Comparison

Pocket Seismograph vs ChipSense CNC

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

Head to head
About

Pocket Seismograph

Features
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See how hard a surface is shaking, and at what frequency. Pocket Seismograph reads your iPhone's accelerometer at 100 Hz, draws the vibration live, and names the strongest frequency it can find in it. WHAT YOU GET - Dominant frequency in Hz, with a full spectrum chart behind it - Live trace with NOW, MAX, AVG and RMS, as magnitude or full XYZ - Rotation-speed readout in rpm, offered as a hypothesis when the reading looks like a rotating part - Estimated felt intensity and estimated peak ground velocity - Three processing modes: Raw, Stable and Vibration - Sessions you can name, tag, search and reopen - CSV export through the system save dialog, with locale-aware profiles - Calibration wizard that measures your own device's noise floor - Works offline. No account, no sign-in. GREAT FOR - A washing machine that walks across the floor. A spin cycle sits around 17 to 27 Hz, and the app names it. - HVAC units and fans: read the running frequency, then the rpm it implies. - Floors, stairs and beams that move when someone walks past. - Construction, traffic or machinery you want recorded with a timestamp. - Feeling a tremor and wanting the next one captured. HOW IT WORKS 1. Put the phone flat on the surface, screen up. 2. Press Start. Watch the trace and the frequency card. 3. Save the session, add a note, export CSV when you need to show someone. WHAT IT WILL NOT DO Frequency analysis reads reliably from about 1 Hz to 40 Hz, and only indicatively up to roughly 50 Hz. Vibration faster than half the sampling rate does not simply disappear, it folds back and can appear as a false low-frequency line. Amplitude is indicative: the case, how firmly the phone rests on the surface, and filtering inside the sensor itself all color the number. The frequency is the more trustworthy half of the reading. When nothing stands clearly above the noise, the app says "No clear frequency" rather than inventing one. That is the correct reading for a phone lying still on a desk. This is not a certified seismic instrument and it is not calibrated for legal evidence. It is not a medical or diagnostic device. It sends no seismic alerts, so for early warnings use your country's official system. It cannot see the 60 Hz to 500 Hz range where bearing and gear features live, so finding nothing here says nothing about them. Available in 49 languages. Built by an independent developer who thinks a measurement tool should tell you when it does not know. If it is useful to you, a review is the best thanks.

About

ChipSense CNC

Features
Read full description

ChipSense turns your iPhone into a real-time cutting coach for your CNC router or mill. It does something no other app does: it fuses AUDIO and VISION. ChipSense listens to the cut through the microphone to detect the acoustic signature of regenerative chatter and rising tool load, and at the same time reads the wood grain through the camera to spot knots and hard, figured areas before your bit reaches them. It combines both into a single, live Cut Risk — and tells you exactly when to ease the feed, and when to stop. WHY IT MATTERS • Chatter and overload are how bits dull, snap, and ruin a workpiece. They almost always announce themselves in the sound of the cut — a few seconds before the damage. • Hard grain and knots are visible before you hit them. ChipSense sees them coming. • Catch either early and you save bits, save stock, and get a cleaner finish. WHAT YOU GET • Live cut-state read-out: Idle, Nominal, Heavy load, Chatter, Critical. • Chatter detection tuned to reject spindle-synchronous tones (it knows the difference between the normal cut and self-excited chatter). • Camera grain map that highlights knots and hard grain as a live heatmap. • A fused Cut Risk that combines what it hears and what it sees. • A clear feed advisory — ease off, hold, or all clear — with a suggested feed-rate override. • Built-in demo scenarios so you can see exactly how it responds to a knot, chatter, or a clean cut, with no machine and no setup. HOW TO USE IT Prop your iPhone near the cutting zone with a view of the workpiece, start monitoring, and cut. ChipSense advises in real time. It is a monitoring and advisory tool — it does not control your machine directly. Patent pending. Built by machinists, for machinists.

Screenshots

Pocket Seismograph4 screens
ChipSense CNC2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Pocket Seismograph at 13.0 against ChipSense CNC's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

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

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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
Pocket Seismograph versus ChipSense CNC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket SeismographChipSense CNC
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerlapnito.cz s.r.o.The Giving Stump, llc

In-app purchases

None

Pocket Seismograph

No in-app purchases

None

ChipSense CNC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pocket Seismograph free?
Pocket Seismograph is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChipSense CNC free?
ChipSense CNC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Pocket Seismograph or ChipSense CNC have ads?
Neither Pocket Seismograph nor ChipSense CNC shows ads.

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