Comparison

Displayable vs Specula

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

Head to head
About

Displayable

Features
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Rediscover your cherished memories. Displayable transforms your iPhone and iPad into a powerful and highly customizable digital photo frame for your self-hosted Immich server. With Displayable, your photo collection is no longer just storedβ€”it's beautifully displayable, creating a dynamic backdrop for your home or office. Give your old devices a new purpose! Don't let that spare iPad gather dustβ€”turn it into a living display of your family's favorite moments, beautifully integrated with the powerful, open-source Immich photo management platform.

About

Specula

Features
Read full description

Specula watches the services you host yourself and tells you at a glance which ones are running, which are struggling and which one just went down. No account, no middleman server, no telemetry: the app queries your machines directly on your network. Your API keys stay on your device. A DASHBOARD, NOT A LIST OF LINKS Every service shows its real metrics, read through its own API: Immich's photo count, AdGuard's blocked queries, your NAS's free space, Proxmox's containers, the volumes filling up. The service type is recognised automatically β€” Immich, Nextcloud, Home Assistant, Proxmox, OpenMediaVault, UniFi, Portainer, Vaultwarden, Paperless and many more. UP AND RUNNING IN THREE MINUTES Scan your network: Specula finds your services on its own. Or import the services.yaml you already use with Homepage β€” groups, URLs and widgets carry over as they are. Otherwise, add an address by hand. THE OUTAGES THAT MATTER A service that stops answering after three attempts triggers a notification. The status wall keeps thirty days of history and works out each service's real uptime. Alerts β€” service offline, disk full, temperature β€” are enabled one by one, and a volume that is meant to be full is excluded with a single gesture. WHEREVER YOU LOOK iPhone, iPad, Mac, with widgets on the Home Screen and the Lock Screen, a Live Activity during an outage and access from the Mac menu bar. One address per service: the one that answers from your device, whether you go through the local network, a VPN, a reverse proxy or a tunnel. TRY IT BEFORE YOU SET IT UP A complete demo mode, with simulated data, shows you the app working without installing anything. FOUR SERVICES ON THE HOUSE The first four services are free, with no account and no time limit. Beyond that, each slot is bought once and stays yours, and you can also lift the limit permanently in one go and support the project. See the App Store for pricing. Slots you buy follow you from one device to another.

Screenshots

Displayable4 screens
Specula4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Displayable at none against Specula's 2. Displayable also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). Specula's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 months). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Specula sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Displayable asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Displayable ships an update every 5 months, Specula every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences Β· 3 level
Displayable versus Specula: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDisplayableSpecula
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo β€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.6 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size3 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerιͺ 胑Sylvain Malard

In-app purchases

None

Displayable

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Specula

One-time2
  • Service slot$0.49
  • Unlimited services$17.99

Questions

Is Displayable free?
Displayable is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Specula free?
Specula is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Displayable or Specula have ads?
Neither Displayable nor Specula shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Displayable or Specula?
Displayable ships an update every 5 months, and Specula every 3 days. Most recently, Displayable was updated on September 23, 2026 and Specula on October 8, 2026.

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