Comparison

Impresso Pro vs Distressed FX

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

Head to head
About

Impresso Pro

Transform your photos into stunning Impressionist masterpieces with multi-textured brush strokes. This app offers a pro workflow with smart layers and brushes for blending multiple paint styles, creating captivating, print-worthy artwork.

Highlights
  • Transform photos into multi-textured Impressionist paintings
  • Smart layering system for blending paint styles
  • Library of Edges and Background Paint effects
  • Soft Paint effect for foreground subjects
  • Aged Paint effect for cracked texture
  • Impressionism Paint Effects: Alla Prima, En Plein Air, Tache
Read full description

Lucky you, 21st century software wielding seer and lover of beauty—you have Impresso Pro. With the same enduring attention to detail, light, color, and texure, Impresso transforms your photos into multi-textured, stroke-filled Impressionist masterpieces. And keen eyes will love how Impresso maintains the balance of your piece! The result—captivating, print-worthy paintings brimming with passion, life, and beauty. Transform photos into paintings then combine paint effects with layers and brushes for gorgeous print-worthy artwork. Smart Layers and brushes for blending multiple paint styles, a library of Edges that blend beautifully with canvas, a Background Paint effect to create distances, a Soft Paint effect for enhancing foreground subjects, an Aged Paint effect for adding cracked texture, and an ultra-impressionism effect called Tache to cover paintings with broken brush strokes and dabs of color. Impresso Pro has everything an Artist or Photographer will need to create gallery-style paintings with enough detail even for the largest print. Includes: Layers, Brushes, Soft Paint, Background Paint, Aged Paint, Painted Edges and three Impressionism Paint Effects: Alla Prima, En Plein Air and Tache paint styles. Features A pro workflow automatically transforms a photo into a painting and places it on a paint layer along with a canvas. With a smart built-in layering system the photo can then be transformed again when a new paint layer is chosen and placed on the layer above. The layers are ‘smart’ because the settings are retained per layer allowing changes to brush strokes, color finishes and other settings for infinite variation when blending. There are several ways to blend the layers, change the opacity slider to blend the strokes beneath, or to blend color use the brushes to brush-off the paint style or back-on if too much is removed. This powerful feature is great for creating lighter values in distant elements and colorful ones in the foreground. With layers you can also achieve another level of depth (or depth-of-field) by overlapping larger brush strokes with finer ones—all it takes is this simple technique to achieve a highly creative work. Paint Styles and Effects Alla Prima (‘wet-on-wet’ or ‘all-at-once’)—is great for portraits! This beautiful paint style starts by filling the painting with an abundance of brushstrokes. A library of artistic finishes compliments this style by adding light, color and movement. En Plein Air (in open air)—is perfect for landscapes. This stroke-filled effect consists of eight artists’ palettes created by famous impressionists. Use them as they are or edit the paint colors to make your own palette—save preset feature keeps the palette and all the layers intact for future projects. Tache (‘spot’ or ‘blot’)—applies broken brushstrokes throughout the painting. This technique of laying thick patches, flecks and dabs of color is great for making paint look as if it stands out from the surface. Apply a light spackling of strokes or fill the painting with dabs of color. Canvas Layer—supplies the canvas texture and adds a painted edge. NEW—Soft Paint Effect—creates a hard edge when brushed to show contrast from other edges around it—great for foreground objects NEW—Background Paint Effect—recedes objects and scenery when brushed for a natural distant and out-of-focus effect NEW—Aged Paint Effect—cracks paint in a linear or angled fashion with control over crack color, strength, size, angle, spacing and sensitivity NEW—Painted Edges—creates a painted vignette NEW—Signature Layer - Add that personalized touch to your image NEW—CONFORM STROKES This new technology conforms brush strokes, using only a slider, to bring out detail naturally—while still retaining the brushwork.   NEW—BRISTLE STYLES Three bristle styles wield brushwork in an extremely free manner while retaining high quality strokes even up close. NEW—11 NEW BRUSH STYLES

About

Distressed FX

Transform ordinary photos into unique works of art with a vast collection of textures and overlays. This app offers exclusive access to all current and future filters and effects for a single payment, making photo editing accessible and creative.

