Comparison

Light Signals vs Kinly

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

Head to head
About

Light Signals

Features
Read full description

This app lets you talk to the people around you with Morse code flashed from your device's flashlight. Alongside a set of ready-made example phrases, you can register words of your own. In the settings menu, you can adjust the brightness of the flashlight.

About

Kinly

Create and explore your family history with a private, user-friendly app. Easily add relatives, connect generations, and visualize your lineage. Preserve your family's story with features like genograms and GEDCOM support, all while keeping your data secure on your device.

Highlights
  • Build family trees and genograms
  • Private data storage on device/iCloud
  • GEDCOM import, view, and edit
  • Connect generations and relationships
  • Family timeline and event reminders
  • Share privately with family
Features
Read full description

Build a beautiful family tree on your iPhone — private, simple, and free to start. Add relatives, connect generations, and preserve your family's story. Kinly is the family tree maker for people who want to document their family history without the complexity, ads, or forced subscriptions of big genealogy platforms. Draw a family tree, build a genogram, and import, view or edit your GEDCOM files — all while your data stays on your device and syncs privately across your family through iCloud. WHY FAMILIES CHOOSE KINLY • Private by design — your tree lives on your device and your own iCloud, not on someone else's servers • No forced subscription — start free, then choose a yearly plan or a one-time purchase if you ever want more • Beautifully simple — designed for everyone, no genealogy expertise required • Share with family — sync your tree privately so relatives can view it together EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO TELL YOUR FAMILY STORY • Add family members with photos, birth and death years, places, and notes • Connect relationships — parents, children, and spouses — with smart rules that prevent mistakes • Explore an interactive family tree canvas and pan across generations • See pedigree and descendant charts that make your lineage clear at a glance • Build a genogram to map relationships across your whole family • See a family timeline of births, marriages, and life events • Get gentle birthday and anniversary reminders for the people who matter • GEDCOM import, viewer, editor and export — bring your tree in from another app and back it up so it stays truly yours • Light and dark appearance, so your tree reads comfortably day or night HOW IT WORKS 1. Add yourself and your closest relatives 2. Connect them as parents, children, or spouses 3. Watch your family tree and timeline come to life WHO IT'S FOR Whether you're recording 2 generations or 5, starting your family record for the first time, or preserving stories for your kids, Kinly makes it easy to begin today — and keep it forever. KINLY PRO Kinly is free for a tree of up to 10 people, and anything you have already added stays unlocked. Kinly Pro adds unlimited members, GEDCOM import and export, birthday and anniversary reminders, and Stories — available as a yearly subscription or a one-time purchase, whichever you prefer. Start building your family tree now. Your story is worth keeping. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Light Signals4 screens
Kinly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Light Signals at none against Kinly's 2. Light Signals also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Kinly's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Kinly sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Light Signals asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Light Signals ships an update weekly, Kinly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Light Signals versus Kinly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLight SignalsKinly
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.5 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.117.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMIZOU, CO., LTD.培 李

In-app purchases

None

Light Signals

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Kinly

Subscriptions1
  • Kinly Pro$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Kinly Pro Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is Light Signals free?
Light Signals is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Kinly free?
Kinly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Light Signals or Kinly have ads?
Light Signals shows ads; Kinly does not.
Which is updated more often, Light Signals or Kinly?
Light Signals ships an update weekly, and Kinly every 3 weeks. Most recently, Light Signals was updated on October 6, 2026 and Kinly on October 13, 2026.

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