App on 3 lists

Photone

Lightray Innovation GmbH · Free · Utilities · 4.6 (4,936 ratings)

What it does

Photone turns the phone camera into a plant light meter: PAR, PPFD, DLI, lux and colour temperature, so you stop guessing whether that corner is bright enough. From 7 apps for keeping your first plants alive.

Measures the light your plants really get, with your phone's camera. From 5 apps for people who keep killing their succulents.

Photone measures PAR, PPFD and DLI off the camera sensor. A shelf position stops being a guess and becomes a number you can compare. From 5 apps for when your plants are a collection, not decor.

Alternatives to Photone

The closest alternatives to Photone are Succulent, Plant Daddy, Greg, Plantfie, Greener, PlantScope, PlantNet, Sun Seeker, Hygrometer, Palmstreet, Fern, Leaf People and BWH Plant Co — 13 apps from the 3 lists Photone appears on, each answering the same moment a different way.

• SucculentSucculent is a photo journal for succulents instead of a watering spreadsheet. Every plant gets a diary worth looking back through, not a checklist.
• Plant DaddyPlant Daddy does just watering: add your plants, keep care notes, set reminders. It does not even ask you to make an account.
• GregGreg identifies your specific plant, then tells you how much water it needs and reminds you when, instead of a flat every-seven-days rule.
• PlantfiePlantfie identifies the plant from a photo, then hands you a care guide and reminders for that species rather than one generic schedule.
• GreenerGreener takes three photos of the plant that looks off and tells you what to do next: overwatering, pests, light stress, or something else.
• PlantScopePlantScope diagnoses the leaf that looks wrong. Sick foliage, fungal issues and the usual troubles, identified from a photo.
• PlantNetSnap a leaf or flower to find out which plant you actually bought.
• Sun SeekerShows where the sun crosses your window, hour by hour, all year.
• HygrometerShows the humidity around you on a simple dry-to-wet dial.
• PalmstreetPalmstreet is where rare plants change hands in live shows — a seller holds one up, people bid, it ships. Anthuriums and exotics, not a storefront grid.
• FernFern records species, source, acquisition date, mount type and price. Then a year of photos replays as one timeline, and before/after sets two dates side by side.
• Leaf PeopleLeaf People is an identifier tuned to the rare end — velvet anthuriums, fenestrated monsteras — with species profiles that rewrite their care advice for your region.
• BWH Plant CoBWH Plant Co is one nursery's own app: restock alerts, a wishlist and your order history, so a drop doesn't sell out while you refresh a browser tab.

Price and ratings

Photone and its alternatives, as the App Store listed them on 2026-10-13.

Photone is free to download from the iOS App Store and holds 4.6 out of 5 from 4,936 ratings, checked on 2026-10-13. Prices and ratings go stale; the App Store is the live source. It is listed there as “Photone - Grow Light Meter”.

Appears on

• 7 apps for keeping your first plants alivePlantsPhotone · Succulent · Plant Daddy · Greg · Plantfie · Greener · PlantScope
• 5 apps for people who keep killing their succulentsPlantsPlantNet · Succulent · Photone · Sun Seeker · Hygrometer
• 5 apps for when your plants are a collection, not decorPlantsPalmstreet · Fern · Leaf People · BWH Plant Co · Photone