Mac Tools vs Impulso
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mac Tools
This utility transforms your smartphone into a sound and vibration detection tool. It assists technicians in pinpointing issues in vehicles and machinery by analyzing rattles, squeaks, and grinding noises. Requires specialized hardware to function.
- Sound and vibration detection
- Locates defective or worn parts
- User-friendly interface
- Analog and digital display options
- Adjustable sound settings
- Informative user guide
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The Mac Tools SmartEAR1 Sound & Vibration Detection app was developed to help assist the service technician in locating and finding defective or worn parts in automobiles, heavy machinery or industrial equipment where vibration, rattles, squeaks and grinding sounds would be associated making the task very difficult or impossible to diagnose. When used with our specially designed hardware kits your smartphone will be transformed into a state of the art Sound & Vibration Detection Technicians Tool allowing for ease of locating and finding those troubled areas. NOTE: Additional hardware is required to use this app. For information on how to purchase hardware please contact your local Mac Tools Distributor or call 1-800-MAC-TOOLS Features: User friendly interface and intuitive operation. Sound level reading displays average, peak and real-time values. Sound level readings are displayed in either Analog or Digital. Analog and Digital readings have 2 display panels the user can choose from. Analog Meter or Analog Wave-Form. Digital Numeric or Digital Bar Graph. Background sound off-setting, sample rates, decibel off-setting can be manually be set. Reset/Refresh buttons reset/refresh values to default settings. Sound Level Reading Sampling Rate Decibel Off-set Master Volume Control User information guide includes informative facts about sound perception and permissible noise level exposure as well as a sound level comparison reference chart. Additional Information: Required: Any iOS device running iOS5.0+. Recommended: iPhone 4 and newer/ iPod Touch 4 and newer. Compatible: iPad 2 and newer.
Impulso
Measure your room's acoustic response and simulate improvements with acoustic products. Visualize reverberation time and optimize room acoustics for different room types. Supports internal or external microphones and impulse sources.
- Acoustic response measurement
- Reverberation time visualization
- Acoustic product simulation
- Room dimension input
- Room type optimization
- Internal/external microphone support
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Impulso Lite allows you to measure the acoustic response of your room using your iPhone. You can visualize the measured reverberation time (RT) in octave bands and then simulate how the acoustic response of your room will be improved when adding artnovion acoustic products. You can enter room dimensions and select the type of room you are designing for. The app will then tell if your room meets the expected RT and you can select products to optimize the response accordingly. Impulso Lite allows you to take a measurement with an internally generated signal if you are able to play it via a loudspeaker system, or using an external impulse source, such as a balloon, if you don’t. Compatible with built-in or external microphones. Check out Impulso Pro for detailed plots of energy time curves, to check for undesirable reflections, a frequency plot, which you can zoom in and a table with the acoustic parameters of your measurements such as C80, D50, STI and Bass Ratio. Impulso Pro also adds tramlines to the RT plot so you can fully optimize the response to meet the criteria for the room type selected. You can also display the spectral response of the microphone input using the new Real Time Analyzer. Check more at www.artnovion.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mac Tools at 2.3 against Impulso's 1.7. Mac Tools also leads on review sentiment (50% vs 12%). Impulso's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 22 months) and ratings volume (15 vs 3). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Mac Tools holds the better App Store score, 2.3 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Impulso has 15 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Mac Tools's written reviews are positive against 12% of Impulso's.
Mac Tools ships an update every 22 months, Impulso every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mac Tools | Impulso |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (3 ratings) — better | 1.7 (15 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 11.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 22 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | JS Products, Inc. | Artnovion LDA |
Customer experience
Mac Tools
Impulso
In-app purchases
Mac Tools
No in-app purchases
Impulso
No in-app purchases









