Comparison

BAPI BLE Scanner vs BLE Sniffer

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

Head to head
About

BAPI BLE Scanner

This app scans for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices and displays their signal strength (RSSI). It helps determine the reliability of wireless sensor systems in a given environment before installation.

Highlights
  • Scans for BLE devices
  • Displays RSSI signal strength
  • Site verification for wireless sensors
  • Filter for BAPI wireless devices
  • Helps determine sensor/gateway placement
Features
Read full description

The BAPI BLE Scanner app provides a simple way to check if BAPI’s wireless sensors will work in your environment. The app automatically scans your environment for BLE devices and displays them with their RSSI value, giving you and indication of the signal strength in your environment. Using the BAPI BLE Scanner app and one of BAPI’s wireless sensors, you can test your environment to see if to see how reliably a wireless sensor system will perform. BAPI’s wireless system consists of sensors and gateways. Sensors will send readings to the gateway, the gateway can then send readings to our cloud monitoring system or to an HVAC system. You can use the BAPI BLE Scanner to perform a site verification in your environment. Contact BAPI to order one of our wireless sensors. Once you receive your sensor, power it on and place it at a location that you want to measure. Open the BAPI BLE Scanner app on your smart device and position yourself where you would like to place a gateway. You can adjust the settings to only see BAPI wireless devices. You can then look at the RSSI value to determine if the sensor will be able to communicate reliably with the gateway and adjust the gateway or sensor position as needed. You can then repeat this process for each point you want to measure. The BAPI BLE Scanner makes it easy to determine how many sensors and gateways you will need for your environment and where to place them. You can then be confident that your wireless system will be able to communicate reliably. Contact us to start the site verification process

About

BLE Sniffer

Features
Read full description

BLE Sniffer turns your iPhone into a passive Bluetooth Low Energy scanner. See the BLE devices broadcasting around you, log what they're advertising, and use a proximity radar to gauge how close they are — all without connecting to anything. Think of it as a "sniff raw" mode for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum: capture the advertisements in the air, filter nothing, analyze offline. Whether you're mapping the BLE devices in your own home, auditing your gear, or reverse-engineering your own hardware, BLE Sniffer shows you what's broadcasting nearby. WHAT IT DOES Live device scanning See a real-time list of the nearby BLE devices that are advertising — name, identifier, signal strength (RSSI), manufacturer, service UUIDs, advertisement count, and first/last-seen times. Sort by signal, activity, name, or recency. Device categorization (heuristic) A built-in lookup of the complete Bluetooth SIG manufacturer registry — 4,000+ vendor IDs — plus vendor and name heuristics attaches a visual badge to some devices to help you triage a long list — for example dev boards, smart-home gear, and devices whose manufacturer ID or advertised name matches known camera vendors. These are best-effort guesses based on what a device broadcasts, not confirmed identifications. Proximity radar & "Geiger" mode A radar view plots advertising devices on concentric rings by signal strength. Pick one device and switch to single-device mode: a big live RSSI readout with color-coded background plus audio and haptic feedback that speeds up as the signal gets stronger — walk around and home in on it like a metal detector. Sessions & baseline diffing Save a scan as a named session. Capture a baseline in one location, scan another, and diff the two — see which advertising devices appear in the new scan but not the baseline. A quick way to narrow a long list down to what changed. Full CSV export Export any session or live scan as CSV — one row per advertisement, with timestamps, identifiers, RSSI, manufacturer IDs, service UUIDs, TX power, and raw advertisement bytes. Share it anywhere via the system share sheet for offline analysis. Optional device inspection For devices you own, opt in to connect and browse the GATT service tree — read manufacturer, model, and firmware info and explore characteristics. Connections are always explicit and per-device; the app never auto-connects. PRIVACY-FIRST BY DESIGN • Passive by default — it listens, it doesn't transmit or pair • No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions • No telemetry, no accounts, no cloud — your data stays on your device • Everything is logged locally and exported only when you choose GREAT FOR • Mapping and auditing the BLE devices broadcasting in your own home or office • Hardware hackers, makers, and security researchers • Anyone curious about the invisible radio traffic around them PERMISSIONS BLE Sniffer asks only for Bluetooth access, which it uses to listen for nearby device advertisements. It does not pair, transmit, or request your location. Each device appears under an app-scoped identifier assigned by iOS — no hardware addresses are exposed. NOTE BLE Sniffer is a passive observation tool for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum. It detects Bluetooth Low Energy advertisements only — it is not a hidden-camera or surveillance detector and cannot find devices that don't broadcast BLE (including many cameras, and anything using Bluetooth Classic, Wi-Fi, or cellular). RSSI indicates rough proximity (distance), not direction, and device categories are heuristic guesses, not guarantees. Please use it responsibly and legally.

Screenshots

BAPI BLE Scanner4 screens
BLE Sniffer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: BAPI BLE Scanner at 3 against BLE Sniffer's 1. BAPI BLE Scanner also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.4). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
BAPI BLE Scanner versus BLE Sniffer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBAPI BLE ScannerBLE Sniffer
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequency—Monthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBuilding Automation Products, IncShibby Ventures LLC

In-app purchases

None

BAPI BLE Scanner

No in-app purchases

None

BLE Sniffer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BAPI BLE Scanner free?
BAPI BLE Scanner is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BLE Sniffer free?
BLE Sniffer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do BAPI BLE Scanner or BLE Sniffer have ads?
Neither BAPI BLE Scanner nor BLE Sniffer shows ads.

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