Photone - Grow Light Meter Reviews

Originally, I had written a review stating how displeased I was for paying $5 for the Full-Spec LED addon. Then, I decided to see what others had said in their reviews of Photone , and found an interesting bit of information that really helped me. I was getting inaccurate PPFD reading (300 directly next to a light source for plant cultivation), and was absolutely baffled by the number I got. However, I noticed multiple people, as well as the developer state that the use of a diffuser (like a tissue) is important in some instances. I just tried this and feel the PAR reading is incredibly more accurate than what I originally thought it to be. My apologies to the developer, and thank you to everyone for bringing useful information to the reviews. I would certainly now recommend Photone knowing what I do.

Photone caught my attention. I recently installed some grow lights and I simply want to know how far they should be from my plants. Was going to buy a light meter, but then Photone says “free” on it. Thought I’d try it out.

Well here’s the catch. It’s free to download, but you have to pay for anything actually useful. Theoretically, I’m fine with that. But you have to pay for each individual kind of light. You have to pay for information on what measurements mean. Really? What if, after spending all this money, you find the information is wrong? You can choose to unlock everything for a monthly fee or a onetime fee of $80. But here’s the thing…that same cost will buy a very decent light meter. You can buy a mediocre meter for less than half. And with Photone, they insist you make a filter. And seriously, they INSIST. Like the alert will not go away even after you dismiss it, so the warning blocks measurements even after you have done a onetime payment to unlock something. Seriously? I’m just going to buy a light meter without all the hassle, thanks.

Recommendation: Save your money and buy a meter instead.

Only reason I gave 4 stars is due to the fact that this is the only device I have used to measure light output of my full spectrum LED’s. So I’m not entirely sure how accurate its measurements are, or what the standard deviation of the measurements would be. One thing that could be added is a standardized diffuser that would be consistent, it worries me that if I don’t use the exact same thickness and type of paper every-time I may get inaccurate readings. However from the experience I have with Photone it works amazingly and seems to give me relatively accurate readouts within a few 1000 Lux or a dozen or so par from what is advertised by the manufacturer of my current light and from what I’ve seen online people using high end spectrometers and other devices get similar data readouts… if your new to growing or just want a general idea… Photone is the way to go 1,000%. Will not let you down just take your readings with a grain of salt.

I very rarely report a problem with apps as it usually results in a short response about an upcoming release that will address it but never does. I usually just delete an app that doesn’t work and move on.
I had issues with adding lights & features with Korona and the dev was very responsive and very helpful. Fixed the problem straight away.

I wanted this to work as I found it close to readings from a Sun System par meter. When used thoughtfully, close enough to use it as a quick and convenient reference that’s always within reach and easy to use. I do find the difference in ppfd readings grow the further from the light it gets under artificial light but that’s understandable given the limits of the camera sensor vs. dedicated par sensor.

I heard long ago it’s the best app for this, but sadly I needed to pay for the useful light sources. I think you used to have to subscribe and it unlocked all of them, but I didn’t like that so I never used it. I just checked it out again, and it looks like you guys changed the subscription/money-making model! Now I can just pay a small one-time fee to unlock a certain light source (and there’s also a monthly subscription option which unlocks all). That’s so much better! Thank you, dev(s)! (I wish I checked Photone before I spent a whole night manually modeling & calculating the cabinets’ PPFDs in Excel…)

Thanks for developing this aesthetic piece of software.

Wish the faceid sensors could be used... it seems to use basic info from the camera sensor.

It's unfortunately less accurate than a free photography light meter app..

I dont doubt a diffuser would help a lot but idk..

I calibrated against a decently accurate lux meter .

I even gave the software the benefit of the doubt by using reflected light ( shouldnt need diffuser)

And it still was inaccurate.

It can still def be used to see the footprint of light for gardening applications . Even if the meter isnt accurate its better than no meter. I cant use it for film photography unfortunately...

It would be nice if they would throw in a photography light meter mode ( automatically telling you what settings to use )

I love the idea of software meters ,

No one wants to walk around with a meter doing photography... even pros . They would rather meter light by feel plus cameras metering.

there was a startup that made a iphone case with a diffuser cup idk if thats still around but might be a cool idea for dev to make a standardized case with diffuser (back) that can be easily removed..

All around tho nice piece of software

Used Photone several weeks and it works pretty well. I really do like it and will continue to use it.

BUT I do have some comments after switching to Pro mode. The info in the Growing Guides you get access to are already free on their website and are only single page papers, do not buy the Pro upgrade if you are expecting to get any value there. I was a bit upset about this. Also, it is silly to not be able to buy the color measuring separately. this app lost a sale because I simply bought another app for a few bucks that does this.

The max and average is nice, but you can just watch the display change. Similarly, the leveling is obvious, just watch the readout. There is very little value in the Pro mode unless you use a dozen different light sources. I bought Pro mode and cancelled it within days, felt like it was a waste. I would rather pay double for Photone right off the bat with full features than pay a subscription for “Pro” features that are just “meh”.

Instead, I paid double and got the same software I had before. Sigh.

I paid for the ability to measure the ppfd of full spectrum led lights, and I paid for the cosine diffuser. At first Photone seemed helpful, but the recommended ppfd and dli was causing my plants to wilt. I decided to try Photone with a different phone and also tried paper vs cosine diffuser and I ended up getting four completely different readings.

