
Why SPARKvue?
SPARKvue makes data collection, analysis, and sharing quick and easy on every platform. Compatible with all of PASCO’s wireless and PASPORT sensors, students can quickly set up their lab, or use a built-in Quick Start Lab and begin collecting data immediately. SPARKvue is for all sciences and grade levels. However, if you’re an advanced user looking for more capabilities such as video analysis, advanced statistics and calculations, and greater customization of data displays on a PC or Mac®, then check out our PASCO Capstone™ software.
Since SPARKvue was first released, it has been winning awards, and we never stop improving it. With the latest major release of SPARKvue 4, we’ve continued to add features without adding complexity. A new Welcome Screen makes it easy to get started and discover SPARKvue’s capabilities. Whether you want to add data manually, use sensors for real-time or remote logging, or open one of the hundreds of existing labs, this is your starting place.

Data Collection
Using a USB or an interface, with SPARKvue you can just plug-and-play with nearly one-hundred sensors via Bluetooth®, which pairs wireless sensors through a simple in-app list (no system settings are required). PASCO understands that classrooms and labs can be hectic, so SPARKvue allows you to simply select a sensor from the sorted list (the closest sensors are first) and match a 6-digit laser-etched ID number to get connected. This method works even when there are dozens of Bluetooth sensors in the same lab.
Once you’ve selected a sensor, choose from a template or Quick Start Experiment, or you can build a page to meet your needs. SPARKvue is designed for inquiry, and students are not constrained to a few pre-selected layouts… the software can support expanding capabilities with ease.


Collecting and visualizing data is easy with an array of displays, and the tools you need for analysis are right at your fingertips. Students can annotate data, apply curve fits, compare runs, create calculations, and much more! In-context tools make it simple to find what you’re looking for, which means that students spend their time learning the science, not the software.

Whether you’re teaching K–8, high school, or college students, SPARKvue has the displays and tools you need to collect and analyze data. The basics you’d expect (such as digits, meter, graph, and table) are all included, but you will also find FFT, bar graphs, map display, embedded assessment questions, video playback, image capture and analysis, as well as space for text and images. The labs you can build are only limited by your time and creativity.
Data Sharing and Export
When it’s time for students to submit their work, SPARKvue supports a variety of formats, and its export tools make it easy for educators. Students can easily snapshot their work in SPARKvue and submit an image, export the data to a .csv file to work in a spreadsheet, or save it in our .spklab format, when they can come back and do more work in the future. SPARKvue also supports many other apps for saving or sharing data, including Google Drive on Chromebooks™.

If students are collaborating on a lab activity across devices, they can set up a shared session and stream results in real-time. Then, when the session is over, each student will have a copy of the data to analyze independently. These sessions can be set up in seconds within a student group, or the entire class can share the data from a teacher demonstration.

Data Collection
- Live Data Bar: See sensor readings before you start sampling.
- Periodic sampling: Automatic sampling proceeds at a fixed rate.
- Manual sampling: Saves data only when a user specifies.
Data Displays
- Graph, including multiple plot areas and axes.
- Digits
- Meter
- Data Tables
- FFT
- Map Display
- Bar Graph
- Weather Dashboard (when used with the Wireless Weather Sensor with GPS)
Analysis Tools
- Scale-to-fit: Adjust axis for optimal view of the data.
- Data Selection: Easily select a portion of the data for analysis.
- Prediction Tool: Visualize a prediction alongside the data.
- Smart Tool: Find data point coordinates and calculate delta values.
- Calculations Tools for Statistics: Easily get basic statistics (min/max/mean) and more.
- Slope Tool: Find the slope of a point.
- Curve Fits: 10 different curve fits with goodness of fit values.
- User Annotation: Easily add text annotations to runs or points.
- Easily add a y-axis or a new plot area.


