Comparison

Hardware++ vs Pulse

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

Head to head
About

Hardware++

Features
Read full description

Hardware++ gives your iPhone or iPad a complete hardware health check in minutes. Test your device’s sensors, cameras, speakers, battery, touchscreen, and network performance — all from one powerful app. Whether you're buying a used iPhone, troubleshooting an issue, checking device condition before resale, or simply exploring your hardware, Hardware++ helps you diagnose your device with confidence. FEATURES • Touchscreen Test Detect dead zones, touch delays, and ghost touches with an interactive screen test. • Battery Health View battery health, charge level, charging status, and cycle count in real time. • Camera Check Test front and rear cameras, focus, flash, and image responsiveness. • Speaker & Microphone Test Play audio test tones and monitor live microphone input levels. • Face ID / Touch ID Verify biometric sensors are functioning properly. • Sensors & Motion Monitor live accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer readings. • Flashlight & Haptics Confirm flashlight brightness and Taptic Engine feedback. • Network Speed Test Measure download and upload speeds instantly. • Storage & Performance Check storage usage, memory status, and device performance. • Display Diagnostics Inspect brightness, colors, and dead pixels. RUN ALL TESTS Run every diagnostic with a single tap using the Run All feature. Receive a final device health score and quickly identify potential hardware issues. PRO VERSION Unlock: • Unlimited hardware checks • Ad-free experience • One-time purchase with no subscriptions Hardware++ is designed for buyers, sellers, repair technicians, and anyone who wants to better understand their device’s condition and performance.

About

Pulse

Monitor your device's performance, network activity, and data privacy. Securely store sensitive information, inspect app privacy reports, and perform advanced network diagnostics. Includes a Python IDE and SSH client for comprehensive system management.

Highlights
  • Live device performance monitoring (CPU, RAM, Battery)
  • Extensive network diagnostic tools (15+)
  • Zero-knowledge secrets vault with TOTP authenticator
  • On-device privacy report analysis
  • Security posture assessment with AI advisor
  • SSH, SFTP, and FTP client
  • On-device Python IDE
Features
Read full description

Pulse answers every question about your iPhone or iPad: how it performs, what your network is doing, who is watching your data, and whether your device and secrets are safe. No faked numbers. No ads. No account. No in-app purchases. Every feature on first launch. DEVICE MONITOR Live CPU with per-core breakdown across performance and efficiency cores. RAM in real time: wired, active, inactive, available. Battery level, charge state, and a live discharge graph. Storage with one-tap cache clear. Thermal state. Device Health Score: a 0 to 100 gauge across CPU, RAM, storage, battery, and uptime. NETWORK WORKBENCH (15 tools) Ping, traceroute with geo path, DNS across 9 record types, port scanner, LAN scanner, Bonjour, Whois, SSL inspector, TLS scanner, speed test, API Request, WebSocket tester, subnet calculator, Wake on LAN, QR codes, and a raw TCP, UDP, and TLS socket client. Live traffic by interface, the routing table, a Wi-Fi toolkit, and Wi-Fi sharing by QR and NFC. SECRETS VAULT AND AUTHENTICATOR A zero knowledge password vault with envelope encryption (AES-256-GCM). Unrecoverable by design: no server, no backdoor. Unlock with a PIN or Face ID. Organize logins, cards, and notes in nested folders. A built in TOTP authenticator and AES file and text encryption. Optional auto lock, clipboard auto clear, and erase after ten failed attempts. iOS AutoFill fills saved logins into other apps and Safari, gated behind Face ID. PRIVACY INSPECTOR Import your iOS App Privacy Report and Pulse parses it on your device. Nothing leaves your phone. See which apps used your location, camera, microphone, contacts, photos, and calendar over the last 7 days, with a heatmap of when. Every domain each app contacted is classified and risk scored against a bundled tracker list. SECURITY CENTER Nine on-device checks produce a 0 to 100 posture score: Passcode, Biometrics, Data Protection, Screen Privacy, Sandbox Integrity, Debugger detection, VPN, HTTP Proxy, and Low Power Mode. Each links to the right iOS Settings page, and an on-device AI advisor tells you what to fix. SSH, SFTP, AND FTP CLIENT Connect over SSH with password, key, or two factor auth, with ProxyJump. Generate Ed25519, RSA, and ECDSA keys on device. Upload, download, and manage files over SFTP. A separate FTP and FTPS manager, and an in app terminal with 59 commands. ON-DEVICE PYTHON IDE Run real Python on your phone, fully offline. Multi-file projects with working imports, a code editor, and a Run console. ADVANCED TOOLS NFC Toolkit: read, write, and inspect NDEF tags (MIFARE, NTAG, ISO14443, ISO15693). BLE Explorer: scan peripherals, browse the GATT tree, and read, write, and subscribe to characteristics. Storage Scanner: find duplicate photos, large videos, screenshots, and cache. Sizes come from system metadata, so iCloud originals are never downloaded. Dev Toolbox: SHA-256 and SHA-512 hashing, Base64, JWT decode, regex tester, UUID and password generators, and Unix epoch converter. SENSORS (23 hardware tests) Motion (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer), GPS and compass, proximity, NFC, Bluetooth, UWB, Face ID, microphone, speaker, haptics, every camera, LiDAR, torch, multi-touch, and a display color test. Exportable as timestamped CSV. WIDGETS, AI, AND SHORTCUTS Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets plus a RAM Live Activity in the Dynamic Island. On iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, an on-device AI explains your Health Score and security posture, with no API key and no network call, and all generated text is labelled. Ask Siri to check battery, storage, or network, and find SSH hosts in Spotlight. 10 LANGUAGES English, Arabic (RTL), Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean. DATA INTEGRITY Every value comes from a real iOS API or is clearly labelled. Values Apple does not expose, like battery cycle count and Wi-Fi signal strength, are never faked. What you see is what the device reports.

Screenshots

Hardware++4 screens
Pulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pulse at none against Hardware++'s 1. Pulse also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Hardware++ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pulse asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hardware++ ships an update weekly, Pulse every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Hardware++ versus Pulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHardware++Pulse
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB100 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMUHAMMAD ABUBAKER MAJEEDMarwan Aljasmi

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Hardware++

One-time1
  • Hardware++$4.99
None

Pulse

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hardware++ free?
Hardware++ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pulse free?
Pulse is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hardware++ or Pulse have ads?
Hardware++ shows ads; Pulse does not.
Which is updated more often, Hardware++ or Pulse?
Hardware++ ships an update weekly, and Pulse every 5 days. Most recently, Hardware++ was updated on September 19, 2026 and Pulse on September 20, 2026.

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