Decibel : dB sound level meter Reviews

by The Real Duck

Be very careful. Decibel tries to sell you upgrades & subscriptions. The purchase window pops up as fast as you close it. While contemplating how to get out of this loop my thumb touched the home button & I was charged $9.99.

Update: first of all I was not upgraded to the Pro version. I have no idea what I was charged for. I went to PayPal & found a recurring charge that I immediately canceled.
Secondly, I did not push the home button to close the purchase window. I pushed cancel, but a new purchase window popped up immediately. It was stuck in a loop. There was no way out. If you read the reviews you will find a large number of inadvertent purchases. Obviously Decibel is designed to take advantage of bugs built into it.

by T.J. L

I paid for Spectrum Pro, Dosimeter Pro, and dB Meter Pro. I just noticed that now I no longer have Spectrum Pro because it now requires an $8 monthly subscription. I still have Dosimeter Pro and dB Meter Pro (until they also require a subscription). I was confused about which one would export data to Apple Health. However, I happily paid for them all because all I wanted Apple Health tracking. But now even that has become unavailable. I turn on export to Apple Health. It shows it's on until I leave the settings page. I go back to find it's off every time. How can a developer, in good conscience, take away features they once offered for a one time fee? All because they want to hop on the subscription bandwagon like all other apps. I want the features I bought. I understand developers need to get paid, but customers who paid before you switch to subscriptions should get to keep all the features offered at their time of purchase.

by JohnTW101

The basic dB meter itself seems to work okay but isn’t going to tell you much more than your own ears can likely figure out. I was hoping to be able to detect very high pitched sounds but that doesn’t seem to happen.

The worst part though is the pop-ups to purchase the several different pro versions. If you press the home button to back out of it with a phone that confirms purchases with your finger print, you end up paying for whatever “pro” version pop-up they are showing... and there are seemingly endless “pro” options. This feels very deliberate and appears to be a scam. I ended up with a $10 purchase I had no intention of making and still get prompted non-stop for more purchases!

Avoid Decibel!!!!

by ProfessorEinstein

Not sure what the programmer did to compensate for the microphone in software, but it didn’t work is my guess. This meter consistently reads 10-20 dB off from (a) the NIOSH SLM app, which was tested at the NIOSH lab, and (b) the Apple Watch built in sound meter. The two other devices (one running on an Apple phone and the other on the Apple Watch) are consistently within 2 dB of each other. Decibel is consistently 10-20 dB off. When quiet, it reads low and when things got louder, it read lower as well. When I added a calibration to get either the high or the low end right, the other end remains wrong, so the nonlinear nature of the compensation is off.

by AcousticsPro

Despite claim that it is calibrated with a professional sound level meter, I found the measurements to be consistently 5-7 dB higher than my trusted B&K 2250. That is way higher than accepted error reported by standards and the main NIOSH hearing group study on smartphone apps accuracy. There aslo no documentations or papers to support the claim of accuracy.

Another flaw: Peak level should never be lower than max level, yet in Decibel, it seems that Max is sometimes higher than Peak. Maximum sound levels are averaged over the time period it's measured at while Peak is the absolute highest level captured by the microphone before any averaging or RMS calculations.

Finally, what is the average displayed? Averaged based on what criteria? Most sound level measuring instruments have a threshold value as specified by a threshold level and an exchange rate, yet Decibel does not provide any such information. A calculated "average" is really useless without these parameters.

by Dgghnbfu

When I hold my phone in portrait mode it will display something like 60 dB but when I rotate to landscape mode it changes to something like 35 dB. Sometimes I believe the portrait is more correct and sometimes the landscape reading seems more correct. Also, why in the world would I pay $7.99/mo for Decibel? Bet you would get a lot more subscriptions if the price was reasonable but right now the free version of Decibel and my Apple Watch together provide me with most of what the paid version of Decibel does.

by Zackski67

I’ve had Decibel for about a year now, and I love it. It’s responsive, has great controls, and is everything I want a free this app app to be. Over the past month or so, Decibel updated and now shows annoying bars instead of an accurate graph of frequencies. I used to love using my voice or a tone generator to see spikes rise or fall, but now I see about 10 annoying bars that don't show a full spectrum of frequencies on a graph. Bring it back!!

by Natemasterflex

As my title says I don’t believe Decibel is inaccurate, I think it’s the devices. Obviously iPhones weren’t developed to be accurate measuring tools. Just think about how your voice sounds when you record it through the phone onto something like GarageBand? It sounds like dog poo, so yeah, that’s what Decibel has to work with. Based on the fact that the measurements are done with a mic diaphragm the size of a BB I think it does a great job. I do wish they would tell everyone these things though so people aren’t disappointed, thus the 4 stars. I know it should be totally obvious it’s a freakin app on a phone, but people seem to think they should get Lamborghini performance out of there Camry.....

by FredtheWhale

This initially appears to be a subscription app, but I overlooked the X in the upper left. Using the free version is really nice and provide the functionality that i need. (Im really curious to try the hearing test)

What I’m pleasantly surprised about is that i initially reviewed Decibel by complaining that it was a “subscription only” app. The developer wrote to me to clarify my misunderstanding and how to use the free version. Their email was so polite and well worded that I felt compelled to return to Decibel and try it again.

