# Backdrop: Live Effects Camera — Aesthetic Video Filters & Art

> Aesthetic Video Filters & Art (iPhone/iPad app by Shekhar Upadhaya.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/backdrop-live-effects-camera/id6770320729 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Shekhar Upadhaya](https://appshunter.io/developer/1896171196)
- Category: Photo & Video, Graphics & Design
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 127 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-06-30
- Data updated: 2026-10-19

## What is Backdrop?

Pick a Look and the camera changes. Point it at a street and the street is
already painted in oil, or broken into dots, or drawn by hand. You are not
previewing a filter. That is the picture, and the shutter keeps it.

THE LOOKS
Brush. Painted stroke by stroke, coarse to fine, as you move.
Mosaic. Rebuilt from its own colours. Cells split where there is detail.
Drawn. The world drawn instead of photographed. Flat colour, inked lines.
Matter. The picture as a field of grains that drift and settle.
Fur. Combed strands that follow what the camera sees.
Dither. Tone traded for dots on one fixed grid, nothing in between.
Halftone. Print dots on a square or hex grid, in four shapes.
Fluted. Seen through ribbed glass. The world arrives in strips.
Water. Refraction and caustics, the scene read through moving water.
Code. Digital rain over katakana, lit by whatever the camera sees.

The list grows. New Looks arrive in updates.

TAP OR HOLD
Tap the shutter for a photo. Hold it to record, up to ten minutes. Video
renders in the background at full quality, one frame at a time, using the
exact settings you shot with.

TUNE ANYTHING
Every Look has its own knobs. Size, grain, relief, speed, depth, whatever
that Look actually has. Drag the handle at the edge of the screen and the
picture changes under your thumb. Tap a knob to put it back.

BRING YOUR OWN
Choose from Photos to run something you already have through a Look. For
video, trim it first, pick the frame, then render.

NOTHING LEAVES YOUR PHONE
No account, nothing to sign in to. No servers. What you shoot sits in the
Shelf on your device. Saving a copy to Photos is a switch, off until you
turn it on.

BACKDROP PREMIUM
Dither, Water, Halftone and Drawn are free, and they record video too.
Premium opens every Look, including the ones added later, and takes the
Backdrop mark off everything you shoot.

Monthly and annual. Payment goes to your Apple Accou
renews unless you turn it off at least 24 hours befo
Manage or cancel in Settings, Apple Account, Subscri

Privacy: backdrop.wiki/privacy
Terms: backdrop.wiki/terms
Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

iPhone. iOS 18 and later.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Backdrop Premium — Monthly | $11.99 | per month |
| Backdrop Premium — Annual | $79.00 | per year |


## Is Backdrop safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Backdrop.

## Is Backdrop legit?

Backdrop: Live Effects Camera has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Backdrop is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.3 — 2026-10-11

New
    • Focus: slide to pick a distance and the edges of whatever sits there light up. Hold the camera to zoom in under a glass ball.
    • Censor: the camera as it is, with every face covered in pixel blocks that move with the head.
    • Knife, a new brush in Brush: thick palette-knife paint that catches the light and holds still until the scene changes. Lay it as strokes, square tiles or long shingles, and set the size, the detail, the thickness and a limited palette like a painter's. Brush now opens on Knife.

Better
    • Clips now save in full HD.
    • Mosaic stays sharp while you move: tiles keep up with the picture during a pan instead of smearing.
    • Mosaic's grid lines are a soft near-black, and live Mosaic moves more smoothly.

### 2.2 — 2026-10-05

Matter, rebuilt. Each grain is now a tiny chip of sand that catches the light. Wind moves the sand in layers, the top drifting most and the base barely at all. Near things rise off the page in 3D, and there's more sparkle.

Smoother motion. Every Look that moves now holds a steady rhythm on screen, with no stutter.

The Shelf feels better. Pull down anywhere on the Shelf to get back to the camera. The camera now melts into the dark as the Shelf rises.

Storage in Settings. See how much room your Snaps and Clips take, and clear them all at once.

Rate Backdrop. A new row in Settings, if you'd like to tell others what you think.

Restore Purchases now shows it's working while it checks with Apple.

Fixed a hang when trimming a video.

### 2.1 — 2026-09-29

Bug fixes and improvements

### 2.0 — 2026-09-24

Backdrop is a different app.

The reading half — sources, the wiki, the ask — is gone. What is left is the
part people actually used: a camera that shows you the picture already made.

NEW
• Ten Looks that render live, in the camera, not after the shot
• Hold the shutter to record a Clip, up to ten minutes, developed at full
  quality in the background
• Knobs on every Look, live under your thumb, with a tap to reset
• Choose from Photos: run anything on your phone through a Look, trim it first
• The Shelf — everything you have shot, on your device
• Save to Photos is now a switch, off until you turn it on

GONE
• The account, and with it the sign-in. There is nothing to sign in to.
• Sources, the wiki, credits, and everything that went with them

Backdrop Premium opens every Look and removes the mark.

### 1.4 — 2026-08-26

- Your credit balance now shows on the camera screen. It spins up when it loads, and turns amber and then red as you run
    low.
  - Mosaic is the default view everywhere, including your first run. The look selector on the right now always matches what
    you're actually seeing.
  - Answers are shorter and always complete. Every answer caps at three paragraphs, and the reference images and follow-up
    questions now appear no matter how long the reply is.
  - Your first capture shows a proper loading card while Backdrop reads the photo, and Continue waits until the details
    arrive.
  - Fixed a stall during setup where holding the shutter could leave you stuck.
  - Fixed a jump where the shutter row shifted when the voice-note hint appeared.
  - Captures save more reliably.

## Apps similar to Backdrop

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Image Shift](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/image-shift/id6759228540) | 5.0 (2) | $2.99 | Photo & Video |
| [LikeThis - Recreate Photos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/likethis-recreate-photos/id6759606340) | — | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Altered States: Live FX](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/altered-states-live-fx/id6770429516) | — | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Clip Pic AR: Cut Pics into AR!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/clip-pic-ar-cut-pics-into-ar/id6768707544) | — | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Photo Blaster FX](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/photo-blaster-fx/id6771128463) | — | Free | Photo & Video |
| [ColorSpatioplotterEx Mobile](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/colorspatioplotterex-mobile/id966469314) | 3.0 (3) | $0.99 | Photo & Video |

## Related topics

[live camera effects](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/live-camera-effects) · [live effects](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/live-effects) · [special effects](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/special-effects) · [camera effects](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/camera-effects) · [effects cam](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/effects-cam)

---

*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-19.*