SoundMeter Pro

Chronic noise is hard to complain about, because it always comes down to your word against theirs. SoundMeter Pro does not fix the noise. It fixes the evidence problem.

Press record before bed. The app measures the A-weighted sound level once every second, all night, in the background, with the screen off. In the morning you have a timestamped record of every time the noise crossed the limit you set, with the start time, duration, peak and average for each event.

One complaint is an opinion. Fourteen logged nights in a row is a pattern.

WHAT IT DOES

- One-tap logging that runs 12+ hours in the background
- Live decibel meter, live trace, running peak, average and breach count
- Your own alert threshold, with optional vibration when it is crossed
- Guided 3-step calibration so readings stay consistent night to night
- Session history you can rename, tag and delete
- CSV export of every single reading, free, forever
- Works completely offline

EVIDENCE PACK — ONE PAYMENT OF $9.99

- Unlimited session length (free sessions stop at 5 minutes)
- PDF report with a cover page, a chart of the whole night, and a table of every threshold breach
- Device model, OS version, calibration offset, threshold and sample rate embedded in the report
- SHA-256 hash of the raw CSV, so anyone can check the report against the data behind it
- The raw CSV attached alongside the PDF

One payment. No subscription, no renewal, no trial that quietly charges you. It restores for free if you reinstall.

NO AUDIO. EVER.

The microphone is used to measure loudness, and the sound itself is discarded immediately. Nothing is recorded, nothing is saved, nothing is uploaded. There is no account, no cloud, no analytics and no tracking. Every session stays on your device until you decide to share a report.

And there are no ads. Not in the paid version, not in the free version. An app people use to document harassment should not be selling their attention.

HONEST ABOUT ACCURACY

A phone is not a certified sound level meter, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Readings are uncalibrated phone-microphone estimates. They are dependable for showing patterns, durations and relative changes, which is what a noise complaint actually turns on. They are not a certified absolute decibel figure, and no app using a phone microphone can give you one.

The guided calibration makes your own readings consistent from night to night, and every PDF report states the method and its limitations in writing, so nobody can accuse you of overstating what the numbers mean.

WHO IT IS FOR

- Tenants documenting noisy neighbours, HVAC units or nearby venues
- Homeowners preparing for an HOA or strata hearing
- Anyone heading into mediation or a small-claims filing who needs a record instead of a memory
- People who just want to know how loud their street, office or workshop actually gets

WHAT IT DOES NOT DO

It does not identify who or what made the noise. It does not record audio. It does not sync between devices. It does not need an internet connection. It does one job, and the whole app fits on two screens.

Requires microphone permission to measure sound levels, and notification permission to keep the session alive in the background.