Utilities
Sonance: Sound Level Meter
Decibel meter & spectrum
iOSfor iPhone and iPad
- $3.99 one-time purchase
- No account
- No ads or app telemetry
Screenshots
6 images · iPhone 6.7"
iPad
6 images · iPad Pro 12.9" (3rd gen)
A sound level meter is one of those tools you reach for when a number would settle a question — is this restaurant actually too loud, is the shop noise risking your hearing, how loud is the AC that keeps you up at night. Sonance turns an iPhone into that meter, and it puts context around the reading so the number is more than a number.
Point the phone at whatever you are measuring and an animated decibel dial tracks the level in real time, with live MIN, AVG, MAX, and PEAK so you can catch a single moment or watch a trend. Alongside the dial, a frequency spectrum and a scrolling spectrogram show what the sound is actually made of, and you can switch between A, C, and Z weighting the way a standalone meter does.
For hearing safety it leans on the NIOSH limit — 85 dBA over eight hours — and gives a plain-language read on whether a level is safe, plus a live estimate of how long you could stay in it. A ladder of everyday references, like city traffic or a rock concert, helps the figures land. There is also a built-in library of test tones, a full-range sweep, white, pink, and brown noise, ambience beds, and a 1 kHz reference tone for calibrating against a known meter.
The microphone is used only to measure in the moment. Audio is never recorded or sent anywhere, there is no account, and nothing touches the network. Saved sessions produce a numeric field report — total time, equivalent level, peak, projected dose, time-left estimate, and CSV export — with no audio in it. A phone mic is not a lab instrument, so Sonance shows an estimated SPL with a calibration control, and its safety figures are educational rather than medical advice.
About Sonance: Sound Level Meter
Sonance turns your iPhone into a beautiful, instant sound-level meter — and makes a raw number actually mean something.
Point it at the world and watch a high-fidelity decibel gauge swing in real time, see the room's frequencies dance across a live spectrum, and get a plain-language read on whether what you're hearing is safe for your ears. No setup, no sign-up, no waiting.
No ads. No account. Nothing leaves your phone.
— A METER THAT LOOKS AS GOOD AS IT MEASURES —
• A dramatic, animated decibel dial with a smooth needle and crisp readout
• Live MIN / AVG / MAX / PEAK so you can capture a moment or watch a trend
• Six hand-tuned themes — Aurora, Inferno, Mono, Neon, Ocean, Sunset — pick your vibe
— SEE THE SOUND —
• A real-time frequency spectrum that reacts to every voice, beat, and rumble
• A scrolling spectrogram heat-map — time, frequency, and intensity in one stunning view
• A / C / Z frequency weighting, the way real sound meters work
— KNOW WHEN IT'S TOO LOUD —
• Clear hearing-safety guidance based on the NIOSH limit (85 dBA for 8 hours)
• A live "safe listening time" estimate as levels rise
• A reference ladder of everyday sounds — "≈ city traffic," "≈ rock concert" — so the numbers click
— A REFERENCE LIBRARY IN YOUR POCKET —
• Pure 1/3-octave test tones, a full 20 Hz–20 kHz sweep, and white / pink / brown noise
• Calming ambience beds — rain, traffic, café — to compare and demo
• A 1 kHz reference tone to help you calibrate against a known meter
— PRIVATE BY DESIGN —
Sonance works 100% on your device. The microphone is used only to measure sound in the moment — audio is never recorded, saved, or sent anywhere. No accounts, no tracking, no network. Ever.
Great for noisy restaurants, concerts, the gym, power tools, a baby's room, a too-loud AC, a home studio, or just satisfying curiosity about how loud the world really is.
Note: iPhone microphones aren't laboratory instruments. Sonance shows an estimated SPL and includes a calibration control so you can dial it in. Hearing-safety figures are educational, not medical advice.
Built for fast, private sound checks wherever you are.
New in 1.1: Saved-session field reports summarize total measurement time, estimated equivalent level, highest peak, projected dose, time-left estimate, and CSV export. Reports are numeric only and contain no audio.
A Shadowfetch app. Published on the App Store by Robert Corbin.