Comparison

Dialnostics vs CicadaTAK

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

Head to head
About

Dialnostics

This tool automates standard dialing diagnostic techniques for safe combinations. Input the current combination to see possible new combinations based on common lock issues like user error, loose dials, or stuck mechanisms. It also offers random combination generation and customization options.

Highlights
  • Automated dialing diagnostics
  • Possible new combination generation
  • Mark tried combinations
  • User error combination reveal
  • Loose dial ring reveal
  • Stuck fly reveal
  • Loose spline key reveal
  • Random combo generator
Features
Read full description

Have a customer locked out of their safe because their combination is no longer working? Dialnostics is your convenient tool to automate some of the standard dialing diagnostic techniques. Simply enter in the supposed combination and tap Calculate. Dialnostics will output the possible new combinations depending on the issue with the lock. Combinations are ordered in such a way to minimize dialing. Mark "tried" combinations by simply tapping or dragging on the combinations you wish to mark to toggle the status. Only the current combination displayed will be stored on your iDevice and any subsequent combinations will erase the previous combination completely. Use the Reset button to set and store the combination to 50-25-50. User Error: Reveals the possible combinations in the event that the user: has the correct numbers but in the wrong order, or attempted to change the combination by accidentally using the operating index at least once. The index section has the option to offset the operating index by an increment of 8, 10, or a custom value between 1 and 49. Loose Dial Ring: Reveals the possible combinations in the event that the dial ring has become loose causing the numbers to shift. Stuck Fly: Reveals the possible combinations in the event that a fly on one of the wheels has become stuck causing the numbers to drift. Loose Spline Key: Reveals the possible combinations in the event that the spline key has become loose causing the first and third numbers to raise up and the second number to drop down. Plus, use Random Combo to generate completely random safe combinations. You can filter unwanted third wheel numbers for the randomly generated combinations in Settings. You can also set the customized index offset (as described above for the user error section) and choose from a variety of skins: Lava, Evergreen, Ocean, Slate, Lavender, and Quartz. Compatibility: iPhone / iPod touch on iOS 8.0 or later and iPad on iOS 12.0 or later. Found a bug? Something not working? Have a suggestion? Feel free to contact me via email: farren@phoxlocks.com

About

CicadaTAK

This app transforms your phone into a live tactical display for areas without cell service or internet. It connects to custom-built mesh radio nodes to create a self-healing network for real-time location sharing, encrypted chat, and push-to-talk voice communication.

Highlights
  • Live tactical display without cell service
  • Self-healing mesh network with custom radio nodes
  • Real-time teammate location and breadcrumb trails
  • Encrypted team chat and photo sharing
  • Push-to-talk voice communication
  • Offline map browsing and layer downloads
  • Node setup and management from the app
Features
Read full description

CicadaTAK turns your phone into a live tactical display for places with no cell service and no internet — backcountry, disaster response, large properties, search grids, event perimeters. It is the companion app for CicadaTAK mesh nodes: 900 MHz radio gateways you build yourself from a fully documented hardware recipe (parts list and instructions at cicadatak.com). Nodes form a self-healing mesh that reaches over a mile per hop and relays through every teammate, so coverage grows as the team spreads out. Your phone joins a node's WiFi and the radios do the rest. WORKS WITH ATAK AND iTAK • Nodes speak Cursor-on-Target in both directions — positions, chat and markers pass between this app and ATAK or iTAK devices on the same node • No TAK server, no data plan, no setup beyond joining the node's WiFi • Run this app, run ATAK, or run both side by side on one team LIVE TEAM MAP • Teammates update live with callsigns, colors and breadcrumb trails • A position that stops being current turns grey and shows its age instead of vanishing, so you always know how old the picture is • Offline maps — download aerial, topo and street layers onto the node and use them with zero internet • Drop markers, draw geofence zones, measure distance and bearing, save routes ENCRYPTED TEAM CHAT • End-to-end encrypted with your team passphrase — the key never leaves your team • Share photos from camera or gallery, carried over the radio, never through a server • Delivery receipts, canned quick replies, and roll call for fast accountability PUSH-TO-TALK VOICE • Live streaming PTT to the whole team — real voice traffic, not recorded clips • Tuned to stay intelligible on marginal links LONG-RANGE LoRa BRIDGE • Nodes fitted with LoRa hardware bridge to Meshtastic radios, carrying positions and text far beyond the main mesh • Three privacy modes, from open interoperability to fully dark RUN THE NETWORK FROM YOUR POCKET • Set up a new node from the app — no laptop, no terminal • Live topology graph of every radio link, colored by measured throughput • Node list with signal, battery and hardware status; one-tap ping for round-trip time • Trade speed for range across the whole team at once, with automatic revert if a node doesn't come back • Update node firmware over the air YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS • No accounts, no sign-up, no cloud, no analytics • Everything travels phone to your own radio to your teammates' phones • There is no server in the path, so there is nothing for us to see IMPORTANT • Full functionality requires CicadaTAK node hardware. Without a node the app runs in Standalone Mode: your own GPS on the map, offline map browsing, and every screen navigable — mesh chat, PTT and team positions activate when you connect to a node. • Nodes operate in the 902–928 MHz license-free ISM band on the United States channel plan, which is also licence-exempt in Canada,Mexico, and Australia. No radio license required. • Build your nodes at cicadatak.com — an open, fully documented hardware build on an open-source radio and mesh foundation.

Screenshots

Dialnostics4 screens
CicadaTAK4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: CicadaTAK at every 3 days against Dialnostics's every 7 months. CicadaTAK also leads on price ($2.99 vs $5.99). Dialnostics's advantage is ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Dialnostics costs $5.99 and CicadaTAK $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Dialnostics against 5.0 for CicadaTAK. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Dialnostics has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dialnostics ships an update every 7 months, CicadaTAK every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Dialnostics versus CicadaTAK: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDialnosticsCicadaTAK
Price$5.99$2.99 — better
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB29 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperFarren DomeniciMerbella Studios Inc

Customer experience

Dialnostics

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

CicadaTAK

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Dialnostics

No in-app purchases

None

CicadaTAK

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Dialnostics free?
Dialnostics costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is CicadaTAK free?
CicadaTAK costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Dialnostics or CicadaTAK?
Dialnostics and CicadaTAK are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Dialnostics or CicadaTAK have ads?
Neither Dialnostics nor CicadaTAK shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dialnostics or CicadaTAK?
Dialnostics ships an update every 7 months, and CicadaTAK every 3 days. Most recently, Dialnostics was updated on October 16, 2026 and CicadaTAK on October 15, 2026.

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