The respectful tone and thorough note that the sent me makes me anticipate that their customer service would be excellent. Well done.

by KIMMYO3

How come the hearing test option i snot available anymore? I am on the free version. But shouldn’t the hearing test at least be free. I mean. That’s a health care necessity. That’s not right. You shouldn’t have to pay just to get a hearing test. It should be free. Especially, if you just want to know if you have good hearing or not. Last month I had the option to test my hearing. Now I can’t. I was always on the free version so there’s no excuse as to why the “hearing test” is not available now. You’re lame developers. Super lame.

by Smplm

This is a great free app. You can expect some adds. This is a great app for measuring noise. I'm using Decibel to measure noise in my home. I'm trying to find the source. I cant find the source because the sound level is the same everywhere. But what I can do is measure the sound level when it sounds louder. Decibel works amazingly well for that purpose. I don't have a couple thousand dollars to purchase a real sound meter. Im obviously not a pro in the sound field. Decibel is excellent for measuring sound level. The numbers may be different if I spend a couple thousand dollars on a pro model but I only care about seeing if the number goes up or down. So If pro model read 7 and app said 12 and later that day I felt like the noise was louder and I measured the sound, it wouldnt matter to me if pro model said 17 and app said 22. So, perfect for my purposes and its free! Thank you Mr Developer😁

by ScribeHD

You want a “go to” tool for measuring sound energy in any situation? This is perfect. I’ve actually measured a needle impact drop from across a silent room. Wanna get tolerances down for constants down and report back the data? Yep, this does it. I love the dB meter and it’s love the software designers/programmers. Well thought out. Great graphical representation as it always amazes clients when I pull it out of my arsenal.

by Julie12345678910111213

Thank you for Decibel. I was looking for something that could give me a general idea of the sound dB ranges in different locations. Since I only needed a general range for this project I looked for a free or low cost app. It worked better than I expected a phone app would be able to.
I felt the need to leave a review as I am surprised at the amount of people that left negative reviews. The iPhone mic is quite different than a calibrated device that cost $100 and up. Not to mention variances in cases, dirt build up, people’s hand placement, even the direction the mic is being pointed at could slightly alter results. All that said this was accurate within 5db up or down in my results. Considering all I mentioned above that is pretty good. If you need something highly accurate for something of importance you should be looking into an calibrated device made for such things.

by From The Critics

I would definitely recommend Decibel to anyone looking into the audio industry. You can use it to test how loud a room is, and if you go somewhere loud you can just pull it out to make sure you aren’t damaging your ears. You also have the option to take a hearing test every once in a while on Decibel. No glitches or errors at all. It’s fast and easy. I love it!

by Barbeauaudio

I’d been kind of disappointed with other free SP level phone apps, and decided to give this one a try because of the free trial.

I didn’t realize til after opening it up that there’s an FFT frequency analyzer Function in Decibel native, and it was an instant game changer for running live sound. I consider myself to have a good ear for frequencies but Decibel takes out all the guess work of finding feedback frequencies so I can get right to the fun part of the job.

One issue I had, compared to any professional standalone SPL meters, Decibel measures somewhere between 5-10 dB lower on my phone compared to the hardware meter. I adjusted the calibration in the settings page, so it seems fine now, but i thought it needed to be said.

Anyway, best 3 bucks I’ve ever spent on an app. More than worth it, you’ll dig it.

by Babe235679

I’ve been using this to gauge how loud my
boyfriend snores (unbeknownst to him) - I was beginning to think I that maybe just maybe I was more sensitive to sound than I realized. Nope - he’s scoring in the mid 90s! No wonder these earplugs don’t work. 12:30am & 3 glasses of wine later & I still can’t fall asleep. Thank you for creating an app that supports my dream of one day having a quiet nights sleep (how I’ll get there I have no idea but hey this is a start). Love you babe if you’re reading this but sheesh, your girl needs her beauty sleep (& really guys, this is a thing). Pray for me. Lol

by Georgeg That's Me...

I especially like the frequency loudness display. I used it to compare bass boost on my system. The upper measurements are retained so variations can be compared visually. I didn't explore all the potential uses as all I wanted was to keep the loadness of my speakers in a safe zone.
I took it that the statement of calibration of my iPhone mic was true; if I wanted to use it more I would verify it. The usefulness of a meter in a cellphone is really convenient; it is always with you when you need it. Recording of data while using is useful for later analysis.

by Smurdamat2

I purchased the pro version as I am an audio engineer and would like to have something convenient as a quick reference rather then pulling out my larger, more professional tools. So far this has been pretty accurate and quite helpful. I would like to see some adjustability on the “over limit” marker. There are times I am given a dB limit to follow and being able to set this for when the meter reaches “over” would be nice. Maybe even some other larger notification and options to turn this on and off? A couple tweeks and Decibel would be amazing! Solid product for sure!

by Wedding Videographer

Absolutely love Decibel. I can use this meter to accurately commission a new installation quickly by just using the phone in my pocket. Love Decibel. My favorite app made outside of native ones or Microsoft.

