ca vs CUBE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ca
This app transforms your camera's live feed into unique, black and white pixelated images using a cellular automaton. Customize the output by adjusting automaton direction, resolution, brightness, and fidelity. Unlock advanced features through optional ad viewing.
- Cellular automaton image generation
- Black and white pixelated output
- Adjustable automaton direction
- Customizable resolution
- Control input brightness
- Adjust input fidelity
- Selfie mode
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Probably the nerdiest camera app ever made, ca-mera uses a cellular automaton to interpret the brightness values of your camera stream. The resulting images are black/white and pixelated, and contain unique patterns created by the cellular automaton (Wolfram rule 126). This app provides a "selfie" mode, and lets you change the appearance of the pictures by controlling the automaton application direction, the resolution, the input brightness, and the input fidelity (i.e. to which extent the cellular automaton is allowed to run freely). Furthermore, features from the more advanced ca-mera+ app can be unlocked inside ca-mera by tapping the "+" button and watching our handcrafted ads.
CUBE
Create visually stunning videos and photos with unique, real-time effects inspired by popular movies. Apply motion trails, LiDAR-generated particles, and liquid metal transformations to your content. Easily customize and capture in Full HD.
- Motion Trail Effect
- LiDAR Scanning Effect
- Matrix Effect
- Liquid Metal Effect
- Real-time effect application
- Customizable effects
- Full HD video capture
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Motion Trail Effect: Inspired by "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners", CUBE copies the trail effect when David using the Sandevistan implant. LiDAR Scanning Effect: Sample real-time images and depth maps created by LiDAR Scanner to generate 3D particles (point clouds). Up to 3,000,000 points can be generated. Mixing the 3D particles with real-world scenes will make you feel like entering a surreal world. Matrix Effect: Inspired by Code Rain from the movie "The Matrix". This time, blue pill or red pill? Liquid Metal Effect: Take a trip back to 1991 and become the Terminator T-1000 of the movie "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" by James Cameron. CUBE is an app that combines the powerful capabilities of Metal and ARKit, allowing you to easily create fun videos and photos with real-time effects. Using CUBE, you can: - Instantly switch between effects - Apply effects to people, background or entire image - Customize effects with a range of options - Capture Full HD & High Bitrate Videos Body segmentation is only supported on iPhone XR/XS (A12) and above. LiDAR Scanning is supported on devices with LiDAR Scanner. Support for new features of iOS 16: - Enable HDR by default: HDR is enabled by default on devices running iOS 16, allowing photos and videos to have improved dynamic range. - Introduce 2K photo mode: Photos can be taken at a resolution of 2880 * 1620 for improved clarity.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ca at none against CUBE's 3. ca also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). CUBE's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 58 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. CUBE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ca asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for ca against 4.7 for CUBE. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 30 and 16 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of ca's written reviews are positive against 83% of CUBE's.
ca ships an update every 58 months, CUBE monthly. The most recent releases landed on August 29, 2026 and August 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ca | CUBE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (30 ratings) | 4.7 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 90.9% of reviews — better | 83.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 30 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 58 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fritz Menzer | 银凯 朱 |
Customer experience
ca
CUBE
Bugs and requests
ca
Reported bugs
6 issues- App crashes on launch with iOS 14 (iPhone XS)
- Black screen on startup (some devices)
- Crashes on iPhone X
- Display issues on iPhone 6s with iOS 12.1
- Incompatibility with older iOS versions
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- Inconsistent filter performance
Requested features
12 requests- Video recording functionality
- Import and process photos from camera roll
- Remove watermark option (premium feature)
- Post-processing for existing images and videos
- Auto mode for quicker photo capture
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- Automatic album organization for saved photos
- Old OS window border frame option
- Additional color options (RGB palette)
- API access for personal projects
- Clearer/higher quality output
- More language support
- iPhone X/XS Max interface optimization
CUBE
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ca
No in-app purchases
CUBE
- Matrix Effect$1.99
- LiDAR Scanning Effect$1.99
- Liquid Metal Effect$1.99
