Sound Meter: Noise in Decibels

Find out how loud it is around you. The sound meter shows the noise level in decibels (dB) as a large number, with a word for it: quiet, noisy or loud.

Use it as a noise meter for a bedroom at night, a classroom or an open-plan office, a fridge or a washing machine, or the street outside your window. The reading updates as you watch, and a chart shows whether the sound is rising or dying down.

Below the chart you see which everyday sound the reading is closest to, such as a conversation or a street with traffic. That makes 60 or 75 dB easier to picture.

What the decibel meter gives you:
• The noise level in large digits, readable at arm's length.
• The number, a needle dial and a chart on one screen. A row of lights above the dial fills up as the sound gets louder.
• Minimum, average and maximum for the session. Reset starts a new one.
• Hold keeps the number on screen so you can write it down.
• A threshold: the phone beeps when the sound goes above it, or below it if you prefer. There is no beep while the phone is set to silent.
• Share sends the reading as text, with minimum, average, maximum and how long you measured.
• Record saves a session of up to 30 minutes to Saved measurements: chart, minimum, average, maximum, date and duration.
• A table of everyday sounds, from a whisper at 30 dB to a concert at 110 dB.
• A home screen widget with your last reading and when you took it.
• Light and dark themes. The screen stays on while you measure.
• Measuring works without internet, and the app has no ads.

How to use the sound meter: first measure the quiet of the room, away from the source. Then bring the phone closer. How far the number rises above that background tells you more than the number alone. Hold the phone so that your hand or its case does not cover the microphone at the bottom edge.

The microphone is used only to measure the sound level. The app does not record audio or send it anywhere.

Good to know. A phone microphone is not calibrated and compresses loud sound. The reading is most reliable in the middle of the scale, which runs from 30 to 90 dB. The meter does not go above 90 dB, so a hammer drill or a concert shows lower than it really is. This is not a class 1 sound level meter, so it will not do for a measurement you have to show someone, for example in a noise complaint. The screenshots of the meter screen were taken in the app's built-in demo mode.

Twenty saved sessions, sharing, the scale, the chart and the threshold with sound are free. A one-time purchase adds report export and keeps up to 50 saved sessions instead of 20. There is no subscription.

There is a voluntary support button in the app. It does not open any extra features, and the app works exactly the same without it.

The app sends anonymous usage statistics. You can turn this off in Settings.

Independent development: one person builds and maintains this app. A letter to support@markarov.dev is read by that person, not by a support desk.

Recent changes:
New: a journal. Tap Record to save a session: chart, minimum, average, maximum and length. Sound itself is never recorded. Twenty sessions are free; a one-time purchase, not a subscription, adds report export and room for 50.
New look: a speedometer-style dial, the band as a word in a capsule, min/avg/max as tiles, info and settings as icons in the top bar.
Sharing adds a link to the app on Google Play as the last line.