Highlights
  • Access to all current and future filters
  • Exclusive new effects and features
  • Wide range of textured images and overlays
  • Transform mundane photos into art
  • Ideal for still life and landscape photography
Features
Read full description

Distressed FX Plus is a special edition of the highly acclaimed original. For a small single payment, you will get access to all current and future filters, as well as exclusive access to all new effects and features ahead of release on the original app. This is an extraordinary opportunity to harness all the amazing effects from Distressed FX. If you are ready to take your photos to the next level, this is the ideal investment at a bargain price. Creating gorgeous artwork from your photos has never been easier. With Distressed FX, simply take a photo and choose from a wide range of textured images and overlays. Transform even the most mundane photo into a work of art. See our hashtag #distressedFX on Instagram to see 100k+ examples! ** Featured by Mac Format and Black + White Photography Magazine Join us at: www.facebook.com/DistressedFX www.instagram.com/distressedfxapp/ • Particularly suited to still life and landscape photography - this app will perfectly compliment your existing collection of photo apps. Distressed FX is powered by the textures of Cheryl Tarrant, a texture artist from Tennessee. Her popular and unique style is now available in your pocket, wherever you go. • Follow Cheryl on Instagram http://instagram.com/distressedfxapp • Be our friend on Facebook www.facebook.com/DistressedFX • Follow us on Twitter : @distressedfx See examples of the Cheryl's distinctive work here: www.flickr.com/photos/jewellofdistressed/ ** Find out more about Distressed Textures at www.distressedfx.com & www.distressedtextures.com Distressed FX (tm) is a trademark of Cheryl Tarrant in the United States of America.

Screenshots

Distressed FX4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Distressed FX at $19.99 against Impresso Pro's $29.99. Distressed FX also leads on ratings volume (1.2K vs 81) and chart position (#192 vs unranked). Impresso Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.6). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

Impresso Pro costs $29.99 and Distressed FX $19.99 up front. Distressed FX sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Impresso Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Impresso Pro against 4.8 for Distressed FX. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Distressed FX has 1.2K ratings behind it against 81, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Impresso Pro's written reviews are positive against 72% of Distressed FX's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Impresso Pro versus Distressed FX: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterImpresso ProDistressed FX
Price$29.99$19.99 — better
Rating4.7 (81 ratings)4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.3% of reviews — better72.3% of reviews
Number of ratings811.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#192 — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size115 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJixiPix, LLCWe Are Here

Customer experience

Impresso Pro

All ratings78 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral5.1%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive73.3%
Neutral13.3%
Negative13.3%

Distressed FX

All ratings1,234 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews101 reviews
Positive72.3%
Neutral5.9%
Negative21.8%

Bugs and requests

Impresso Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Distressed FX

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to download or load certain textures/overlays
  • App crashing when opening photos
  • Saving edited photos at lower resolutions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Masking and selective editing tools
  • Zoom and precise control for editing
  • Ability to use app on Mac devices
  • Improved customer support and communication

In-app purchases

None

Impresso Pro

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Distressed FX

One-time10
  • Beyond SkiesFree
  • The HeavensFree
  • Bokeh IllusionsFree
Show 7 more
  • The LightsFree
  • Box of colorsFree
  • Old World GalleryFree
  • Painterly GrungeFree
  • The NeutralsFree
  • Vintage CollectionFree
  • Atmospheric LightFree

Questions

Is Impresso Pro free?
Impresso Pro costs $29.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Distressed FX free?
Distressed FX costs $19.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Impresso Pro or Distressed FX?
Distressed FX is rated higher. Impresso Pro averages 4.7 out of 5 from 81 ratings, while Distressed FX averages 4.8 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Impresso Pro or Distressed FX have ads?
Neither Impresso Pro nor Distressed FX shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Impresso Pro or Distressed FX?
Impresso Pro ships an update every 3 months, and Distressed FX every 3 months. Most recently, Impresso Pro was updated on November 2, 2026 and Distressed FX on November 6, 2026.

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