Comparison

Spireworks vs Blur!

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

Head to head
About

Spireworks

Control iconic building spire lights from your phone, choosing colors and special effects. Request an invite to participate in this unique experience and support charitable causes.

Highlights
  • Sign in and control spire lights
  • Select colors and special effects
  • View real-time light changes
  • Support charities and special events
  • Request an invite
Features
Read full description

Transform the skyline with a touch. Select refined colors and animations, and watch the city respond in real time. Experience a dynamic calendar of skyline lighting events. Select moments are interactive, giving members and guests the ability to shape the lights in real time. Show your support along the way. Spireworks partners with cause-based nonprofit organizations throughout the year, using special moments on the skyline to raise awareness and spotlight their work.

About

Blur!

This app helps you capture and organize your memories by turning your photos and written entries into a personal museum. You can add text, voice notes, or doodles to create exhibits, and revisit your life's moments in various visual formats. It's designed for private, gentle reflection without pressure or ads.

Highlights
  • Photo cataloging by date
  • Voice-to-text transcription
  • Finger doodle creation
  • Organize memories into themed rooms
  • Browse memories as gallery or scrapbook
  • Personalized wings for individuals
  • Import existing journal entries
Features
Read full description

Blur is a journal where your life is the exhibition. Most days blur together. Blur helps you keep the ones worth remembering, then lets you walk back through them like a visitor in your own museum. YOUR MUSEUM OPENS FULL You already have years of photographs on your phone. Blur catalogues them for you when you first open it, reads the date each one was taken, and hangs them in wings by year. Your museum has a history before you write a single word. THREE WAYS TO KEEP A DAY Write a line. Say it out loud and let Blur transcribe your words, then tidy the rambling into something clean. Or draw a small doodle with your finger, which hangs itself in your Doodles wing. BUILD YOUR MUSEUM Every memory becomes an exhibit. Place them into rooms like Best Meals, People You Love, or Summer 2026. Watch each room warm up as it fills, and see little visitors wander in to look around. WALK BACK THROUGH YOUR LIFE Browse a wing as a gallery wall, a shelf, a set of pedestals, or a scrapbook page, with the whole room on one screen and the animals wandering below. Each exhibit opens like an artifact, with a wall label giving the day, the hour, and the place. A WING FOR EVERYONE WHO MATTERS Give the people in your life a face and a name. Every entry that mentions someone hangs in their own wing, so you can walk through years of one person. Their names are taught to the microphone too, so even the tricky ones come out spelled right. COLLECT YOUR VISITORS Cats, dogs, rabbits, ducks, snails, birds and butterflies wander your halls, and 21 different breeds arrive as your museum grows. The Guest Book shows who has visited and what will bring the rest. FIND ANYTHING The Archive searches every word, person and place you have ever kept. Filter by favorites, food, trips and more. Open the calendar to write for any day in the past, so nothing is lost just because you were busy. BRING YOUR OLD JOURNAL Already keep a journal somewhere else? Import your exported file and the entries arrive dated, tagged, and placed in your museum. You can also paste in older entries one at a time. GENTLE, NEVER PUSHY Soft daily prompts ask for one small thing, never your whole day. Stamps and quiet milestones mark how far you have come. There are no streaks, no guilt, and no pressure. Blur is warm and a little playful, and never another thing to keep up with. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts. No ads. No tracking. Blur never sends your journal anywhere. It lives on your iPhone. Lock it with Face ID, back it up to your own iCloud, and export everything whenever you want. Your memories are yours alone. Start with one small thing you noticed today. Before it blurs, keep it here.

Screenshots

Spireworks4 screens
Blur!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Blur! at 5.0 against Spireworks's 3.5. Spireworks's advantage is ratings volume (136 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Blur! holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spireworks has 136 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Spireworks versus Blur!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpireworksBlur!
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (136 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings136 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSpireworks LLCAustin Shin

Customer experience

Spireworks

All ratings133 ratings
Positive58.6%
Neutral9.8%
Negative31.6%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive58.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative36.1%

Blur!

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Spireworks

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App doesn't work
  • No difference in building lights
  • App requires donation every time
  • App didn't work after donation
  • App shows only yellow, doesn't change spire
Show 3 more
  • App not working on latest OS
  • Error message, try again later
  • Unable to open the app

Requested features

8 requests
  • Subscription all-access fee
  • Fundraiser events
  • Access to all buildings
  • One-time donation option
  • Unlimited access option
Show 3 more
  • Monthly donation option
  • Invite me to the app
  • Send invite link/invitation

Blur!

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Spireworks

No in-app purchases

None

Blur!

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spireworks free?
Spireworks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Blur! free?
Blur! is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spireworks or Blur!?
Blur! is rated higher. Spireworks averages 3.5 out of 5 from 136 ratings, while Blur! averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Spireworks or Blur! have ads?
Neither Spireworks nor Blur! shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spireworks or Blur!?
Spireworks ships an update every 2 months, and Blur! every 2 months. Most recently, Spireworks was updated on October 29, 2026 and Blur! on October 28, 2026.

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