Comparison

Transparent App Icons vs Sci

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

Head to head
About

Transparent App Icons

Easily customize your iOS home screen with unique icons that blend seamlessly with your wallpaper. Create custom layouts and spacing for a personalized aesthetic. Includes a variety of overlay images for a see-through logo effect.

Highlights
  • Upload wallpaper for seamless icon blending
  • Automatic image cropping to wallpaper size
  • Create icon images for entire home screen pages
  • Overlay transparent images with 2200+ logos
  • Custom icon spacing and layouts
Features
Read full description

Updated for iPhone 16 and iOS 18.1 with support for large icons mode! Transparent App Icons is the easiest, simplest way to customize your iOS 14+ Home Screen with icons that are set against the background wallpaper to look like they’re transparent. Transparent App Icons lets you create images to use as Shortcuts and bookmarks on your Home Screen, so you can achieve previously impossible Home Screen layouts and custom icon spacing, using a simulated transparent background. Features: - Upload wallpaper images and automatically create icons with the correct cut-out so that icons blend with the wallpaper seamlessly - Automatically crop uploaded images to your phone’s wallpaper size - Quickly create icon images for entire home screen pages - Overlay transparent images to create a see-through logo effect: 2200+ logos and symbols included in the app - Transparent App Icons is a one time purchase, paid up front: no subscriptions, no selling data, no need to log in - Absolutely never, ever, ever any ads There’s no corporation trying to extract ad dollars here - I’m just one developer, and I hope Transparent App Icons can help you create creative and aesthetic iOS 14 home screen layouts! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at support@transparenticons.app, or on Twitter at @TransparentIcns - thank you!

About

Sci

Personalize your device with a vast collection of sci-fi and space-themed wallpapers for your home and lock screens. Enhance your experience with customizable Home Screen Image Widgets, allowing you to display your favorite images.

Highlights
  • 250+ widget backgrounds
  • Variety of home/lock screen wallpapers
  • Customizable Home Screen Image Widget
  • Add your own images to widgets
  • Parody sci-fi display styles
Features
Read full description

Customize your iPhone or iPad with Sci-Fi and Space wallpapers, Home Screen Image Widgets, and Clock/Date Widgets. INCLUDES: - 260+ square and rectangle Image Widget Backgrounds in many styles (or add your own images) - 130+ backgrounds or use a color gradient for the Clock/Date Widget - Icon packs in 13 styles with 2,000+ icons to set with the Shortcuts app - A large variety of wallpaper for Home / Lock screens to perfectly fit every size iPhone / iPad (Always adding more wallpaper, so check periodically) WIDGET DIRECTIONS Add a widget to your home screen in the usual way (long press the home screen and when in jiggly mode press the '+' on top. Scroll down to Sci-Fi Themes and select the size you want [do this for each size you want]). Long press the widget to change the theme from the images you set in the app. Some of the Sci-Fi styles are modeled after popular sci-fi shows and movies. The look like they should work, even with indecipherable meaning or function. And just like the props, iOS gives them the same functionality - NONE. It's parody how the sci-fi designers thought future displays would look while being impossible to use. *These are generic images. Please do not ask me in reviews or by mail to include any trademarked names, logos, images or other properties. I respect copyrights and will not include them. If used in tandem with my calculator widget, icon maker, widget maker, keyboard, and ringtones apps, you can really create a fuller theme.

Screenshots

Transparent App Icons4 screens
Sci4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Transparent App Icons at every 2 weeks against Sci's every 6 months. Transparent App Icons also leads on rating (3.5 vs 3.3) and price ($1.99 vs $3.99). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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

Transparent App Icons costs $1.99 and Sci $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Transparent App Icons holds the better App Store score, 3.5 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 158 and 55 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of Transparent App Icons's written reviews are positive against 54% of Sci's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Transparent App Icons ships an update every 2 weeks, Sci every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Transparent App Icons versus Sci: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTransparent App IconsSci
Price$1.99 — better$3.99
Rating3.5 (158 ratings) — better3.3 (55 ratings)
Positive reviews49.4% of reviews53.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings158 — better55
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#51#49 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNoah GilmoreNSTE, LLC

Customer experience

Transparent App Icons

All ratings158 ratings
Positive55.7%
Neutral11.4%
Negative32.9%
Written reviews170 reviews
Positive49.4%
Neutral14.7%
Negative35.9%

Sci

All ratings55 ratings
Positive56.4%
Neutral3.6%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive53.7%
Neutral4.9%
Negative41.5%

User reviews

Transparent App Icons

From 158 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ⭐️ Awesome app
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Great for customizing home screen
  • 💰 Worth the money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Alignment issues with new iOS versions
  • 🚫 Does not work on iPad or iPhone SE
  • 📷 Low quality exported icons
  • 🔀 Complicated workflow

Sci

From 55 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ High-quality sci-fi wallpapers
  • 🎨 Great customization options
  • 👍 Intuitive and smooth app experience
  • 🚀 Seamless widget integration
  • 💯 Immersive and detailed designs

Room to improve

  • 💸 Waste of money/overpriced
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🚫 Wallpapers don't fit correctly
  • ⚠️ Limited widget functionality
  • ❌ App doesn't work on some devices

Bugs and requests

Transparent App Icons

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Icons not aligning properly on iPhone 14 Pro Max
  • Cropping issues on iPhone 13 mini
  • App freezes when trying to add multiple icons

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for iOS 26
  • Allow uploading own icons
  • Add widget customization
  • Save and load icon layouts

Sci

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Unknown error when downloading wallpapers
  • Widgets not showing as an option to add
  • Wallpapers slightly off on iPhone 16 Pro Max
  • Widgets don't refresh quickly
  • Cannot add photo widget / Photo widget not working well
Show 5 more
  • App doesn't work on iPad / Cannot use arrow button to download
  • Error message when trying to download photos
  • Lock screen widgets go over desired parts of wallpaper
  • Widget doesn't show as an option in adding widgets
  • When pinned on iPhone, says 'sc fi themes' under each widget

Requested features

10 requests
  • Update for newer iPhone models (iPhone 17)
  • More animated wallpapers/live wallpaper options
  • More variety in sci-fi themes (e.g., Star Wars)
  • Ability to have multiple different widgets
  • Widgets that don't display app name
Show 5 more
  • More customization for widgets (e.g., colors, animation)
  • Fix alignment issues for specific phone models (iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro Max)
  • More wallpaper options per size
  • Option to have same wallpaper in both horizontal and vertical
  • More comprehensive theme packages (including icons)

In-app purchases

None

Transparent App Icons

No in-app purchases

None

Sci

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Transparent App Icons free?
Transparent App Icons costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sci free?
Sci costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Transparent App Icons or Sci?
Transparent App Icons is rated higher. Transparent App Icons averages 3.5 out of 5 from 158 ratings, while Sci averages 3.3 from 55 ratings.
Do Transparent App Icons or Sci have ads?
Neither Transparent App Icons nor Sci shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Transparent App Icons or Sci?
Transparent App Icons ships an update every 2 weeks, and Sci every 6 months. Most recently, Transparent App Icons was updated on September 23, 2026 and Sci on September 22, 2026.
Which is more popular, Transparent App Icons or Sci?
Transparent App Icons currently peaks at #51 in the App Store charts, and Sci at #49. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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