Comparison

Phocus vs Focos

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

Head to head
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

About

Focos

Transform your iPhone and iPad photos with DSLR-like bokeh and depth-of-field effects. This app uses computational photography to let you refocus, adjust aperture, and add multiple lights in 3D space, unlocking endless creative possibilities.

Highlights
  • AI-powered depth calculation
  • Adjustable aperture and bokeh effects
  • Refocus photos after capture
  • Add and control multiple 3D lights
  • Simulate lens characteristics
  • 3D depth map visualization
  • Augmented reality preview
Features
Read full description

Focos is a big step into the future of computational photography and light-field camera, bringing DSLR-like photography to your iPhone and iPad Pro, with beautiful bokeh effects usually achievable only with professional large aperture cameras. With the technology of computational photography, you can make unlimited changes to your photos, focus after the fact, change the aperture repeatedly, and add multiple lights in 3D space, exceeding the limits of any editing tools you’ve known before. The creative potential unleashed by Focos is endless. The Verge, "Focos has long been one of the most ambitious photo-editing apps on iOS, turning any photo into a 'portrait mode'-style image with fully adjustable depth of field, no matter what kind of camera you took it with." MAIN FEATURES - Take photos with shallow depth of field, without manually painting or making selections. - The AI engine can calculate depth of field automatically for all photos. - True 3D imaging. - Simulate large apertures to create real bokeh effects normally only possible with DSLR cameras and expensive lenses. - Import all existing photos and customize the bokeh effect. - Re-focus portrait photos that have already been taken, with a simple tap. - Choose from various simulated aperture diaphragms to generate different bokeh spot effects. - Professional options to simulate lens characteristics, such as creamy, bilinear, swirly, and reflex effects, and more. - Visualize the depth of areas within your portrait photos in a 3D view, and intuitively add depth filters. - Add multiple lights in a 3D space, and adjust the color, brightness and so on for each light. - Check the portrait picture in the real world with augmented reality technique. - It is possible to patch the depth map precisely on iPad with Apple Pencil. - Intuitive and easy to use, with built-in video tutorials. - An essential tool for all iPhones and iPads. Do you have questions or suggestions? Contact us via support @ focos . me.

Screenshots

Phocus4 screens
Focos4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Focos at 51K against Phocus's 6.8K. Focos also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Phocus sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and Focos sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Phocus against 4.7 for Focos. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Focos has 51K ratings behind it against 6.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 50% and 51% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Phocus ships an update fortnightly, Focos every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Phocus versus Focos: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhocusFocos
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (6.8K ratings)4.7 (51K ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.7% of reviews50.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.8K51K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size349 MB332 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRAY INFORMATICS YAZILIM TEKNOLOJI MEDYA DANISMANLIK VE EGITIM TICARET LIMITED SIRKETIMosaic S.r.l.

Customer experience

Phocus

All ratings6,838 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral4.8%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews499 reviews
Positive49.7%
Neutral5.2%
Negative45.1%

Focos

All ratings51,408 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.8%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews750 reviews
Positive50.7%
Neutral5.2%
Negative44.1%

User reviews

Phocus

From 6.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Good app
  • 👍 Best tool camera app
  • 👍 Easy editing, works great
  • 👍 Makes your phone current

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Hilariously terrible effects
  • 🔒 Can't limit access to personal stuff
  • 🐛 Awful, blurs everything
  • 🐛 Crashes too much
  • 🐛 Doesn't render, gets stuck

Focos

From 51K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent depth of field control
  • 👍 Powerful photo editing features
  • 🎨 Versatile lighting and effects
  • 💡 Ability to edit non-Portrait mode photos
  • 🔍 Precise focus adjustment

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🤔 Steep learning curve for advanced features
  • 🔍 Inaccurate depth mapping in some cases
  • 🖼️ Reduced quality for free version exports

Bugs and 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

Focos

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App freezes or crashes when editing certain photos
  • Depth adjustments not saving properly
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between editing modes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to save edited photos with depth map
  • More precise brush tools for depth editing
  • Improved hair/fine detail handling
  • Faster processing and loading times
  • Easier organization and management of edited photos

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Phocus

Subscriptions4
  • Phocus AI Weekly2 variants$3.997 Days
  • Phocus AI Monthly2 variants$7.991 Month
  • Phocus AI Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Phocus AI Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Phocus AI Unlimited Access$59.99
9 purchases

Focos

Subscriptions7
  • Focos Pro Weekly7 Days trial$1.997 Days
  • Focos Pro Weekly7 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Focos Pro Weekly$3.997 Days
Show 4 more
  • Weekly Subscription - Standard$3.997 Days
  • Standard Weekly - Free Trial7 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Weekly Creator Bundle - FT7 Days trial2 variants$9.997 Days
  • Weekly Creator Bundle$9.997 Days
One-time2
  • Monthly subscription$1.99
  • Lifetime unlimited access$12.99

Questions

Is Phocus free?
Phocus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Focos free?
Focos is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Phocus or Focos?
Focos is rated higher. Phocus averages 4.6 out of 5 from 6.8K ratings, while Focos averages 4.7 from 51K ratings.
Do Phocus or Focos have ads?
Neither Phocus nor Focos shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phocus or Focos?
Phocus ships an update fortnightly, and Focos every 2 weeks. Most recently, Phocus was updated on September 23, 2026 and Focos on September 24, 2026.

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