Instants vs Retrograf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Instants
Create realistic instant photo mockups with a variety of creative tools. Add text, stickers, and filters to design unique greeting cards, posters, and social media posts. Enhance your memories with retro-inspired effects.
- Realistic instant photo effects
- Add text and stickers
- Design greeting cards and posters
- Photo filters and effects
- Light leak effects
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Instants is a simple tool for creating realistic instant photo effects. With our app, you can easily create mockups of instant photos, add text and stickers, design greeting cards and posters, and enhance your photos with filters and effects. Some of the features offered by Instants include 80 instant photo backgrounds, 30 fonts, 133 filters, 170 stickers, and 26 light leak effects. People are using Instants for a variety of purposes, including social media posts, birthday cards, party memories, family memories, and classic photo books. If you enjoy using our app, please consider leaving a review on the App Store. Thank you for your support! For any questions or inquiries, please contact us at info@himom.co.
Retrograf
Transform your photos and videos with authentic '90s analog film and VHS aesthetics. Apply a variety of filters, adjust key visual elements, and add unique overlay effects to achieve a vintage look.
- 24 film style presets
- Light leaks, film scratches, fades
- Vintage color palettes
- Exposure, contrast, temperature adjustments
- Vignette and chromatic aberration
- Customizable overlay effects
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Inspired by analog film cameras and VHS videos from the '90s, Retrograf reproduces retro touches to your photos + videos. ● Filter Presets Light leaks, film scratches, fades and vintage color palettes are the basic elements for transport your photos and videos back to another era. Retrograf offers 24 fantastic film style presets that combine these elements appropriately. ● Adjustment Tools You can alter the exposure, contrast, temperature, tint, and clarity, enhance shadows and highlights, add vignette and chromatic aberration, and much more. ● Overlay Effects You can create your own look by combining the overlays provided. Overlays include light leaks, film scratches and grainy textures.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Retrograf at none against Instants's 1. Retrograf also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (50% vs 38%). Instants's advantage is price ($1.99 vs $2.99). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Instants costs $1.99 and Retrograf $2.99 up front. Instants sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Retrograf asks for nothing beyond the download.
Instants ships an update every 2 months, Retrograf every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Instants | Retrograf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (351 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 38.1% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 351 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 157 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Steve Urrego | Seohyeon Lee |
Customer experience
Instants
Retrograf
In-app purchases
Instants
- Unlock All$2.99
Retrograf
No in-app purchases