Designed for Science Learning
- Convenient annotation, snapshot, and electronic journaling are among the features that support peer dialogue, classroom presentations, and assessment.
- Create and export electronic student lab journals.
- Integrated with cloud-based file-sharing services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and more.
The Same User Experience Across:
- Computers
- Chromebooks™
- Tablets
- Smartphones
- PASCO dataloggers
More Features





Download the latest update or give it a try for free.
Windows® Computers
- Filename: SPARKvue-4.3.0.10.exe
- Filesize: 250.32 MB
- Version: 4.3.0
- Released: Dec 13th, 2019
- Full Release Notes
Mac® Computers
- Filename: SPARKvue-4.3.0.10.dmg
- Filesize: 132.67 MB
- Version: 4.3.0
- Released: Dec 13th, 2019
- Full Release Notes
Free Apps for iPhones, iPads, Android tablets and Chromebooks
These SPARKvue apps provide the complete software install so that the user experience is the same regardless of platform. Updates for these apps are handled via direct notification and installation on your device, including SPARK LX/LXi users.
System Requirements
Windows
- Windows 7 SP1 or later
- Processor: 2 GHz or greater
- RAM: 2 GB or greater
- Disk Space: 459 MB or greater
- Resolution: 1024 x 768 or greater
Mac
- Mac OS X v 10.11 or later
- Processor: 1 GHz or greater
- RAM: 2 GB or greater
- Disk Space: 202 MB or greater
- Resolution: 1024 X 768 or greater
Chromebook
- Chrome OS v70 or later
iOS
- iOS v9 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Android
- Android v5.0 or later. Compatible with tablets or phones.
About The Free Trial
- This is a fully-functional 60-day free trial of SPARKvue software for Windows or Mac Computers.
- After the 60 day trial, a licensed version of SPARKvue will be required to continue.
- The full version of SPARKvue is also available as a free app for iPads, Android tablets and ChromeBook devices.
Release Notes
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.2.1
This is a maintenance release of the SPARKvue software. This version is only being released on Windows.
Resolved Issue
- On Windows installations for certain languages such as Korean, Chinese and Thai, SPARKvue would open to a blank experiment screen after selecting a template in the Sensor Data Configuration screen.
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Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.2.0
This is a feature release of the SPARKvue software. Below are the highlights of the new features and fixes.
Improvements for v4.2.0
- Improved button touch response for the LX/LXi datalogger.
- Increased the height of the main menu items to make them easier to touch.
- Added new quick start files for some sensors.
- Updated the Essential Chemistry and Essential Physics experiment config files.
Resolved Issues
- Fixed an issue where sometimes a licensed install of SPARKvue could become a trial version.
- Fixed several Chromebook connectivity and stability issues:
- Clicking on a template in the Sensor Data Configuration screen caused SPARKvue to become unstable and not fully load the display.
- SPARKvue could sometimes become unresponsive after deleting all runs.
- Sometimes after collecting several runs, the next run would not collect any data even though the experiment clock was running.
- Sometimes clicking the Start button could cause SPARKvue to become unstable and not respond.
- The Wireless O2 Gas Sensor would not connect via native BLE.
- Sometimes a sensor would fail to connect and disappear from the list of available sensors.
- The Wireless Smart Gate could not be connected via native BLE.
- SPARKvue could lose connection with a sensor or adapter connected via USB if the Chromebook was left idle for a while.
- Sensors connected to a SPARKlink Air which was connected to the Chromebook via USB would often not show up in the Sensor Data Configuration screen. Clicking on anything else would cause SPARKvue to become unstable.
- Sometimes connecting a second wireless sensor via BLE could cause the sensor to go into a bad state where it wasn’t connected but it also didn’t show up in the Bluetooth window as a device that could be connected.
- A wireless sensor connected to the Chromebook via USB would disappear after a few seconds from the Sensor Data Configuration screen or from the Hardware Setup panel.
- Often when a Wireless Current or Wireless Voltage sensor was connected via USB, the Scope and FFT displays would not show in the display picker.
- Remotely collected data on a wireless sensor could not be retrieved if the sensor was connected via USB.
- The Wireless Hand-Grip Heart Rate Sensor would never show as a device in the Bluetooth screen unless a dongle was plugged in.
- Fixed a crash on MAC when closing the application from an experiment.
- When setting up a sensor to remotely log data, it was possible to turn off all sensors on the device leading to no data being collected. The OK button on the dialog is now disabled if all sensors on a wireless device are turned off.