Generally speaking ambient noise is 40db in most campus buildings. When we are testing we want our systems to produce 35db more at maximum volume to account for bodies in the room absorbing sound. Decibel makes it so I can test the ambient level, and tweak (gain stage) the audio equipment to around 35db more than the measured ambient. Use this all the time.

Gives a much more scientific approach across campus without carrying a specialized tool. The specialized tool would be more accurate but it’s like a 80/20 rule. This gets me 80% of the way there without lugging something around. This is immense value.

I also use this to teach student workers about different audio reference points in real time. Beautiful thing.

I never write reviews. Decibel soooo deserves it. I only wish there was a partner app for Lux.

by JamieReneeH

I installed Decibel because I needed to check the volume difference between my guitar with and without an amplifier . My ears alone could not determine how much difference there was.

I was not happy to see the free version was only for 3 days but I did not stress over it since I could unsubscribe. I don’t mind paying for a good app because that allows good developers to create things that work great for me.

After I installed it I went through and looked at all the options and I realized how many more things I could be doing with it that I was not aware was in Decibel . For instance, I know I have some hearing loss and Decibel has a feature where you can test your hearing. Decibel will also allow me to check the DB level in some of the industrial environments that I work in.

There are some limitations though. For instance Decibel is not a frequency counter to tell you what the frequency is of the sound you hear but then it is not advertised as that. An additional limitation would be the frequency response of the microphone in your phone. So if you needed to get an absolute precise frequency level you would probably have to get an expensive sound level meter.

On first use this is an excellent application and worth the price as long as you have a valid use for it.

by Phyxius333

I purchased this by accident through a pop up during use. This wasn't a whoops duh type of moment either- this is a complaint I have seen from other users in reviews despite the 5star responses.
I am also unsure what the 'max' level this meter can read might be. There initially was a 'Max 68' listed but I realized that had nothing to do with my actual recording as the 'Peak' was completely different.

How high in Decibels can this meter measure?

by JMacBerwickPI

I’m hard of hearing and it only registers how loud the noise is coming, not the source. Actually I’m lying and I’m sorry but I have no idea what I was talking about. It’s helpful if you are a music lover because then you’ll know exactly when your roommate starts throwing things. When I was a kid in England, I was safe as long as Dad wasn’t around when I was enjoying the likes of Free, Zeppelin, Bad Company and Cream to name but a few.

by Ethan Ackland

Overall a good app to find the dB level of a room or area. I am slightly disappointed in the fact that you had to hit a record button to start the dB measurement. However i received a message from the developer saying that by setting Decibel to auto start, it would solve that problem! I found Decibel fairly accurate considering the lacking microphones in most smartphones. I do recommend Decibel to anyone looking for a general sense of dB level in any indoor or outdoor situation.

by T To The Homas

Decibel is useless to me if I can’t play music from my phone and look at the decibels at the same time. The only reason I gave four stars is because I respect the fact that at least you have A lite version that you can try out first before you pay for Decibel . I would have given two stars or maybe even one star if I had purchased Decibel and it did not work. Thanks

by Mokyhokybongohonk

Decibel seems to work very well. There are lots of ways to manage the recordings. The one thing that I find difficult though is finding a recording easily and deleting it. Every time I want to delete a recording, because I don't use this very much, I have a difficult time locating and deleting. I think you need to put that in a kind of a up front position. Thank you

by Devinkristopher

I love Decibel. It's one of the most responsive this app meters I've seen with a sexy, lightweight interface. It looks good, has powerful functionality, and great customization. I can not emphasize how much I love this interface. As a music major and car hobbyist, Decibel is my lifeline.

With that said, I wish the upgrade option field was more clear. I wasn't initally sure what features were in each package and how they compared to each other. If there was a chart to compare it would be great. Or a package to upgrade to all features. I would!

I bought the Pro and soon will likely get the other app too. I think that's how the upgrades work.

Sweet app!

by Paulmtg

I am tired of noisy bars and public spaces...in some bars the this app levels are so high they will damage hearing... that’s just a fact... I have always stayed away from extremely loud venues... which included walking out of some concerts... which was a huge bummer... but my hearing IS more important!

by REB1928

Great app to have on your phone. Very accurate. Much better and more consistent than others out in the market. I like, more than I thought I would, the specific dB number reading. Rather than the needle movement. Easier to track as well as see from a distance. Highly recommended it!!