Comparison

mPing vs Ham Radio Prep

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

Head to head
About

mPing

Become a citizen scientist and help researchers study severe weather by reporting precipitation types. Your observations contribute to improving weather detection algorithms and understanding precipitation patterns.

Highlights
  • Report precipitation types
  • Contribute to weather research
  • Track winter precipitation
  • Report hail size
  • Provide ground-truth data
  • View radar data comparison
Read full description

The NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and The University of Oklahoma's Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies needs your help with severe weather research! The Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground project (mPING) needs you, the Citizen Scientist, to watch and report on precipitation. mPING is looking for volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to make observations - teachers, classes, families, everyone, and anyone! This app is your portal for providing observations to researchers at NSSL. Your reports will help them develop and refine algorithms that use the newly upgraded dual-polarization NEXRAD radars to detect and report on the type of precipitation that you see falling. To do a good job, we need tens of thousands of observations from all over the US. We can succeed only with your help. mPING volunteer observers can spend as much time as they want, from a little to a lot, making observations. The basic idea is simple: NSSL will collect radar data from NEXRAD radars in your area along with sounding data from our models during storm events, and use your data to develop and validate new and better algorithms. We have two focus areas: winter precipitation types, such as rain, freezing rain, drizzle, freezing drizzle, snow, graupel, ice pellets, mixed rain and snow, mixed ice pellets and snow and even observations of “none” when the precipitation has stopped, even if only briefly. Why? Because the radars cannot see close to the ground at far distances and because automated surface sensors are only at airports. But the people affected by winter weather are everywhere so we need you to tell us what is happening where you are. But we need more than winter weather details: when there are thunderstorms, we need to know if hail falls and, if it does, how big it is. Measuring with a ruler is best but, whatever you do, stay safe. All you need to do is use this app to select the precipitation type. Tell us what is hitting the ground. NSSL scientists will compare your report with what the radar has detected and what our models think the atmosphere is doing, and use it to develop new technologies and techniques to determine what kind of precipitation such as snow, ice, rain or hail and its size is falling where.

About

Ham Radio Prep

Prepare for your ham radio license exams with comprehensive study materials. Access video lessons, track your progress, and take practice tests designed to mirror the official FCC exams for all three license levels.

Highlights
  • Covers all 3 license levels
  • Premium video lessons
  • Progress tracking per lesson
  • FCC-style practice tests
  • Exam readiness dashboards
Features
Read full description

The fastest, easiest, and most informative way to get your ham radio license. > Includes all 3 Levels: Technician License, General License, and Amateur Extra License > Learn the material with premium video lessons > Track Your Progress For Each Lesson / Subpool > Practice Tests Built Using the Subpools Just Like the Real FCC Exam > Dashboards to Track Exam Readiness See why thousands of students have chosen HamRadioPrep.com to effectively study for their amateur radio license exams.

Screenshots

mPing1 screens
Ham Radio Prep4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Ham Radio Prep at 4.8 against mPing's 4.1. Ham Radio Prep also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 months) and review sentiment (80% vs 56%). mPing's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads 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. Ham Radio Prep sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. mPing asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ham Radio Prep holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ham Radio Prep has 2.2K ratings behind it against 180, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of mPing's written reviews are positive against 80% of Ham Radio Prep's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

mPing ships an update every 6 months, Ham Radio Prep every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
mPing versus Ham Radio Prep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametermPingHam Radio Prep
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (180 ratings)4.8 (2.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews56.3% of reviews79.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1802.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUniversity of Oklahoma (Information Technology)World Radio League Inc.