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Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.1.0
This is a feature release of the SPARKvue software. Below are the highlights of the new features and fixes.
New for v4.1.0
- Added the ability on Android to save exported data to the local file system
- The Wireless Magnetic Field sensor can now be configured by the user
- A scroll bar has been added to the text area of the Remote Logging Configuration dialog
- The Manage Files dialog for Android and iOS has been added back in
- Added the ability to change the sign of certain sensors values
- Added remote data logging to the Wireless Rotary Motion sensor
- Added the ability to turn off automatic software update notifications during installation
- Added support on Android for the on-board GPS sensor for all supported Android devices
- Added support for the following sensors: Wireless Optical Dissoved Oxegen, Wireless Smart Gate, Wireless Accleration
- Altimeter, Wireless Oxygen Gas
Resolved Issues
- Fixed an issue with shared sessions where a client would receive a "Failed to retrieve the experiment from the host" message and could not connect.
- Fixed an issue where the x axis of the graph would change from the selected measurement to Time when a plot area was deleted.
- Fixed a crash on iOS that occurred when the sample rate was set above 50Hz with an onboard sensor.
- Fixed a crash with shared sessions where the client would crash if the host deleted a plot area with a curve fit.
- Fixed an issue where a sensor measurement on the x axis was not shown on the Live Data Bar.
- Fixed a general crash when the sample rate of an onboard microphone was set to 2 Hz.
- Fixed some issues with the Start/Stop button in shared sessions.
- Disabled several elements on the client side of a shared session that a client should not be able to interact with during a guided session.
- Fixed a BLE connection issue on newer Android devices.
- Fixed an issue where the application could crash if you change the measurement in a Bar Graph during sampling.
- Fixed an issue where the application would crash when you delete the Smart Fan display.
- Fixed an issue with shared sessions where a client on an iOS device would not see any data after disconnecting from the session.
- Fixed an issue with saving on an iOS device where the save dialog would not allow you to save.
- Fixed a file conversion issue where data in an ".spk" file was not being displayed after it was converted during open.
- Fixed an issue on Chromebooks connecting to multiple wireless sensors.
- Re-enabled the ability to start remote data logging from within an experiment.
- Fixed an issue on older Mac and iOS devices where selecting one of the templates from the Sensor Data Configuration screen displayed only a blue screen.
- Fixed an issue where sampling would sometimes pause after some period of time on Chromebooks.
- Fixed an issue in Russian with duplicate units in the unit list for the Pressure sensor.
- Fixed an issue where the main menu would not open from the Welcome screen on some platforms.
- Fixed the issue where the unit was missing for the x axis measurement on the Live Data Bar.
- Fixed an issue where a client disconnecting from a shared session is not prompted to save the experiment when leaving.
- Fixed an issue on Chromebooks where a ".spk" only opened to a blank white screen.
- Fixed an issue where the camera on an older iOS device was not initializing and could not be used.
- Fixed an issue on Chromebooks where a user was not prompted to save a dirty experiment when they clicked the X on the window to close the application.
- Fixed an issue on some devices where the application would appear to freeze when downloading a large amount of logged data from a sensor.
SPARKvue Software Licensing for Windows® and Mac® OS
Site License
U.S. Educator Price: $200This generous Site License includes rights to install SPARKvue on all computers on your school campus or in your university department; the one-time cost includes free updates. Download access will be provided after store checkout.
Single User License
U.S. Educator Price: $89The Single User License includes rights to install SPARKvue on one computer; one-time cost includes free updates. Download access will be provided after store checkout.
Consistently Improved
Your one-time purchase of a license or download of SPARKvue Software includes free updates. Our software is consistently improved with additional features, streamlined processes, and support for our innovative new products. Much of that improvement comes directly from feedback provided by educators. If there is something you would like to see in the next version of SPARKvue, we want to hear from you, so please contact us!
Please contact Technical Support if you have any download or installation issues.