Comparison

fastbackward vs Atlens

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

Head to head
About

fastbackward

Relive past memories with your photos. This app resurfaces pictures taken on this day in previous years, helping you recall significant life events and see your personal growth. It also displays photos on a map using EXIF data and can show random memories if no photos exist for the date.

Highlights
  • Resurfaces photos from previous years
  • Displays photos on a map using EXIF data
  • Excludes screenshots from memories
  • On-device processing for privacy
  • Shows random memories if no photos for the date
Features
Read full description

Have you ever wondered what you were doing on this day last year? Or the year before? What about the year before that? With fastbackward you'll not only know, but have your photos to remind you, too. Taking photos is great, but looking at those photos is where the real fun begins. Your iPhone takes stunning photos but it needs fastbackward to surface the most important photos at the right time. Your iPhone is full of photos but they're a jumbled mess in the Photos app. What makes fastbackward so valuable is the way it surfaces photos you took today, but in years past. You'll see your kids growing up as well as any big life events that happened on this day, too. Didn't take a photo on this day? Fastbackward can show you a random memory instead. As well as showing you your photos and jogging your memory, fastbackward will also use your photos' EXIF data to plot where you took them on a map. You'll never wonder where you took your favourite landscape photo ever again. Features include: - The ability to exclude screenshots from your memories.
- Privacy. Because your photos are hugely personal, fastbackward doesn't upload any of them to the internet. All of the processing is carried out on your device, right where it should be. - EXIF data used to display a map of where you took your photos.

About

Atlens

Features
Read full description

Turn your photo library into an interactive travel map. Explore where your memories were made with Metal-powered heatmaps, browse photos by location and date, and use Fog of World to discover places you have yet to visit. Features: - Browse photos directly from the map using the interactive photo grid. - Search for places, revisit saved locations, and access recent searches. - Filter photos by date and album. - Add locations to photos that are missing GPS data, individually or in batches. - Intelligently repair missing photo locations. - Create and share travel posters. - Explore travel statistics and your personal footprint passport. - Customize the map, heatmap colors, and visual appearance.

Screenshots

fastbackward4 screens
Atlens4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Atlens at none against fastbackward's 1. Atlens also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads 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

Both are free to download. fastbackward sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Atlens asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

fastbackward ships an update every 3 weeks, Atlens every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
fastbackward versus Atlens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterfastbackwardAtlens
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.3 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.617 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMaximilian KraussSiyue Chen

In-app purchases

1 purchases

fastbackward

One-time1
  • fastbackward Pro$1.99
None

Atlens

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is fastbackward free?
fastbackward is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Atlens free?
Atlens is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do fastbackward or Atlens have ads?
Neither fastbackward nor Atlens shows ads.
Which is updated more often, fastbackward or Atlens?
fastbackward ships an update every 3 weeks, and Atlens every 9 days. Most recently, fastbackward was updated on October 24, 2026 and Atlens on October 20, 2026.

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