TowerScope vs Bug Detector
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
TowerScope
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TowerScope turns independent cellular observations into a map you can understand. Search cities, addresses and countries worldwide, explore 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G records, and inspect the information behind each result. EXPLORE THE NETWORK โข Browse cellular records on a clear map โข Search worldwide for a place or country โข Filter by radio technology, carrier and point type โข Switch between standard, hybrid and satellite maps โข Inspect Cell ID, MCC/MNC, area code and coordinates โข Review samples, dates, estimated range and quality โข Open coordinates directly in Apple Maps โข Optionally test latency, download, upload and ISP/ASN HONEST DATA, CLEAR LABELS A marker is not automatically a physical tower. It may represent a logical cell, sector, observation or estimated site. Labels, sample counts and dates help you judge each result. Coverage, recency and position quality vary by region. A missing result does not mean that no cell exists there. WORLDWIDE SELF-HOSTED DATA TowerScope retrieves records from its own backend. The worldwide dataset is based on OpenCellID observations. Possible frequency bands are catalog entries for a radio generation, not a promise about the exact band used by a cell. Source and license information is available in the app and privacy policy. ONE PURCHASE Unlock access with one lifetime in-app purchase. There is no recurring fee, advertising or TowerScope account. Purchases can be restored through Apple. The optional connection test transfers up to about 16 MB and describes your current internet connection, not a specific tower. TowerScope is an information tool, not a substitute for professional measurement equipment, carrier planning data or emergency services. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Bug Detector
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Stakeout is a listening stakeout. You put the phone down, walk away, and come back to a timestamped tape of the steady tones it heard in the near-ultrasonic band โ the range above ordinary hearing that a phone microphone can still sample. WHAT IT ACTUALLY DOES There is no live spectrum in this app. No waterfall, no decibel meter, no needle to watch. That is deliberate. A meter tells you about the instant you happen to be looking at it; a tape tells you what happened while you were not in the room. The running screen is a session clock and a log, and the output is evidence with timestamps. TEST YOUR OWN PHONE FIRST Before a session, run the self-test. Stakeout plays 16, 18, 20 and 21 kHz through the speaker, measures what your microphone returns, and prints the measured response for each one. Not a spec sheet copied from somewhere โ your handset, in your room, at your volume. Microphone response above 20 kHz varies enormously between phones, so the honest thing is to measure it and show you, rather than promise a flat response nobody can guarantee. THE TAPE Every row is one event: the wall-clock time it started, the frequency, how long it held, and how far above the room's own noise it sat. Times are zero-padded and absolute โ never "3 minutes ago" โ because a log you might act on needs real timestamps. Tones that stop and restart are folded into one row with a count, so a pulsing source reads as one finding rather than forty. A tone has to hold for at least two seconds to be logged at all. That single rule removes almost everything a room throws at a microphone: a chair scraping, a door, a cough, a passing car. THE UNVERIFIED BAND The region above 20 kHz is drawn differently and labelled unverified, because that is the truth: it sits where phone microphones start to roll off and where your particular handset may hear nothing at all. The self-test is what tells you which side of that line you are on. WHAT YOU GET FREE - The full near-ultrasonic detector, 15 to 22 kHz - Sessions up to 15 minutes - Three saved tapes - The loopback self-test, unlimited - Steady tones in the audible band logged as events WHAT PRO ADDS - Sessions with no time limit, running all night - Every tape kept, not only your last three - Export a tape as plain text, timestamps and all - Detection strictness: loose, standard or strict BEING HONEST ABOUT THE LIMITS A phone cannot scan the radio spectrum. It cannot detect an analogue transmitter, and it cannot find a wired or fully passive microphone โ those things emit nothing a microphone can hear. Any app claiming otherwise is selling you a feeling. What a phone can do is listen very carefully, in a band you cannot. A tone in your tape is something worth explaining. It is not, on its own, proof of surveillance โ ultrasonic tones also come from motion sensors, some televisions, rodent repellers, cleaning equipment and a surprising number of ordinary appliances. The app gives you the evidence and the timestamps; the conclusion is yours. PRIVACY No account, no sign-up, no analytics and no tracking. Audio is analysed live on the device and is never recorded, saved or uploaded โ the tape holds numbers, not sound. The only connection the app makes is the subscription check with the App Store. SUBSCRIPTION Stakeout Pro is $3.99 per week with a 3-day free trial, or $17.99 per year. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you buy a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://leomarston.github.io/manycode-legal/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
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Verdict
TowerScope and Bug Detector are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them โ neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. TowerScope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Bug Detector sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | TowerScope | Bug Detector |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | โ |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad โ better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sascha Koziellek | Emine Saridogan |
In-app purchases
TowerScope
- TowerScope Lifetime$29.99
Bug Detector
- Weekly3 Days trial$3.997 Days
- Yearly$17.991 Year
Questions
Is TowerScope free?
Is Bug Detector free?
Do TowerScope or Bug Detector have ads?
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