LightBlue is Punch Through's free Bluetooth Low Energy scanning, debugging, and virtual-peripheral app for iOS, macOS, and Android developers.
LightBlue is a free Bluetooth Low Energy toolkit that Punch Through Design began in 2012 as an internal tool for testing and debugging BLE devices on client projects, then released to the developer community. The app scans for nearby BLE peripherals, exposes their advertisement data, services, and characteristics, and supports reading, writing, and subscribing to notifications with data entry in Hex, Octal, Binary, Decimal, or ASCII formats.
Beyond inspection, LightBlue emulates BLE peripherals through virtual device profiles so developers can prototype application behavior before their own firmware is ready, and its Cloud Connect feature streams BLE data to AWS IoT or Adafruit IO without code. Punch Through Design, a Minneapolis connected-device engineering firm, distributes it free on the App Store, Mac App Store, and Google Play, where it has drawn millions of downloads and a large monthly active base.
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| Attribute | LightBlue | Hubble Connect | nRF Connect for Mobile | Simplicity Connect Mobile App | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider |  | | | | |
| Founded | 2009 | 2021 | 1983 | 1996 | |
| Sells To | Enterprise | Enterprise | B2B | Enterprise, Small Business | |
| Pricing Model | — | Recurring | Hardware | Transactional | |
| Ownership | Private | Venture-backed | Public | Public |
Provider
Founded 2009
Sells To Enterprise
Pricing Model —
Ownership Private
Provider
Founded 2021
Sells To Enterprise
Pricing Model Recurring
Ownership Venture-backed
Provider
Founded 1983
Sells To B2B
Pricing Model Hardware
Ownership Public
Provider
Founded 1996
Sells To Enterprise, Small Business
Pricing Model Transactional
Ownership Public