GuardKit vs MQTT Commander
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GuardKit
This app monitors your device for unexpected movement or interaction while you're away. It analyzes motion signals and can optionally detect nearby audio activity levels, providing a timeline of events. All data is stored locally on your device for enhanced privacy.
- Motion-based activity indicators
- Optional audio activity level detection
- Chronological event timelines
- Local-first data storage
- User control over permissions
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GuardKit is designed to help you understand when your device may have been moved or interacted with while you were away. GuardKit works by running user-initiated Guard Sessions that analyze motion signals such as acceleration, orientation changes, and handling-like movement patterns. If you choose to enable it, GuardKit can also monitor nearby audio activity levels to provide additional context. All analysis is performed on-device. Key features: • Motion-based activity indicators during active Guard Sessions • Optional audio activity level detection (no audio recording) • Clear, chronological timelines of detected events • Local-first data storage — your data stays on your device • Full user control over permissions and features Premium access: GuardKit offers a free 3-day trial with full access to premium features. After the trial, premium access is available via a one-time purchase (Lifetime Unlock). No subscriptions are required. Learn more at https://www.guardkitapp.com
MQTT Commander
Monitor your MQTT broker's activity in real-time with live topic updates and detailed payload inspection. Visualize data trends, manage messages, and publish new ones with advanced options. Troubleshoot connection issues with a guided diagnostic tool.
- Live topic tree with values
- Detailed payload inspection with sparklines
- Pinned topics as live tiles
- Message logging and filtering
- Publishing messages with QoS and retain
- 13-stage connection diagnostic tool
- Privacy-focused data handling
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Connect to your broker and the topic tree fills in within seconds, with the latest value next to each topic. Tap one to see the value in large type, a sparkline of how it moved, and the JSON split field by field. FOUR SCREENS, ONE JOB EACH • Topics: the tree of what your broker publishes, with filters for what changes, what is retained, what you pinned • Board: pinned topics as live tiles, so one look tells you the greenhouse sits at 21.4 °C and the pump went quiet 6 minutes ago • Log: messages in order, with presets for errors, your own publishes and retained values • Publish: a topic, a payload, Send. QoS, retain, content type and expiry sit one tap away USE IT TO • Watch Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, Mosquitto and ESPHome without opening a laptop • Find the topic a new device announced itself on • Read a JSON payload by field and compare it with the message before • Send a test message and see what the broker answers, including a refusal • Clear a retained payload that keeps coming back WHEN IT WON'T CONNECT Connection Doctor walks the connection in 13 stages and names the one that failed: DNS, TCP, TLS handshake, certificate chain, expiry, hostname, ALPN and SNI, CONNACK, authentication, protocol version, and a write test against the broker ACL. You get the stage, the reason and what to change, instead of a red banner. PRIVACY Values that look like tokens, passwords or keys stay behind a tap. Exported logs carry hashed topics and metadata, no payloads. Anonymous crash and usage diagnostics are on by default and switch off in Settings. No ad tracking, no data sold. PRO The app is free: watch topics, read payloads, publish with QoS and retain, run the Connection Doctor, pin five topics to the Board. Pro is a one-time unlock with no subscription, and it covers the part that runs while you look elsewhere: widgets on the Lock Screen and Home Screen, pins without a limit, history that survives a restart, whole-broker discovery, more broker profiles, one certificate reused across every broker, saved commands with Siri and Shortcuts, log export as CSV or JSON, and the full Doctor report to share. Bought the paid app before it went free? You keep Pro at no cost. WORKS WITH Home Assistant, Mosquitto, Zigbee2MQTT, ESPHome, Node-RED, ESP32 and ESP8266, and any broker speaking MQTT 3.1.1 or 5.0 over TCP, TLS, mTLS or WebSocket. REQUIREMENTS • iOS 17 or later, iPhone and iPad • Local Network access for brokers on your LAN Demo mode lets you look around before you connect anything.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MQTT Commander at none against GuardKit's 1. MQTT Commander also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). GuardKit's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1). On price, rating, ads 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. GuardKit sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MQTT Commander asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for GuardKit against 5.0 for MQTT Commander. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
GuardKit ships an update every 3 weeks, MQTT Commander every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GuardKit | MQTT Commander |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BLUR TEC LLC | Vladimir Chemeris |
Customer experience
GuardKit
MQTT Commander
In-app purchases
GuardKit
- Lifetime Unlock$4.99
MQTT Commander
No in-app purchases









