Airlight vs PLEY
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Airlight
This app enhances a professional hair dryer with connected features. Customize temperature and wind settings for your hair type, discover new modes, and create personalized hair looks.
- Customize temperature and wind settings
- Personalize for hair type
- Discover new drying modes
- Create custom hair looks
- Infrared light technology integration
Read full descriptionHide full description
Unlock the power of Pro modes to customize your temperature and wind settings for an elevated hair drying experience. The first professional hair dryer powered by infrared light with a connected app experience catered specifically to your hair type. Discover new modes, create your customized settings and personalize your AirLight Pro for new hair looks.
PLEY
This app connects clients with beauty professionals, allowing users to discover services, manage appointments, and maintain a beauty history. Professionals can showcase their work, message clients, and track earnings, while salons can manage their teams and post opportunities.
- Discover beauty professionals and salons
- Book appointments and manage beauty history
- AI-powered bio and caption suggestions
- Direct messaging between clients and pros
- In-app tipping for professionals
- Salon profiles and job postings
Read full descriptionHide full description
Booking is an appointment. PLEY is the relationship. Discover beauty professionals, stay connected, keep your beauty history in one place, and tip your pro through PLEY. PLEY is built for hairstylists, barbers, estheticians, nail technicians, makeup artists, lash and brow specialists, massage therapists, the salons they work in, and the clients who follow them. WHY PLEY - A marketplace for the beauty community, not another calendar - AI built into the work: ask PLEY AI, draft a bio, suggest hashtags - Messaging, beauty history, discovery and tipping in one place - Free for clients, with no ads FOR BEAUTY PROFESSIONALS - Share your work as photo and video posts - Message clients directly in the app - Keep formulas, product notes and service history for every client - Collect reviews and build your PLEY Score - Receive tips and track your earnings and payouts - Use PLEY AI for captions, hashtags and profile copy FOR SALONS - A profile for the shop and the professionals who work there - Post openings, booth rent and collaborations to the community - See the team's service history and reviews in one place FOR CLIENTS - Discover and follow beauty professionals and salons near you - Message them directly - Keep your own beauty history: what was done, by whom, with which products - Leave reviews and share the results - Tip from a profile, a station QR code or a shared link THE MARKETPLACE - Inspiration - share looks and discover new ideas - Events - find classes, demos and community events - Opportunities - salon openings, booth rent and collaborations - Looking For - ask for a service or a professional you need - Discussions - professional conversations for PLEY pros PLEY TIP Make every thank-you easy. Clients can tip a beauty professional from their profile, a station QR code, or a shared link, entering their own amount or using suggested amounts based on the service total. Professionals track their tips and earnings in PLEY.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PLEY at 100% against Airlight's 40%. PLEY also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.1) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks). Airlight's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PLEY holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 15 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Airlight's written reviews are positive against 100% of PLEY's.
Airlight ships an update every 5 weeks, PLEY every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Airlight | PLEY |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (12 ratings) | 4.7 (15 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 91 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | L'Oreal | Pley |
Customer experience
Airlight
PLEY
In-app purchases
Airlight
No in-app purchases
PLEY
No in-app purchases
