Hear the Light vs Radien
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hear the Light
This app transforms light into sound, enabling users to "hear" brightness and locate light sources. It's designed for individuals with vision loss, offering features like color recognition and vibration feedback.
- Light to sound conversion
- Detects small indicator lights
- Fast response time
- Vibration feedback
- Color recognition
- Adjustable sensitivity
- VoiceOver accessibility
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Hear the Light turns light into sound, so you can "hear" where brightness is around you. It was designed from the ground up for people with vision loss. Point your device's back camera in any direction and listen to a tone that rises as the light gets stronger. This makes it easy to find a window, check whether a lamp is on, or tell if a device has an indicator light lit. What makes it stand out: It detects even very small device lights — such as the LED on a router, a TV on standby, or a charger. Of all the apps of this kind we have tested, it is the only one that reliably picks them up. For very faint lights, the room should be dark so they stand out from any other lighting. Extremely fast response: the tone changes instantly as you move the device, noticeably faster than other similar apps. Features: Vibration feedback with variable intensity, independent of sound: use sound, vibration, or both together. Ideal if you have trouble hearing. (Vibration requires an iPhone.) Colour recognition: hear the basic colour of a small light, for example red, green or blue. It is a helpful guide, with best results in a dark room, close to the light. Two sound modes: continuous tone or pulses. Three sensitivity levels, affecting both the sound and the vibration. Light intensity shown in lux (estimate), spoken aloud with a single tap. Built-in user guide. Fully accessible with VoiceOver. Two languages, Greek and English, adapting automatically to your device's language. Privacy first: It does not collect any personal data. No internet connection required. No advertising, no tracking. The camera is used only to measure light — it does not take or store photos. Note: the lux reading and the colour recognition are estimates based on the device's camera and may not always be exact.
Radien
Diagnose network issues with tools like ping, traceroute, and DNS lookup. Inspect TLS certificates, scan ports, and calculate subnets. This app prioritizes privacy with no ads or trackers.
- Ping with live chart and verdict
- Multi-host ping comparison
- Traceroute with hop analysis
- DNS lookup and reverse DNS
- TCP port scanner
- TLS certificate inspector
- Subnet calculator
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Is it my Wi-Fi, or is the site down? Where does the connection break? Why does Safari distrust this certificate? Is my public IP really mine, or am I behind my carrier's NAT? Radien answers these questions on your iPhone or iPad, directly on the device, and honest about what it can and can't see. No ads, no trackers, no analytics, no accounts. Nothing you type is sent to a server we operate. WHAT'S INSIDE • Radien Checkup: one run checks your Wi-Fi, router, internet, DNS and websites, and tells you what is wrong. • Ping: latency, jitter and packet loss to any host, with a live chart and a plain-language verdict. Your router is one tap away. • Multi Ping: compare up to four hosts side by side, at once. Saved groups load a whole comparison in one tap. • Traceroute: every hop between you and a destination, with reverse-DNS names and a read of where delay or loss truly begins. Middle-hop noise is never blamed when the destination answers cleanly. • DNS Lookup & Reverse DNS: query A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS and more against the system resolver or Google, Cloudflare and Quad9. Enter an IP for a reverse PTR lookup. • Port Scanner: which TCP ports are open, closed or filtered (usually a firewall), never a fake vulnerability claim. • TLS Inspector: read a site's TLS/SSL certificate chain, protocol versions and cipher support, straight from your device. No third-party grading service, no invented grades. • Subnet Calculator: IPv4 and IPv6 math: CIDR, network, broadcast, host ranges and equal splits, with a live bit view and RFC-correct /31 and /32. • IP Converter: turn any IP notation into every other form, and see how an IPv4 address rides inside IPv6. • MAC Converter: every MAC address notation, EUI-64, link-local, and a fully offline vendor lookup. Randomized phone MACs are flagged as randomized, never given a fake vendor. • Network Details: your Wi-Fi name and access point vendor, local and public IP address, router address, DNS servers, your real cellular radio (5G, or 5G riding a 4G core) and NAT64 detection, one tap from the always-on status header. ACCESSIBILITY Every screen is tested by hand with VoiceOver. Result rows read as one sentence, every long-press action is also a rotor action, and the ping chart supports Apple's Audio Graphs, so you can hear your connection as rising and falling tones. Larger Text, Reduce Motion and Voice Control are supported. One honest limit: I have no Braille display, so Braille output is untested. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Radien uses Apple frameworks only: no third-party SDKs, no analytics, no data collection. The MAC vendor database is bundled on the device, and certificates are read locally, never sent to a checking service. Your network is your business. RADIEN PRO Radien is free to use, with a one-time Radien Pro unlock for the power features: Radien Checkup, Multi Ping, custom DNS resolvers and extra record types, advanced port presets, full TLS depth, MAC vendor lookup, alternate app icons, tuning options and sharing. Buy once, keep forever. No subscription. Built by an independent developer. Feedback is welcome and read personally.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Radien at 5.0 against Hear the Light's 4.5. Hear the Light's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Radien sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Hear the Light asks for nothing beyond the download.
Radien holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Hear the Light ships an update every 3 days, Radien every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hear the Light | Radien |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 5 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stelios Platsis | IGOR ARSENKIN |
Customer experience
Hear the Light
Radien
In-app purchases
Hear the Light
No in-app purchases
Radien
- Radien Pro$9.99







