BLE Term vs TransparentBLE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BLE Term
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BLE Term is a general-purpose Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) terminal emulator designed for anyone who needs simple, text-based communication with BLE devices. The app allows users to scan, connect, and communicate with any BLE device that provides UART-style characteristics, making it suitable for a wide range of use cases including prototyping, IoT development, hardware debugging, and education. BLE Term is not limited to any specific organization or product. It can be used by developers, students, hobbyists, and engineers with their own BLE-enabled devices. Key features: • Scan and connect to standard BLE devices • Send and receive text-based data • UART-style BLE communication • Real-time log display • No registration or account required BLE Term is a simple, lightweight, and universal tool for everyday BLE communication.
TransparentBLE
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TransparentBLE is a local-first Bluetooth Low Energy utility for discovering, inspecting, logging, and controlling BLE devices from iPhone or iPad. Use it to scan nearby BLE peripherals, connect to devices, inspect GATT services and characteristics, read values, write payloads, subscribe to notifications, and debug raw BLE traffic in console and terminal-style views. TransparentBLE also supports reusable BLE profile files. A profile can describe how a device should be matched, which services and characteristics it uses, how notification payloads should be parsed, and which controls should appear in the app. This lets makers, developers, and hardware owners create an iOS control surface for BLE devices without building a custom Swift app. Features: - BLE device scanning with configurable refresh intervals - GATT service and characteristic inspection - Read, write, and notify support - Console and terminal-style BLE debugging - RSSI tracking and RSSI history graph - JSONL diagnostic log recording - Log history with filtering, timeline view, export, and share support - Optional background recording for diagnostics - Live Activity and Dynamic Island status while recording - Import local .bleprofile.json files - Import profiles from supported TransparentBLE links - Profile-based controls including switches, sliders, RGB controls, and option pickers - Local-first design with no ads, analytics, tracking SDKs, or developer-operated cloud service TransparentBLE is useful for BLE debugging, hardware testing, IoT projects, ESP32 experiments, embedded devices, meters, sensors, chargers, and custom BLE hardware where you understand the device protocol. Safety note: BLE profiles and write commands can affect connected hardware. Only import profiles you understand and trust, and test control commands carefully.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: BLE Term at 13.0 against TransparentBLE's 26.0. 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.
| Parameter | BLE Term | TransparentBLE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 0 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hiroshi Ohta | Artur Pilavetz |
In-app purchases
BLE Term
No in-app purchases
TransparentBLE
No in-app purchases









