Comparison

PhotoGem vs phNotes Pro

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

Head to head
About

PhotoGem

Explore your photos with integrated maps, Street View, and Wikipedia summaries. Edit geotags, add audio clips, and view detailed photo properties. Customize your viewing experience with adjustable panels and dark mode.

Highlights
  • Map and Street View integration
  • Edit photo GPS coordinates
  • View nearby Wikipedia pages
  • Add and play audio clips
  • View EXIF, IPTC, TIFF, and GPS data
  • Customizable panel layout
  • Dark mode and iPad multitasking
Read full description

View your Photos in along with Street View, Maps, Wiki Pages and more. Try it out for free! Features include: - Maps: 2D & 3D, adjustable height & zoom level. - Google Street View - Explore around the place the Photo was taken. - Location Editor - Add or change the Photo’s GPS coordinates. Update the Photo’s position & direction to match the photo with the initial Google Street View frame. - Nearby Wiki Pages: Horizontally scroll to up to 20 nearby Wikipedia pages including title, summary & image. Tap to launch into Wikipedia. - Audio Clips - Either tap the play button for the photo or configure to “Autoplay” when the image is loaded. Assign a clip to a photo by either browsing for an audio file or simply tapping the record button. - Photo Property Viewer - Includes basic properties along with EXIF, IPTC, TIFF & GPS. - Customize your view - Panels can be easily rearranged. Just click the “Edit” button on the bottom. - Other Features - Online Help, Dark Mode, iPad Multitasking Support with Split Screen, Slide Over & Drag & Drop.

About

phNotes Pro

Features
Read full description

*** If you like this app please take the time and leave a feedback, this will help me a lot in maintaining it and add additional features. Thank you! *** This simple but powerful app allows photographers who use manual lenses, technical/view cameras, adapted gears with digital or even analog film photography to take note of the most important parameters of each shot taken on the field. Additionally, with the Pro version all annotations can be easily exported through email or into your cloud storage. When back home/studio, the freely downloadable desktop companion application "PhotoAnnotator" can read the exported data and automatically write all annotations as EXIF/IPTC metadata into the corresponding image files (RAW, TIFF, JPEG, etc...). This is particularly useful in all cases where the shooting parameters are not automatically written by the camera into the image files. Your image and shooting annotations can then live together in one single file. FEATURES (PRO VERSION): - Supported annotations: image counter, shoot date, camera make and model, lens make and model, filter, shutter speed, aperture value, focus distance, shift and tilt movements, film, GPS location, additional notes. - GPS location automatically read from the iPhone's GPS system. - Ability to swipe-clone an existing image for fast editing in the field. - Ability to swipe-delete single photos. - Ability to manage a list of cameras. - Ability to manage a list of lenses. - Ability to manage a list of filters. - Ability to manage a list of films. - Ability to clear the whole session after having exported it. - Contextual help available. - Ability to save unlimited image entries (the LITE version is limited to 12 max). - Ability to export all data via the standard iOS sharing machanism. - The companion desktop app PhotoAnnotator can be freely downloaded at https://www.marcoristuccia.com/it/photoannotator - The companion desktop app PhotoAnnotator supports all the major RAW and image types (see the application description at the indicated web page for more details).

Screenshots

PhotoGem4 screens
phNotes Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PhotoGem at Free against phNotes Pro's $5.99. phNotes Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 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

PhotoGem is free to download; phNotes Pro costs $5.99 up front. PhotoGem sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. phNotes Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PhotoGem ships an update every 3 months, phNotes Pro every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PhotoGem versus phNotes Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhotoGemphNotes Pro
PriceFree — better$5.99
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.112.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDiamond4 Mobile Solutions LLCMarco Ristuccia

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PhotoGem

One-time2
  • 24 Hour TrialFree
  • PhotoGem Pro$4.99
None

phNotes Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PhotoGem free?
PhotoGem is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is phNotes Pro free?
phNotes Pro costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do PhotoGem or phNotes Pro have ads?
Neither PhotoGem nor phNotes Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PhotoGem or phNotes Pro?
PhotoGem ships an update every 3 months, and phNotes Pro every 6 weeks. Most recently, PhotoGem was updated on October 24, 2026 and phNotes Pro on October 25, 2026.

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