LuxMeter Pro App Reviews

Waiting for our lighting consultant to show up at a jobsite, I purchased this app to use in determining some preliminary light levels of various aspects of a project. Using a well lit desktop as a calibration standard of 500 lux, I measured various light levels elsewhere on the project. When my consultant showed up, he verified my calibration value of 500 lux at the desktop, but in the low level areas, "LuxMeter Pros" reading were off by a factor of almost 13 (reading way too high) and at high level areas, was off by a factor of 3 in the other direction (ready way too low). This product doesnt even qualify as a curiousity, the meter readings have absolutely no basis in reality and are accurate only for the value its calibrated at, which defeats the entire purpose. Had I vouched to my client on the lowend light readings (which according to LuxMeter Pro are well within the established standards) I would have mislead him and possibly passed on a dangerously underlit space. This product should be labeled "Readings are Not Valid for Any Purpose Whatsoever". I want my $.99 back!

Im bummed out - the app does nothing but read 0.00. Ive tried everything I know to do.

Just downloaded. Nothing works. Wish I had read the comments first. Apple needs to step up and deal with people like this. I will challenge this charge through my credit card as it does not work and no other recourse seems available.

App does not work on 4G.

No database included. Very disappointing app thus far.

This app is junk! Do not waste your money.

Im an IEEE licensed engineer The camera metering is spot metering, while a proper lux meter require inversed difused light, so it wont work!!

DOES NOT WORK. iPhone reads 0 Lux no matter what I do!!

Difficult to " calibrate". No direction on how to get accurate readings.

I dont know why this is even in the Apple store. Whenever I go to calibrate the camera it is just a white screen. Nothing works. It just reads 0 all the time. I can not stress enough how frustrated I am with this app. Do not purchase this.

I have an iPad 2, this app always reads 0 lux. Period.

I feel the app could be great however the creator hasnt taken the time to fix the program to work. I paid for the app and have had no corospondense back accept an auto reply which says some crap about to much requests. This is why people are reluctant to buy before they try.

This app has most of the software features one would want on an illuminance meter and the features seem to work. I like the display, the peak/max measurement feature, the save and database features, and the ability to choose whether to use either the front or the back camera on the iPhone as the light sensor (for most uses you need the screen-side camera). However, as far as I can tell, the meter cannot be calibrated over the normal range a user needs. Using a just-calibrated Konica-Minolta T-10 illuminance meter for comparison, I was able to calibrate the LuxMeterPro version 2.1.0 to match it at 400 lux. But when reducing the lighting level to 40 lux as measured on the Konica-Minolta, the LuxMeter Pro actually measured a higher value--500 lux! When increasing the lighting level to 5000 lux, the LuxMeterPro measured only 550 lux. The LuxMeterPro shows different light levels but they do not relate to actual levels in a systematic way. Professional light meters cover the sensor with a white plastic bubble to diffuse the incoming light, whereas the iPhone camera tries to focus on specific objects. I covered the camera with a white plastic bag, which performed the diffusing function pretty well, but the measured light levels still were erratic. So the problem is not solely with the camera and its optics, it is equally or more with the measurement algorithm. I suspect that a rewrite of the code will be challenging, because the camera opens and closes an aperture to control the amount of light reaching the sensor, exactly offsetting the variation in outside light level that we are trying to measure. Perhaps the developer can tap the signal controlling the aperture rather than the signal from the actual lighting sensor? One way or another, this app developer needs to rewrite that portion of the software to make calibration possible, otherwise the app is worthless.

I just downloaded this so we could use it at work. I cant even figure out to calibrate the different light sources and when I search for help there is nothing out there!!!! No support or help on the app itself or on the web. I want my money back. Its a waste of time and effort!!

App doesnt work and I cant get it to calibrate. Maybe another update is in order. Update, It works with the IPad 2 and IPod 4th gen. It doesnt work with the IPhone 5. Update, I had high hopes for the latest update (ver2.8) for my IPhone 5 but now it tries to start and then just a black screen. IPad still works. Latest update fixed the blank screen on my IPhone 5. Works great for my needs.

This app is worthless. Do not purchase!

Very good app. and very useful. Please add a setting for Mercury Vapor, lighting. :-)

I got fooled by the pretty interface and should have read the reviews of the previous versions. The developer doesnt understand what a lux meter is. Since when do you have to tell a lux meter what light bulb you are using, what type it is, and how far away it is? This program might as well be a random number generator since if you adjust the distance for the exact same light reading from the camera, you will get a radically different result. I cant believe someone took the time to build this app and doesnt understand what they are doing. Yes, one can calculate the lux (lumens per square meter) if you know the source, its distance and radiating pattern - which is what I think the developer is trying to do. But what if you have many sources at many distances and each at different lumen output? This program doesnt take that into account. Anyway, that is a lux calculator not a lux meter. Today I gave $2 to the Salvation Army and $2 for this useless program. I should have given $4 to the Salvation Army - it would have been better spent. I

Updated Review: Still WAY OFF. I purchased this app while planning some electrical/ lighting changes at home, and the readings were so peculiar that I purchase a real (about $80) light meter to verify my readings. This apps readings are so far off (and jumpy--changing suddenly) that I couldnt even do relative comparisons. Considering the cost of light fixtures and electrical work, the real meter was a bargain, and this app is so far off that any decisions made with its readings will be really faulty. Very Bad Job!

Spent half hour trying to get it work. Instructions are in poor English and riddled errors. I give up.