If you decide to use Photone, I recommend using it only as a general reference to the brightness of your light and don’t expect that the numbers are accurate. Personally I recommend using a cheap lux meter, find the lux YOUR plants like with YOUR particular light. Don’t rely on numbers and recommendations that may or may not be accurate depending on the type of phone and diffuser you’re using.

I’ve posted this to a few of my reef keepers hobby groups. Many have par meters but many can’t afford or justify the cost and rent instead. This could be a game changer for all of us who need to know par levels when placing corals. Too much and fried coral. Not enough and starved coral. With what we spend per piece this is a no brainer. I’m not at the point where I’m placing corals yet but you can bet I’ll be using the cr@p out of this.
I’ve given a tentative 5 stars with high hopes and will be posting on a lot more reef/aquarist groups. I’ll keep you posted on the feedback I get. Here’s hoping to save some innocent coral lives. 👍🤞🤞🤞

I don’t know how accurate it is but it is consistent and useful in helping you know whether your plants are getting enough or too much light. This helps you know how high to turn your light up if it has a dimmer switch and also how high to raise it. I watch the plants too. Are they giving you that “praying hands” thing where leaves are pointing up searching for more light? They’re going to stretch if you don’t turn the light up or lower the light.

I recommend you read their site, link in app, and some outside links too on proper lighting for your grow tent. The meter makes sense once you read their documentation, and a hint: you can use satin clear scotch-type tape as a “diffuser” on iPhone13. Lovely app, this was not an easy one to make, but it seems to work fine. If I find its recommended light intensity over 18 hours is too much or little I can adjust my lighting level pretty easy. Free version just requires you to noodle out your light needs using your brain, their tool and the how to guide. Thank you!

Photone has a nice visualization that helps you aim the camera precisely at the light source. I tried a bunch of others and they mostly failed at this core functionality.

I sought out an app like this after reading “New Plant Parent” and I’ve gotta say it’s really changed my intuitions around lighting. You can use it to see how rapidly the light drops off with distance. I've readjusted all my grow lamps after using it.

Anyway, it's free to try so give it a shot.

Boy did I do my research on everything before my first grow and lighting was my heaviest load. From podcasts to lecture videos from Bruce Bugbee I found Photone which compared to the apogee light meters it’s pretty darn close. It’s my understanding it’s only at the really higher ends where it maybe 10% off.

Photone gives you a very solid and safe growing area. This is 100% worth it

I tried a couple apps and nobody had one for different lighting so this was a great step above. I purchased a new grow light and had it to low and to high for a week. Almost toasted my plants. I could only find around about how high I needed it on web. I seen Photone and it could read led white and red together so I was on it! Needles to say it put me in the sweet spot and plants are loving light now thanks to Photone. It’s a game changer. I’m sold!

Even if Photone isn’t 100% accurate, which it isn’t, it still gives the user a rough idea of how much light a plant is getting. Many times this is all you need, not exact PAR numbers from a real PAR meter, which are quite expensive. My personal preference is to gauge it using the PAR meter setting because it gives a simple round number.

I don’t mind the need to fashion a diffuser. Light meters should have a diffuser anyway. What I mind about Photone is that it needs to be calibrated, which means you have to have a way to verify your light’s output in order to calibrate. This means you have to have another light meter to find your output to add into Photone so that it will give you proper readings, which makes Photone redundant. When Photone is not calibrated , readings are 100% - 130% off target, meaning you’ll do much better by visually inspecting your plants for too little light/light burn than by relying on Photone to fine tune your growing process.

Photone is fairly accurate from what i’ve experienced so far, but, you must use a paper diffuser. The only issue I have is that 20 lb paper is the most common office paper available. 22lb 98 bright is more expensive and less available. I’m just gonna go with, “the reading is close enough” and read my plants instead of spending another 15-20 bucks on a ream of paper.

I limped along with the free version for a couple of weeks, but I am glad I spent the money for a year subscription. Really impressed about how the diffuser was implemented, giving instructions to us to make one then automatically detecting it and changing algorithms to accommodate the paper thickness. Also appreciated answers to support questions that arrived within a couple hours.

At first when I tried to use Photone I thought a subscription was required to unlock everything, but you can actually just unlock the lights you care about. I think there are still missing features but overall Photone is great for casual use without breaking the bank.

Have been using Photone for about a month and it has helped immensely for dialing in my plants lighting requirements. I did have an issue regarding diffuser usage, so I emailed support and had a response within 24 hours. All is good now. Try Photone if you use LED lights for growing. I was able to calibrate my phone to get remarkably accurate readings.

I'm extremely disappointed that as soon as you sign up for pro version they slap a big orange "PRO" badge over Photone badge on the Home Screen. It completely ruins the perfect aesthetic of the black and white circle and ruins the vibe of the whole app since that's what u see right before going into it. I love the workings of Photone itself, and I decided to subscribe monthly to show support but the orange "PRO" badge is so ugly I decided to unsubscribe. There should definitely be a option to turn that badge on and off on Photone screen. The pro badge gives off a cheap gimmicky vibe when you look at Photone . If somebody can fix this I'd be happy to give Photone a much better in depth review once my diffuser comes in sometime next month and I compare Photone to a close friends light meter. I felt a comparison video to an expensive light meter wouldn't be fair if I used paper as a diffuser. I'll be back sometime next month with a diffuser and hopefully a better app badge.