Phantom Trace vs GhostLab
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Phantom Trace
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Phantom Trace turns your phone into a complete paranormal investigation kit—built for investigators, ghost-hunting teams, and the endlessly curious. Whether you're sweeping an abandoned building, running an overnight at a known haunt, or chasing a story no one else will touch, Phantom Trace helps you capture what happens, keep it organized, and make sense of it afterward. LIVE SENSOR MONITORING Read your device's environmental sensors in real time—electromagnetic field, motion, audio level, barometric pressure, and compass heading—with clean readouts and live min/avg/max tracking. Tag anything unusual the moment it happens. CAPTURE EVIDENCE Document photos, video, and ambient audio with a purpose-built capture overlay, so every piece of evidence stays tied to the case and the moment it was recorded. BUILD A CASE Create detailed investigations: name the location, set the type and priority, schedule sessions, assign your equipment kit, and run solo or with a team. Every reading, photo, and note lands on one case timeline and evidence board. AI-POWERED REVIEW When the session ends, let the built-in analysis surface anomaly scores, patterns, and notable findings across your readings—so you spend less time scrubbing data and more time investigating. MAP THE UNKNOWN Explore an interactive map of haunted locations, sightings, and regional intel, and pin your own GPS-tagged investigation sites. REVIEW THE FULL TIMELINE Trace every event from session start to final evidence review, filter by sensors, evidence, or AI findings, and revisit any case anytime. Phantom Trace is a tool for documenting and analyzing your own investigations. Sensor readings reflect your device's hardware and are intended for investigative and entertainment purposes. Detect. Investigate. Uncover. SUBSCRIPTIONS Phantom Trace Pro is an auto-renewable subscription: $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Spectral Token packs are one-time purchases: 5 for $1.99, 15 for $4.99, 30 for $8.99, 50 for $15.99, 100 for $29.99. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://westmichiganmysterymachine.com/privacy SUBSCRIPTION Field Investigator Pro is an auto-renewable subscription. Monthly $4.99 or Annual $49.99. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Settings > your name > Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://westmichiganmysterymachine.com/privacy
GhostLab
This app simulates a spirit box using eight voice banks to generate audio fragments. Ask questions and listen for potential messages, with sessions recorded and saved. It's an instrument for exploring generated sounds, not proof of the paranormal.
- Eight voice banks with unique tones
- Echo, reverb, and white noise effects
- Adjustable sweep rate
- Session recording and library
- Offline functionality
- No ads or microphone use
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Dead Channel is a spirit box instrument built around eight voice banks. Tap Start and they begin: broken syllables, breaths, and pieces of English words, deep men and high women, forward and backwards, a few at a time with silence in between. Ask your question out loud, then listen. When a longer, clearer word or a whispered sentence comes through, the phone taps once and the screen flushes red. • Eight voice banks, each with its own tone, played in clusters with silence between • Echo, reverb, and a white noise bed that dips under the voices • Sweep rate from slow and sparse to fast and crowded • Every session is recorded with the effects you used and saved to the Library • Works offline, with no account and no ads, and it never uses the microphone Every sound is free to try for 48 hours. After the trial, a single one-time purchase unlocks Dead Channel for good. There is no subscription. Dead Channel is an instrument. It plays generated audio, and it does not prove the paranormal. Some voices are generated with Piper from the LibriTTS-R corpus (Koizumi et al., CC BY 4.0).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Phantom Trace at 15.1 against GhostLab's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Phantom Trace sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and GhostLab sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Phantom Trace | GhostLab |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.5 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 121 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Jonathon Jacobs | Jack Miller |
In-app purchases
Phantom Trace
- Phantom Trace Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Phantom Trace Pro Annual$49.991 Year
- 5 Spectral Tokens$1.99
- 15 Spectral Tokens$4.99
- 30 Spectral Tokens$8.99
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- 50 Spectral Tokens$15.99
- 100 Spectral Tokens$29.99
GhostLab
- 2-Day TrialFree
- Dead Channel Lifetime Unlock$7.99
Questions
Is Phantom Trace free?
Is GhostLab free?
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