Comparison

Annotable vs Aftershot

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

Head to head
About

Annotable

This app provides a comprehensive suite of tools for annotating and marking up images. It offers a wide range of customization options for common annotation elements and unique features like text highlighting on screenshots. The app supports various iOS system integrations for a seamless user experience.

Highlights
  • Common annotation tools (rectangles, text, arrows)
  • Customizable colors, sizes, and fonts
  • Blur and pixelation for obscuring information
  • Spotlights and Loupes for highlighting
  • Text highlighting on screenshots
  • High-resolution output
  • Support for all image types
Features
Read full description

Annotable is the most full-featured all-in-one image annotation tool. Featured by Apple in many places: ● Best of 2016 ● New Apps We Love ● Best Apps to Edit Your Photos ● Best Productivity Apps ● Best Utilities "I’ve finally found the best all-in-one image annotation tool for iOS – Annotable for iPhone and iPad." —— Federico Viticci of MacStories Features (many are free, some are unlocked with purchases): ◉ All the expected common tools: rectangles, ovals, arrows, lines and texts. ◉ Fully customizable: colors, sizes, outlines, fonts… ◉ Stylishly obscure private information with Blur and Pixelation. ◉ Or on the contrary, highlight something with Spotlights. ◉ If you really want to focus on a particular spot use a Loupe. ◉ You can even highlight text on screenshots of apps like Notes, Twitter, and Safari. It feels like magic, and can really save the day when you want to share a web page screenshot with some words highlighted but forgot to select the words when you took the screenshot. ◉ Fully support Action Extension, Photo Editing Extension, Edits Sync via iCloud Photo Library, URL Schemes, 3D Touch, Wide Color…Annotable utilizes your powerful iOS system to the extreme. Distinctions from many other similar Apps: ◆ All the results are high-resolution images. ◆ Not only screenshots but all images are supported. ◆ Large images can be directly annotated and do not have to be cropped.

About

Aftershot

Features
Read full description

A screenshot takes a second to make and a while to make sendable. There is an email address in the corner, a phone number in a row you had stopped noticing, and a raw crop that looks like nothing. Aftershot handles both halves, on your device, with nothing to sign in to. Cover what should stay yours Drag a box over it, or draw over it freehand, and pick blur, pixelate, or a solid block. Aftershot never guesses what is sensitive and never tells you it is done. You decide what gets covered, and every cover stays movable and re-styleable until you export. Make it worth looking at Set the shot on a backdrop, add padding, round the corners, lift it with a shadow. Pick the shape you need, from square to a ratio you type yourself. Put it in a metal frame, or in a window frame with a title bar and traffic lights. Save the whole look as a template and use it again on the next screenshot. Say something on it Arrows, text, highlights, a spotlight that dims everything outside a rectangle, and numbered badges for walking someone through a screen. Tap a mark again and its menu comes up where it sits, so color and size change in place. Lasso a group of marks and move, restyle, or delete the whole set at once. Marks are not trapped inside the screenshot either, so an arrow can start out on the backdrop and point in. Everything is included No account. No sign-in. No subscription. No ads. No watermark on your export. Your screenshots never leave your device: editing, redaction and export all happen on it, and the only thing the app ever sends is a feedback note you choose to write. Every feature is open. In the app Backdrops: solid colors, linear gradients, mesh gradients, or a blurred copy of the screenshot itself. Presets including Sunset, Ocean, Aurora, Midnight, Nebula, and Sage, plus any solid color you pick yourself. Layout: crop, padding, corner radius, shadow depth and spread. Square, portrait, landscape, or the screenshot's own shape, from a rail of ratios you can add to and edit. Drag the canvas corner, or type the ratio. Frames: none, a metal frame whose weight you set, or a window frame with a title bar, traffic lights, and a title of your own. Light or dark. Redaction: blur, pixelate, or a solid block in any color, as a dragged box with its own corner rounding, a freehand marker stroke, or a paint-roller smear. Annotations: arrows, boxes, text, highlights, spotlight, and numbered badges, in seven colors or any color you pick. Arrange the annotate toolbar to your liking in Settings. Selection: tap a mark to edit it in place, or lasso several and treat them as one. Templates: settle on a look once, then reuse it. Share extension: send a screenshot into Aftershot from the iOS share sheet. Export: lossless PNG, saved to Photos, sent on through the share sheet, or copied to the clipboard. Everything you make stays in the library, still editable, with undo and redo the whole way. iPhone and iPad, one app.

Screenshots

Annotable4 screens
Aftershot4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Annotable at Free against Aftershot's $0.99. Annotable also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 26.0). Aftershot's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months). On ads 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

Annotable is free to download; Aftershot costs $0.99 up front. Annotable sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Aftershot asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Annotable ships an update every 2 months, Aftershot every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Annotable versus Aftershot: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnnotableAftershot
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.6 (954 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings954 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.6 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer凌 王Zhiqi Pan

Bugs and requests

Annotable

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Blur broken ios26
  • Can't save edits on iPad Pro, 14.5.1
  • In-App Purchases do not work
  • Loss of work
  • App freezes occasionally on iPad

Requested features

15 requests
  • Open the app directly to the camera
  • Save images to the app, not to my phone or make a specific folder to save Annotated images
  • Make a Mac version
  • Add insert photo option
  • Add flexible pointers lines
Show 10 more
  • Add an eraser
  • Add undo/redo action buttons
  • Add crop
  • Add a way to adjust transparency of fonts for watermarking
  • Add rotate image
  • Add a way to draw solid boxes with a color of your choosing
  • Add a way to adjust text size
  • Add a way to center the text
  • Add a way to insert and resize images
  • Add a way to make shapes a solid color in addition to outline

Aftershot

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Annotable

One-time8
  • Color Customization$1.99
  • Text Highlighter & Redaction Tool$1.99
  • All Obscuration Styles$1.99
Show 5 more
  • Blur Tool$1.99
  • Spotlight Tool$1.99
  • Loupe Tool$1.99
  • All Text Styles & Fonts$1.99
  • All Features$9.99
None

Aftershot

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Annotable free?
Annotable is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Aftershot free?
Aftershot costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Annotable or Aftershot have ads?
Neither Annotable nor Aftershot shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Annotable or Aftershot?
Annotable ships an update every 2 months, and Aftershot every 2 days. Most recently, Annotable was updated on October 22, 2026 and Aftershot on October 29, 2026.

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