Comparison

Phocus vs Retro Camera 1960

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

Retro Camera 1960

Features
Read full description

Retro Camera 1960 turns your iPhone into a film camera from another era. Each film is built on color-accurate 3D LUTs — the same color science used in professional grading — combined with real film grain, halation, and vignette. Not a one-tap filter. Choose from over 20 film simulations spanning vivid slide film, faded negatives, and grainy high-speed black and white, each tuned to match the character of the stock that inspired it. FEATURES • Color-accurate 3D LUT film emulation, not a one-tap filter • 20+ film simulations (slide, negative, black & white, cinema) • Switch between wide, standard, and telephoto lenses • Retro 7-segment date stamp burned into every photo • GPS location embedded in EXIF (optional, can be turned off) • Save the unedited original alongside the filtered photo No settings to fuss over. Pick a film, press the shutter, and get a photo that feels like it was developed decades ago. Edit photos, use recipes, and save up to 20 photos at once. Watch an ad to save for free. Remove banner ads · Skip ads before LAB saves

Screenshots

Phocus4 screens
Retro Camera 19604 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Retro Camera 1960 at none against Phocus's 7. Retro Camera 1960 also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). Phocus's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Phocus sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Retro Camera 1960 asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Phocus ships an update fortnightly, Retro Camera 1960 every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Phocus versus Retro Camera 1960: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhocusRetro Camera 1960
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (6.8K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews49.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings6.8K — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size349 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRAY INFORMATICS YAZILIM TEKNOLOJI MEDYA DANISMANLIK VE EGITIM TICARET LIMITED SIRKETINobuaki Kuwabara

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

Retro Camera 1960

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

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
None

Retro Camera 1960

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Phocus free?
Phocus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Retro Camera 1960 free?
Retro Camera 1960 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Phocus or Retro Camera 1960 have ads?
Neither Phocus nor Retro Camera 1960 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phocus or Retro Camera 1960?
Phocus ships an update fortnightly, and Retro Camera 1960 every 4 days. Most recently, Phocus was updated on October 20, 2026 and Retro Camera 1960 on October 13, 2026.

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