Customer experience

mPing

All ratings154 ratings
Positive76.0%
Neutral7.1%
Negative16.9%
Written reviews87 reviews
Positive56.3%
Neutral12.6%
Negative31.0%

Ham Radio Prep

All ratings2,181 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral1.1%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews196 reviews
Positive79.6%
Neutral5.1%
Negative15.3%

User reviews

mPing

From 180 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 💡 Useful for citizen science
  • 👍 Helpful for NWS
  • 👍 Fun to participate
  • 🚀 Quick and easy reporting

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App no longer works
  • 🐛 Reports fail constantly
  • 🐛 App freezes
  • 🐛 Lagging when choosing report type
  • 🐛 Useless for consumers

Ham Radio Prep

From 2.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Very helpful
  • 🚀 Excellent prep
  • 👍 Clear and easy to understand
  • 👍 Comprehensive lessons
  • 👍 Effective study tool

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Requires payment after initial lessons
  • 🐛 Sync issues between app and website
  • 🐛 Slow video loading
  • 🐛 Incorrect answers in practice tests

Bugs and requests

mPing

Reported bugs

44 issues
  • App not working after iPhone update
  • App no longer works (iOS 26.2)
  • App doesn't work well with new iPhones
  • Reports fail constantly
  • Big lagging when choosing type of report
Show 39 more
  • Freezing completely when submitting report
  • Unable to view submitted reports
  • Issue with "Report Types", no dropdown menu
  • App has not been upgraded with recent iOS updates
  • All report submissions “fail to report”
  • Freezes and inability to select reports
  • “Report Submission Failed - Sorry, unable to submit your report!” message
  • Touching the Select Report Type button freezes the app
  • Unable to choose report type
  • Nothing happens when you try to report
  • App freezes after clicking “select report type”
  • MPING is broke
  • App no longer working for months
  • Stopped working
  • Stopped submitting reports
  • Failing to send
  • No longer allows submission of weather events
  • Won't let me send any reports
  • App won't allow submissions
  • Error when submitting reports
  • Failed to submit report message
  • Haven’t been able to submit report in awhile
  • Error message, app won't accept submission
  • Vulnerabilities preventing report submission
  • Stopped letting me submit
  • Bogus submissions disabled the app
  • Nothing was there when trying to select report type
  • Report can not be sent
  • Location function won't stay hooked up
  • Need to keep reinstalling to work
  • Zoom buttons show nothing but black screen
  • Pinch zoom map of reports slows and crashes occur
  • Latest version missing option for plain snow
  • New format isn't good, prefer black background
  • No option for snow, only snow/graupel
  • Older version ran fine, newer version unable to submit reports
  • Lettering and logos too large in newer version
  • No longer works on iOS 8.4.1
  • App doesn't work until upgraded to iOS 9.2.1

Requested features

18 requests
  • Option to report 'snow' alone
  • Add funnel and wall cloud reports
  • Add wind report system (tornadic and storm)
  • Add thunder/lightning reporting
  • Add earthquake reporting
Show 13 more
  • Add option to change location manually
  • Add snow quantity reporting
  • Add frost reporting
  • Add thunder reporting (not lightning)
  • Add high winds and speed reporting
  • Add smoke in reduced visibility report
  • Add state highway numbers to 'view reports'
  • Support for photos and video clips
  • Real-time reporting database
  • Local news feeds
  • Legend for map icons
  • Measurement of raindrop splash size
  • More detailed precipitation classification

Ham Radio Prep

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Lessons locked after initial free content
  • Advertisements causing app to freeze
  • Progress not tracking across platforms

Requested features

3 requests
  • Online proctoring for exams
  • Improved sync between app and website
  • More practice questions and tests

In-app purchases

None

mPing

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Ham Radio Prep

One-time4
  • Technician License Exam Course$34.99
  • In-App Video Bundle$49.99
  • General + Technician Course$55.00
Show 1 more
  • Full Course Access, All Levels$79.99

Questions

Is mPing free?
mPing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ham Radio Prep free?
Ham Radio Prep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, mPing or Ham Radio Prep?
Ham Radio Prep is rated higher. mPing averages 4.1 out of 5 from 180 ratings, while Ham Radio Prep averages 4.8 from 2.2K ratings.
Do mPing or Ham Radio Prep have ads?
Neither mPing nor Ham Radio Prep shows ads.
Which is updated more often, mPing or Ham Radio Prep?
mPing ships an update every 6 months, and Ham Radio Prep every 2 weeks. Most recently, mPing was updated on October 22, 2026 and Ham Radio Prep on October 22, 2026.

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