Bluetooth Serial Connect vs IoT MQTT Panel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bluetooth Serial Connect
Control your Arduino projects with your phone. Design custom interfaces with buttons, joysticks, and displays to send and receive data via Bluetooth low-energy modules. An integrated library simplifies the connection process.
- Customizable control boards
- Button and joystick inputs
- Display integration
- Bluetooth low-energy module support
- Arduino library for easy integration
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Turn your iPhone or iPad into a custom control panel for Arduino and BLE projects, without building a dedicated iOS app. Bluetooth Serial Connect lets you design a board, connect to an HM-10-style Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) UART module, and exchange commands and live readouts with your hardware. The companion Bluetooth Serial Connect Arduino library makes it straightforward to read controls and update displays, indicators, and gauges in your sketch. DESIGN YOUR BOARD Place, move, resize, and customize nine component types: • Buttons with momentary, latch, and repeat behavior • Joysticks, sliders, toggles, and D-pads • Text displays, labels, indicators, and gauges Assign channel numbers that stay fixed when you rearrange controls. Fine-tune colors, labels, value ranges, board appearance, and haptic feedback. Undo and redo changes, duplicate and lock controls, snap them to the grid, and adjust their front-to-back order. START WITH TEMPLATES AND EXAMPLES Explore seven editable board templates for RC cars, robotic arms, menu remotes, sensor hubs, smart-home relays, and more. Companion Arduino sketches and protocol examples help you connect the app to your code. Follow the interactive walkthrough or try a board with simulated data—no hardware required. Import, export, share, and duplicate boards as your projects grow. CONNECT AND TROUBLESHOOT Scan for nearby BLE devices, follow clear connection progress, remember frequently used modules for quick reconnecting, and configure service and characteristic UUIDs. Use the timestamped two-way console to inspect sent and received messages or send console text while you troubleshoot. Setup guides, wiring help, complete examples, and the wire protocol reference are available at bluetooth.henhen1227.com. Bluetooth Serial Connect is designed for HM-10-style BLE modules. Other BLE UART hardware may work when its service and characteristic UUIDs match the app settings. HC-05 and HC-06 Bluetooth Classic modules are not supported. A compatible BLE module is required for live hardware control. FREE OR PRO Start with one board free. Add more by watching rewarded ads, or unlock Bluetooth Serial Pro with a one-time in-app purchase for unlimited boards and no ads. The free version may also show occasional ads after edits. Existing boards remain available to use. No app account is required. Board files stay on your device unless you choose to share them.
IoT MQTT Panel
Create DIY smart home projects quickly with a configurable dashboard. This app supports MQTT and Websocket protocols with SSL for secure communication. It offers real-time updates, customizable panels with over 250 icons, and various data visualization options.
- Always-on dashboard
- MQTT & Websocket support
- SSL secure communication
- Real-time panel updates
- 250+ customizable icons
- Dark theme
- Import/Export configuration
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With this app you can make DIY Smart Home project in a minute. The configurations are very simple. Well documented FAQ and User Guide are available at application info page. Features: 1. Can run as always on Dashboard. 2. Supports both MQTT (TCP) and Websocket protocol. 3. SSL for secure communication. 4. JSON Support for both subscribe and publish message. 5. Panels subscribe and / or publish the topic automatically, hence get updated in real time. 6. Designed to work with public broker efficiently (using device prefix). 7. Sent and Received timestamp from broker. 8. Material design. 9. Flexible panel width, merge any panels 10. More than 250 icons to customize specific panels. 11. Dark theme for comfortable use in low light. 12. Clone connection, device or panel for effortless configuration 13. Import/Export application configuration for easy share with multiple devices. 14. Re-connects automatically if connection lost. 15. Persist export message for log and graph. Available panels: -Button -Slider -Switch -LED Indicator -Combo Box -Radio Buttons -Multi-State Indicator -Progress -Gauge -Color Picker -Time Picker -Text Input -Text Log -Image -Barcode Scanner -Line graph -Bar graph -Chart -URI Launcher This list will grow upon feedback from users. Your feedback is much appreciated. If you find any issue please feel free to leave a comment in my blog with steps to reproduce. https://blog.snrlab.in/iot/iot-mqtt-panel-user-guide/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: IoT MQTT Panel at 85% against Bluetooth Serial Connect's 0%. IoT MQTT Panel also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.7) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 10 months). Bluetooth Serial Connect's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
IoT MQTT Panel holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: IoT MQTT Panel has 42 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Bluetooth Serial Connect's written reviews are positive against 85% of IoT MQTT Panel's.
Bluetooth Serial Connect ships an update every 10 months, IoT MQTT Panel fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on July 21, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bluetooth Serial Connect | IoT MQTT Panel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (7 ratings) | 4.8 (42 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 84.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 42 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.2 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Henry Abrahamsen | Rahul Kundu |
Customer experience
Bluetooth Serial Connect
IoT MQTT Panel
Bugs and requests
Bluetooth Serial Connect
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
IoT MQTT Panel
Reported bugs
7 issues- Randomly won't connect to public MQTT brokers
- App fails to connect to broker frequently
- Connectivity seems very inconsistent
- App freezes when trying to input URL in web page panel
- App does not reconnect after MQTT server disconnects, requires restart
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- After update, panel window periodically moves up
- Sometimes switches sensor tabs with significant delay or stops working
Requested features
13 requests- Configuration example would be useful
- Gauges showing color portions instead of whole gauge changing color
- Apple Watch support for viewing data
- Option to search for keywords in payload
- Icon for opening and closing windows
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- Ability to print user guide
- Siri shortcuts integration
- Widgets support
- Customizable graph scales
- Alarm rules and notifications
- Ability to change font color in Text Log widget, possibly based on value condition
- Traditional Chinese language support
- More options for panel size on iPad
In-app purchases
Bluetooth Serial Connect
No in-app purchases
IoT MQTT Panel
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bluetooth Serial Connect free?
Is IoT MQTT Panel free?
Which has better reviews, Bluetooth Serial Connect or IoT MQTT Panel?
Do Bluetooth Serial Connect or IoT MQTT Panel have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bluetooth Serial Connect or IoT MQTT Panel?
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