install the app to access the content on your iOS device. With Cambridge Spiral, you can: • Download Cambridge University Press textbook content to your iOS device (subject to a valid institutional subscription) • Read the content online or offline, anytime and anywhere • Add bookmarks and personal annotations, making it easy to go back to key sections • Find topics quickly with the full text search
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: iSPEX at 2.0 against Cambridge Spiral's 1.0. iSPEX also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). Cambridge Spiral's advantage is ratings volume (13 vs 1) and review sentiment (11% vs 0%). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
iSPEX holds the better App Store score, 2.0 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cambridge Spiral has 13 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 0% of iSPEX's written reviews are positive against 11% of Cambridge Spiral's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
iSPEX ships an update every 2 months, Cambridge Spiral every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iSPEX | Cambridge Spiral |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (1 ratings) — better | 1.0 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 10.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 91 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DDQ | Cambridge University Press & Assessment (App) |
Customer experience
iSPEX
Cambridge Spiral
In-app purchases
iSPEX
No in-app purchases
Cambridge Spiral
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iSPEX free?
Is Cambridge Spiral free?
Which has better reviews, iSPEX or Cambridge Spiral?
Do iSPEX or Cambridge Spiral have ads?
Which is updated more often, iSPEX or Cambridge Spiral?
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