Comparison

Studio Lighting PRO vs Phocus

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Studio Lighting PRO

Enhance your photos with professional-grade lighting filters and editing tools. Easily adjust brightness, contrast, and blur to create stunning images in just a few taps. Share your creations instantly to social media or save them to your device.

Highlights
  • One-touch lighting filters
  • Adjustable opacity, brightness, and contrast
  • Blur and focus tools
  • Rotate, crop, and resize
  • Direct social media sharing
  • Save to photo library
Features
Read full description

*** Just like a professional photographer! *** Enjoy edit your photo with various lighting filters. No matter you are a professional or a novice, you can make AMAZING pictures in a few taps. You also can share photos on variable SNS service such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. How to use: 1. Take a shot or choose a picture from photo library 2. Apply filters. 3. Save or share! That's it! Features: - Easy-to-use 1-touch lighting filters - Adjust opacity - Adjust brightness - Adjust contrast - Blur and focus - Rotate, crop and resizing - Share to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook - Save to Photo Library - Send photo by mail No registration is required, and there are no limitations to use.

About

Phocus

This AI-powered app creates DSLR-style portraits by simulating realistic background blur and offering advanced 3D relighting capabilities. It allows for precise control over depth, lighting, and scene atmosphere, transforming any photo into a cinematic masterpiece.

Highlights
  • DSLR-style portrait creation
  • Realistic background blur simulation
  • Advanced 3D relighting
  • AI-powered subject detection
  • DSLR lens emulation
  • Portrait video blur
Features
Read full description

# Selected by App Store Editors Featured in “Best New Apps and Updates” in the United States and Canada. Phocus is a portrait camera and depth editor for iPhone and iPad, built for realistic bokeh, lens character, focus control, and cinematic color. Capture DSLR-style portraits, preview lens and depth effects live, refine background blur with precision, and create polished images with more control over focus, tone, and mood. With Phocus, you can go beyond simple portrait blur. Shoot with real-time lens and bokeh previews, import your own LUTs, shape aperture and focus depth, edit depth-aware masks, and fine-tune subject separation after capture. Whether you are creating cinematic portraits, polished social content, or expressive camera looks, Phocus gives you powerful tools in a fast and intuitive workflow. Inspired by real optical systems, Phocus lets you simulate lens behavior without external gear. Control aperture feel, blur falloff, bokeh character, focal response, and depth transitions with tools designed for creators who want more than one-tap filters. Phocus Camera keeps the shooting experience closer to the final capture, with live lens previews, natural bokeh rendering, custom LUT import, curated color looks, manual controls, and responsive launch performance. "Looking for an app that not only adds the Portrait mode effect to your photos but does a bit more? Then Phocus is the one you're looking for." — iMore "An Outstanding AI Portrait and Macro Camera for the iPhone. It has clearly established itself as the front runner in this iOS camera apps." — John DeNicola "The app is a fine example of technical and artistic craftsmanship." — iGeeksBlog "Phocus is an excellent photo and video editing app for your iPhone that lets you edit both portrait photos and videos with great attention to detail." — The Useful Tech Phocus enhances your creativity with smart tools: • Live lens and bokeh preview for portrait capture • Natural depth-of-field with adjustable aperture, focus depth, and blur falloff • Lens character controls inspired by classic optical systems • Custom .cube LUT import with personal LUT organization • Curated LUT library for Daily, Film Looks, Vintage, Signature, and Mono styles • Look controls for intensity, tone, grain amount, and grain texture • Manual camera controls for ISO, shutter speed, white balance, exposure, and focus • RAW and ProRAW support for high-quality capture workflows • Intelligent depth separation for natural portrait blur and refined bokeh • Real bokeh simulation with aperture shapes and light behavior • Precision brush and eraser tools for edge refinement • Dual-layer editing for foreground and background tone • Portrait video blur with realistic depth-of-field • 3D LUT color styles for cinematic previews and edits • 3D Relight and 3D Scene Preview for depth-aware lighting control • Depth Visualizer, Tap-to-Focus, portrait matte, and depth map export • Lock Screen and Control Center shortcuts for quick camera launch and editing • Built-in tutorials to learn the app step by step Phocus AI Subscription Unlock full creative control with a Phocus AI subscription, available monthly or annually. Terms of use: https://rayinformatics.com/terms Privacy policy: https://rayinformatics.com/privacy Contact: https://rayinformatics.com/contact

Screenshots

Studio Lighting PRO4 screens
Phocus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Phocus at 4.6 against Studio Lighting PRO's 2.3. Phocus also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). Studio Lighting PRO's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Studio Lighting PRO sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Phocus sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Phocus holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Phocus has 6.8K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of Studio Lighting PRO's written reviews are positive against 50% of Phocus's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Studio Lighting PRO ships an update every 4 months, Phocus fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Studio Lighting PRO versus Phocus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStudio Lighting PROPhocus
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.3 (3 ratings)4.6 (6.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better49.6% of reviews
Number of ratings36.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS7.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB349 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperQuantis,Inc.RAY INFORMATICS YAZILIM TEKNOLOJI MEDYA DANISMANLIK VE EGITIM TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI

Customer experience

Studio Lighting PRO

All ratings3 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral66.7%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Phocus

All ratings6,838 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral4.8%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews500 reviews
Positive49.6%
Neutral5.2%
Negative45.2%

Bugs and requests

Studio Lighting PRO

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Phocus

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Can't save pictures
  • Photos don't download
  • Unable to save picture
  • Camera crashes when clicking portrait
  • App dies if you don't upgrade

Requested features

4 requests
  • Change bokeh shapes/effects
  • Add manual brush to control bokeh
  • Make it a photo extension in Photos app
  • Add more shadows and directional lighting

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Studio Lighting PRO

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$4.99
5 purchases

Phocus

Subscriptions4
  • Phocus AI Weekly2 variants$3.997 Days
  • Phocus AI Monthly2 variants$7.991 Month
  • Phocus AI Yearly3 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Phocus AI Yearly$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Phocus AI Unlimited Access$49.99

Questions

Is Studio Lighting PRO free?
Studio Lighting PRO is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Phocus free?
Phocus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Studio Lighting PRO or Phocus?
Phocus is rated higher. Studio Lighting PRO averages 2.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Phocus averages 4.6 from 6.8K ratings.
Do Studio Lighting PRO or Phocus have ads?
Studio Lighting PRO shows ads; Phocus does not.
Which is updated more often, Studio Lighting PRO or Phocus?
Studio Lighting PRO ships an update every 4 months, and Phocus fortnightly. Most recently, Studio Lighting PRO was updated on October 11, 2026 and Phocus on October 20, 2026.

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