Comparison

ShadowMagic vs CloudyBay

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

Head to head
About

ShadowMagic

A virtual lighting simulator for theatrical and stage design. Visualize lighting, color, shadows, and scenery with realistic fixtures and over 1600 gel colors. Save and share your designs.

Highlights
  • Virtual light lab and Black Box theatre
  • Realistic Source Four® Spotlight and Fresnel fixtures
  • Zoom and dimming capabilities with photometric accuracy
  • Over 1600 gel colors from major manufacturers
  • Precise fixture positioning and auto-focus
  • Save, organize, and share designs as PDF reports
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

A virtual light lab, or Black Box theatre for visualizing lighting, color, shadows, and scenery. The lab has a 40’ x 30’ stage and a 40' x 20' cyclorama. The theatre space is 80’ wide, 40’ high, and 80’ deep. Designers can choose up to eight fixtures to light a very basic scene. Two types of lights are available. The Source Four® Spotlight is available with 14°, 26°, 19°, 36°, 50° lens barrels. The The Source Four® 7” Fresnel may also be selected and zooms from full flood at 65° to spot focus with a beam angle of 20°. All of the beam spreads are photometrically correct. The lamp for both fixtures is a 750 W HPL, and when it is dimmed the color temperature decreases from 3200° K at full down to 2300° when the light is at 4%. Each light can be dimmed individually or the entire scene lowered using a grand master. Intensity has a resolution of 1%. A theatre lighting simulator would not be complete without gels and we have over 1600 colors to choose from the 4 major manufacturers. The gels can be assembled into a collection called a gel string and any color from the string can be applied to each light. Each of the lights may be positioned anywhere around the theatre to simulate booms, shinbusters, or the balcony rail. Resolution of the position is 0.1 feet. When focused on the actor, the lights are auto-focused so you can move the light’s position and see the resulting angle. Lights focused on the backdrop are focused manually by touching the cyc. When you move or rotate the actor, the lights will follow and stay focused right in the center of the body. Scenes may be saved and organized into projects. Both can be shared as a .pdf report with colleagues and friends to show off your ideas. While simple in concept and operation, ShadowMagic has subtleties such as reflections from a matte gray stage covering and the coloring of shadows from other light fixtures. From beginners to seasoned professionals, ShadowMagic makes visualizing and lighting a scene much quicker and easier and more fun.

About

CloudyBay

Control your smart lighting devices with a mobile app. Customize colors, brightness, and scenes for any room. Manage your lights remotely and integrate with voice control systems for a seamless smart home experience.

Highlights
  • 16 million color options
  • Precise color and brightness adjustment
  • Customizable lighting scenes
  • Remote control from anywhere
  • Voice control integration
Features
Read full description

CloudyBay smart lighting devices, give different intelligent settings for every room, providing a smart lighting experience. 1. 16 million colors, meets every kind of your needs. 2. Accurate and smooth setting of color, dimming, cool and warm light etc. 3. Various scenes. One-touch to change different lighting atmospheres, easily transform your living room into a dance floor.. 4. Control your smart light regardless of distance. As long as you have a network, you can use smart phone to control the lights anytime, anywhere. 5. It can easily access your existing intelligent voice control system, enjoy hands-free and intelligent life from now on.

Screenshots

ShadowMagic4 screens
CloudyBay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ShadowMagic at 100% against CloudyBay's 18%. ShadowMagic also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.5) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months). CloudyBay's advantage is price (Free vs $14.99) and ratings volume (83 vs 2). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

CloudyBay is free to download; ShadowMagic costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ShadowMagic holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CloudyBay has 83 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of ShadowMagic's written reviews are positive against 18% of CloudyBay's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShadowMagic ships an update every 3 months, CloudyBay every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
ShadowMagic versus CloudyBay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShadowMagicCloudyBay
Price$14.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better2.5 (83 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better18.4% of reviews
Number of ratings283 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#187 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size114 MB203 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperCrossroads Motorsport, LLCCloudyBay Inc.

Customer experience

ShadowMagic

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

CloudyBay

All ratings83 ratings
Positive33.7%
Neutral3.6%
Negative62.7%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive18.4%
Neutral5.3%
Negative76.3%

In-app purchases

None

ShadowMagic

No in-app purchases

None

CloudyBay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ShadowMagic free?
ShadowMagic costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is CloudyBay free?
CloudyBay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ShadowMagic or CloudyBay?
ShadowMagic is rated higher. ShadowMagic averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while CloudyBay averages 2.5 from 83 ratings.
Do ShadowMagic or CloudyBay have ads?
Neither ShadowMagic nor CloudyBay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ShadowMagic or CloudyBay?
ShadowMagic ships an update every 3 months, and CloudyBay every 7 months. Most recently, ShadowMagic was updated on September 18, 2026 and CloudyBay on September 3, 2026.

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