Comparison

Spectre Camera vs Flixel Flipside

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

Head to head
About

Spectre Camera

This app uses AI to create stunning long exposure photographs, making it easy to capture professional-quality shots. Remove crowds, create light trails, and achieve silky smooth water effects effortlessly.

Highlights
  • AI-powered long exposures
  • Crowd removal
  • Light trail creation
  • Silky water effects
  • Live Photos and video support
  • Automatic scene detection
Read full description

Apple iPhone App of the Year, 2019 Introducing Spectre, from the makers of Halide, one of the top camera apps in the App Store. Spectre uses AI to help you make amazing long exposure photographs. Spectre can remove crowds, turn city streets into rivers of light, make waterfalls look like paintings, and much more. Until now, it was difficult to take long exposures: from keeping the camera steady to guessing the amount of light you need. Spectre takes care of all of that! WHAT YOU CAN DO • MAKE CROWDS DISAPPEAR: Spectre helps take photos of crowded, touristy places. Simply set a medium or long duration and take a shot to erase the crowd from a location. Capture the those special moments like you remember them. • RIVERS OF LIGHT: At night, AI scene detection automatically switches modes to draw beautiful light trails, for stunning nighttime city photography or light painting. • GORGEOUS WATER: Capture waterfalls, ocean waves, fountains and more with beautiful ghostly water. LIVE PHOTOS AND VIDEO Spectre’s intelligent computational shutter takes hundreds of shots over the span of a few seconds, and saves them in an accompanying live photo. That means you can pick a different frame as your photo, apply live-photo effects, and even use the long exposure as a live-wallpaper! ENDLESS SMARTS Spectre is a packed with powerful technology from by the team that brought you Halide. From machine learning-based scene detection to computer vision aided image stabilization, Spectre is jammed full of impressive technologies to get the best possible image. DESIGNED FOR HUMANS Spectre is meticulously designed. Its dark UI is gentle on the eyes when you shoot at night. Gorgeous glowing highlights infuse it with a unique style. Custom typefaces and iconography combined with unique, smooth controls make it as tactile and delightful as an actual physical camera. Like its sister app Halide, the app is easily usable with one hand, even on the largest iPhones. HIGH-TECH SHOWCASE Build with the latest tech, Spectre isn't just a long exposure camera — it’s the cutting edge technology showcase of one of the App Store’s foremost camera apps, Halide. Here’s just a few of the latest technologies that we use in Spectre: - DCI-P3 Wide Color Pipeline - Live Photos - Metal Graphics Acceleration - Tripod Detection - Siri & Shortcuts - AI Stabilization - Machine Learning & CoreML - Computer Vision COMPATIBILITY: Spectre’s smart Automatic Scene Detection requires iOS 12. AI-based stabilization features are available on iPhone 6S and later.* For the best experience, we recommend iPhone 8 or later. On iPhone 6, Spectre captures in lower resolution. ABOUT US We’re Ben and Sebastiaan, two friends living in the San Francisco Bay Area that love building fantastic apps for photography. We hope you love Spectre! We’d love your feedback to make it even better or any reports of bugs you run into. You can always contact us directly via email: support@halide.cam, on our Twitter: @halidecamera or Instagram: @halideapp Don’t forget to share your amazing results by tagging them with #SpectreShot so we can share them on our growing social media accounts!

About

Flixel Flipside

Effortlessly create content for any platform. Capture a single photo or video and instantly export it in multiple aspect ratios, including square, portrait, and landscape. Smart subject tracking ensures your subject remains perfectly framed across all crops, with crisp 4K and 8K output options.

Highlights
  • Export in multiple aspect ratios
  • Smart subject tracking
  • 4K and 8K output
  • On-device ML upscaling
  • Direct sharing to social platforms
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Shoot once, post everywhere. Capture a single photo or video and instantly export it in every format you need: square (1:1), portrait (9:16), landscape (16:9), and Instagram feed (4:5). Smart subject tracking keeps your subject in frame across all crops, powered by on-device ML with options from quick first-frame detection to smooth per-frame tracking. Built for creators who want one take, every ratio, zero hassle. YOUR SUBJECT, ALWAYS IN FRAME Your subject stays perfectly centered in every crop — automatically. For video, choose how closely the camera follows: subtle, moderate, or dynamic tracking, and preview the result in real time before you export. Powered by Apple's Vision framework and on-device ML. CRISP EXPORTS UP TO 8K Get sharp 4K and 8K output from any crop thanks to on-device ML upscaling. Choose your file format — JPEG, HEIC, or PNG for photos; H.264, HEVC, ProRes 422, or ProRes 4444 for video — set your quality, and export every format at once or one at a time. CAPTURE AND EDIT ANYWHERE Crop and reframe right inside Photos without leaving your library. Launch the camera from your Lock Screen with Camera Control or Control Center. Automate with Siri and Shortcuts. Sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud. Flipside runs natively on all three. ONE TAP TO EVERY PLATFORM Share directly to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, Snapchat, X, and WhatsApp — Flipside picks the right formats for each app so you don't have to. Subscription Legal (Flixel Plans): Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews at the purchase price unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Subscriptions may be managed and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the Account Settings after purchase. Subscriptions are one month or year in length. For Terms of Service see https://flixel.com/terms/

Screenshots

Spectre Camera4 screens
Flixel Flipside4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Spectre Camera at 4.3 against Flixel Flipside's 1.0. Spectre Camera also leads on ratings volume (2.4K vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.6). Flixel Flipside's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months) and monetization model (freemium vs paid). On price, 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. Spectre Camera sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Flixel Flipside sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Spectre Camera holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spectre Camera has 2.4K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spectre Camera ships an update every 3 months, Flixel Flipside every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Spectre Camera versus Flixel Flipside: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpectre CameraFlixel Flipside
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (2.4K ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews45.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.4K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.6
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLux Optics IncorporatedFlixel Software Ltd

Customer experience

Spectre Camera

All ratings2,408 ratings
Positive83.5%
Neutral3.7%
Negative12.7%
Written reviews437 reviews
Positive45.8%
Neutral10.8%
Negative43.5%

Flixel Flipside

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Spectre Camera

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes and freezes on some devices
  • Compatibility issues with older iPhones
  • Focusing and stabilization problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Longer exposure time options
  • More manual control over settings
  • Raw image format support
  • Apple Watch remote support
  • Improved low-light performance

Flixel Flipside

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Spectre Camera

One-time1
  • Spectre Pro$4.99
7 purchases

Flixel Flipside

Subscriptions6
  • Flipside Pro$2.991 Month
  • Motion Studio$9.991 Month
  • Creator Bundle$14.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Flipside Pro$29.991 Year
  • Motion Studio$99.991 Year
  • Creator Bundle$149.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro License$49.99

Questions

Is Spectre Camera free?
Spectre Camera is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Flixel Flipside free?
Flixel Flipside is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spectre Camera or Flixel Flipside?
Spectre Camera is rated higher. Spectre Camera averages 4.3 out of 5 from 2.4K ratings, while Flixel Flipside averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Spectre Camera or Flixel Flipside have ads?
Neither Spectre Camera nor Flixel Flipside shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spectre Camera or Flixel Flipside?
Spectre Camera ships an update every 3 months, and Flixel Flipside every 5 days. Most recently, Spectre Camera was updated on October 16, 2026 and Flixel Flipside on October 7, 2026.

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