Comparison

Sensor Play vs Vibration Detect II

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

Head to head
About

Sensor Play

Record and analyze data from your iPhone's built-in sensors, including accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS. Automate recordings with triggers and export data for scientific or engineering analysis.

Highlights
  • Record accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS, barometer, magnetometer data
  • Background recording up to six hours
  • Automated recording triggers (delay, GPS region, g-force)
  • Export data to CSV for analysis
  • In-app viewer for sensor recordings
  • Real-time sensor data visualization
Features
Read full description

Sensor Play - the iPhone Sensor Playground, and the best app for serious scientific research and data recording. Used by engineers, scientists, teachers, and enthusiasts all around the world. The sensors built into all iPhones are amazing examples of the power in your pocket. To have a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, even a Barometer with you at all times is a marvel of miniature engineering. It's simply fun to see the output from all these sensors, play with each interactively, or just view the raw data. Record Accelerometer, Gyroscope, GPS, Barometer, Magnetometer sensor data and share by email for further analysis, or review using the in app viewer. However Sensor Play is not just a toy. Beyond the obvious fun of watching the accelerometer and gyroscope graphs bounce around you can now record multi-sensor data all at the same time, even in the background, for a full external analysis of your, or your iPhone's, motion through time and space however you so desire. And now with Automation you can trigger your recordings to start either after a simple delay, when you enter or leave a preset GPS Region, or when the iPhone is nudged above a selected gForce. Then end your recordings either after a set duration, or when you enter or leave a preset GPS Region. Automation makes getting the data you want so much easier, and eliminates lots of unnecessary recorded data. Set up the triggers as required, close the phone and go. Set and Forget! Later when you open SensorPlay the data you were after will have been automatically recorded and saved for you. The following data is recorded to a csv file for sharing through the standard iPhone share sheet. Timestamp Accelerometer: X, Y, Z Gyroscope: X, Y, Z Attitude: Roll, Pitch, Yaw Location: Longitude, Latitude, Speed, TrueHeading, Altitude Motion Activity: Type & Confidence Barometer: Pressure, Relative Altitude Magnetometer: µT X, Y, Z, calibrated x,y,z, rotation matrix, and quaternion Visual graphs of sensor recordings in one place, as long as they're not too large anyway. Background mode is supported for all recordings, accelerometer, gyro, and multi-sensor export, lock your screen and keep recording all sensor data for up to six hours. A serious engineering, scientific, and educational analysis tool. Sharing of all recordings is now through the built in share options which includes, Airdrop, mail, message, notes, dropbox (if installed), etc. Sensors currently supported: Barometer (iPhone 6 and above only) - see the atmospheric pressure in a choice of 7 units, see your relative altitude plotted over time. - Widget available to display the atmospheric pressure in the notification centre. Accelerometer - See the g-forces on the X,Y,Z axis and see them traced over time. - Widget available to show gMax in X,Y,Z axis on notification screen. - Record the data and share for further analysis Gyroscope - Watch the rate of rotation over the X,Y,Z axis plotted over time. - Record the data and share for further analysis GPS/Location Services - See your exact location mapped on screen and share your Lat/Long coordinates by text or email. Magnetometer/Compass - See the magnetic field acting on the X, Y, Z, axis along with an interactive compass. 3D/Force Touch (6S ->11 only) Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.

About

Vibration Detect II

Features
Read full description

The Vibration Detect program use the motion sensor to detect vibrations.

Place your IPHONE / IPAD on the equipment you like to measure vibrations.

Hit the RUN button to start.

There will be a two sec. delay to prevent from vibrations at startup.

The default measure time is 10 seconds and the sensitivity is default set to medium.

Screenshots

Sensor Play4 screens
Vibration Detect II1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Sensor Play at every 2 months against Vibration Detect II's every 28 months. Vibration Detect II's advantage is price ($9.99 vs $14.99). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

Sensor Play costs $14.99 and Vibration Detect II $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sensor Play ships an update every 2 months, Vibration Detect II every 28 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Sensor Play versus Vibration Detect II: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSensor PlayVibration Detect II
Price$14.99$9.99 — better
Rating4.7 (59 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews83.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings59 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 28 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.011.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhilip BroderAnders Falck

In-app purchases

None

Sensor Play

No in-app purchases

None

Vibration Detect II

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sensor Play free?
Sensor Play costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Vibration Detect II free?
Vibration Detect II costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sensor Play or Vibration Detect II have ads?
Neither Sensor Play nor Vibration Detect II shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sensor Play or Vibration Detect II?
Sensor Play ships an update every 2 months, and Vibration Detect II every 28 months. Most recently, Sensor Play was updated on October 15, 2026 and Vibration Detect II on October 2, 2026.

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