AppLights vs ION Sound Control™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AppLights
Create and control stunning holiday light displays directly from your smartphone. This app offers a wide range of effects, colors, and themes for both indoor and outdoor decorating, making custom holiday lighting easy to manage.
- Smartphone control
- Dozens of effects and colors
- Multiple holiday themes
- Customizable color options
- Easy setup and management
- Indoor and outdoor use
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Put on a dazzling holiday light display–and control it all from your smartphone. The AppLights® app works exclusively with AppLights® holiday lighting products to control dozens of effects and colors directly from your smartphone. It’s super easy to set up and manage. Choose from multiple holiday themes, lighting technologies and color options for each lighting product. Perfect for outdoor or indoor holiday decorating, AppLights® delivers the latest in holiday decorating technology for a custom look that’s a breeze to manage.
ION Sound Control™
Control compatible ION speakers remotely to adjust volume, lighting, and equalizer settings. Stream music from other apps, manage radio stations, and check battery status from up to 100 feet away. Requires Bluetooth connection.
- Remote volume control
- Adjust lighting effects
- Customize equalizer settings
- Change input sources
- Check battery status
- Manage radio stations and presets
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Enhance your Sound Experiences™ with the ION Sound Control™ app. Quickly access the functionality of your compatible* ION speaker from anywhere up to 100 feet away to adjust volume, lighting, equalizer settings, change input sources, check your battery status, dial in your favorite radio stations, save radio presets, and more! *Note: Please refer to list below for compatible product. Some features in the app may not be available for all products. This app controls music that streams from other apps on your device. You must first connect your device to speaker via Bluetooth® before connecting with the app to control your streaming music remotely. Compatible Products: • Pro Glow Ultra • Pro Glow Express • Total PA Ultimate • Game Day Primetime • Sport Boom • Party Boom Plus • Block Rocker • Total PA Titan • Sport 320 • Party Splash • Uber Boom • Pathfinder Go • Explorer Express • Geode Rock Speaker • Tailgater Tough • Total PA Freedom • Tailgater Boom • Aquaboom X • Trouper 100 • Trouper 300 • Tahiti Link • Party Splash Link • Sol Stone Link • Trailblazer Roar • Block Rocker Icon • Glow Stone Link • Wave Rider X • Tailgater TD • Total PA Apex • Luma Duo • Trailblazer Summit • Tailgater XL • Glow Tone • Total PA Quake • Tailgater Classic
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: AppLights at 4.0 against ION Sound Control™'s 2.5. AppLights also leads on review sentiment (29% vs 20%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.1). ION Sound Control™'s advantage is ratings volume (94 vs 3). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AppLights holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ION Sound Control™ has 94 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 29% of AppLights's written reviews are positive against 20% of ION Sound Control™'s.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on June 10, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AppLights | ION Sound Control™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (3 ratings) — better | 2.5 (94 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 29.4% of reviews — better | 20.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 94 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 79 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gemmy Industries Corporation | ION Audio |
Customer experience
AppLights
ION Sound Control™
User reviews
AppLights
From 3 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Works great
- 🎨 Variety of lighting effects
- ⏱️ Lights last for years
- 👍 Easy to use app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues
- 🔧 Unreliable/unstable
- 💡 Limited customization
- 🕰️ No timer feature
- 🔍 App not updated/supported
ION Sound Control™
From 94 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Works with Bluetooth
- 👍 Good speaker quality
- 👍 Can control volume
- 👍 App works as expected for some users
- 👍 Reliable connection for some
Room to improve
- 🐛 FM input bugs
- 🐛 App features not working
- 🐛 Connectivity issues
- 🐛 LED control locked
- 🐛 Pairing issues
Bugs and requests
AppLights
Reported bugs
4 issues- Lights not responding to app commands
- Lights stuck in demo/default mode
- Bluetooth connectivity problems
- Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Custom color/pattern creation
- Ability to sync multiple strings
- Timer/scheduling functionality
- More lighting effects/modes
- Improved app UI/UX
ION Sound Control™
Reported bugs
25 issues- App hops back and forth in FM frequency
- App loses mind in FM input
- App loses functionality after update
- Cannot change LED color/pattern
- App doesn't work with specific speakers
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- App interferes with Bluetooth pairing
- App distorts audio
- App locks out without location services
- App requires location services but no setting
- App doesn't connect to speaker
- App shows 'can't find speaker' when connected
- App settings don't save
- Sound gets choppy after 10 minutes
- App doesn't support older speakers
- App doesn't find speaker even when phone is connected
- App asks for purchase date and store
- App has connection issues
- App doesn't pair
- App gets stuck on loading/bluetooth screen
- App doesn't sync two speakers
- App has glitches/stutters when playing music
- App indicates firmware available when it's not
- App takes multiple tries to connect
- App is incompatible with specific models
- App charges for a paid version without clear pricing
Requested features
11 requests- Improve EQ with more bands
- Allow editing device names
- Make lights react to music
- Show volume number
- Turn speaker on from app
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Add ability to turn on speaker voice
- Improve speaker light sync to music
- Add firmware update option
- Allow control without location services
- Add 5-7 band EQ
- Make volume slider live
In-app purchases
AppLights
No in-app purchases
ION Sound Control™
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is AppLights free?
Is ION Sound Control™ free?
Which has better reviews, AppLights or ION Sound Control™?
Do AppLights or ION Sound Control™ have ads?
Which is updated more often, AppLights or ION Sound Control™?
Other comparisons
