phNotes Lite vs EXIF Inspector
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
phNotes Lite
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*** 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 (LITE AND 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. ADDITIONAL FEATURES (PRO VERSION ONLY): - Ability to save unlimited image entries (LITE 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).
EXIF Inspector
This tool allows photographers to quickly access and view detailed metadata embedded within their image files. It offers an elegant interface for seeing all prominent information at a glance, supporting various image formats and desktop-class features on Apple devices.
- Quick view of prominent EXIF info
- Information-dense interface
- Desktop-class features on iPad/Mac
- Share Extension for Photos App
- Privacy-focused, no tracking
- Supports JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF, RAW
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A no-nonsense EXIF viewing tool for photographers in the field. - A handy quick view that shows you all the most prominent info at a glance; no scrolling through inscrutable tags to find the info you need - Elegant and Information dense interface that lets you see every detail in you photo's metadata - Supports desktop class features on iPad + Mac: multiple windows, open through drag & drop, keyboard shortcuts, etc. - Features a Share Extension to quickly view full EXIF from the Photos App - Respects your privacy: no 3rd party libraries or tracking. Uses the latest iOS APIs so you don't have to give access to your whole photo library. - Extremely small app size: while many EXIF viewers on the App Store are in the tens of megabytes or more, this one is only a few hundred kilobytes. - Support for JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF, and many RAW formats
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: phNotes Lite at every 6 weeks against EXIF Inspector's every 5 months. phNotes Lite also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). EXIF Inspector's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
phNotes Lite ships an update every 6 weeks, EXIF Inspector every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | phNotes Lite | EXIF Inspector |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 60.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marco Ristuccia | Héliographe, Inc |
In-app purchases
phNotes Lite
No in-app purchases
EXIF Inspector
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is phNotes Lite free?
Is EXIF Inspector free?
Do phNotes Lite or EXIF Inspector have ads?
Which is updated more often, phNotes Lite or EXIF Inspector?
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