Comparison

iSPEX vs Chirps Recorder

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Spectrum analysis
  • Polarization analysis
  • Hardware add-on integration
  • Educational tool
Read full description

iSPEX is a hardware add-on for smartphones that analyzes the light that enters it in terms of its spectrum and its polarization.

About

Chirps Recorder

Read full description

Chirps is a bioacoustics field companion for iPhone and iPad. It helps researchers, species surveyors, recordists, students, and naturalists visualise, monitor, record, and review sound in the field without needing a laptop. Use Chirps for live spectrogram and waveform visualisation, external USB microphones and audio interfaces, passthrough and heterodyne monitoring, uncompressed WAV recording, and high-quality spectrogram export for reports. Key features: - Real-time GPU-accelerated spectrogram and waveform display - Support for built-in microphones, USB microphones, and audio interfaces supported by iOS - Automatic audio route discovery and device capability reporting - WAV recording with adjustable ring buffer, pre-trigger, and post-trigger capture durations - Live passthrough monitoring - Heterodyne monitoring with tunable centre frequency - Data review interface for recorded files - Session notes that can be edited from within the app - High-detail spectrogram review with adjustable window width - Two-finger scrolling for waveform and spectrogram inspection in review mode - PNG spectrogram export with scientific axes, grid lines, colour legend. - File sharing through the iOS share sheet - Local diagnostic log for troubleshooting hardware and audio route issues Chirps is designed for field use. Recordings are saved as WAV files in the app’s local storage and can be accessed through the Files app. If iCloud Drive is enabled, iOS can sync those files to your other Apple devices using Apple’s standard system services. This Version: Initial App Store release of Chirps for iPhone and iPad. Includes live spectrogram and waveform visualisation, WAV recording, passthrough and heterodyne monitoring, external audio device support, data review, session notes, spectrogram export, and on-device diagnostics.

Screenshots

iSPEX3 screens
Chirps Recorder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: iSPEX at 15.0 against Chirps Recorder's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
iSPEX versus Chirps Recorder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriSPEXChirps Recorder
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDDQRavi Umadi

In-app purchases

None

iSPEX

No in-app purchases

None

Chirps Recorder

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iSPEX free?
iSPEX is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chirps Recorder free?
Chirps Recorder is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do iSPEX or Chirps Recorder have ads?
Neither iSPEX nor Chirps Recorder shows ads.

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