CUBE vs Render
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CUBE
Create visually stunning videos and photos with unique, real-time effects inspired by popular movies. Apply motion trails, LiDAR-generated particles, and liquid metal transformations to your content. Easily customize and capture in Full HD.
- Motion Trail Effect
- LiDAR Scanning Effect
- Matrix Effect
- Liquid Metal Effect
- Real-time effect application
- Customizable effects
- Full HD video capture
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Motion Trail Effect: Inspired by "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners", CUBE copies the trail effect when David using the Sandevistan implant. LiDAR Scanning Effect: Sample real-time images and depth maps created by LiDAR Scanner to generate 3D particles (point clouds). Up to 3,000,000 points can be generated. Mixing the 3D particles with real-world scenes will make you feel like entering a surreal world. Matrix Effect: Inspired by Code Rain from the movie "The Matrix". This time, blue pill or red pill? Liquid Metal Effect: Take a trip back to 1991 and become the Terminator T-1000 of the movie "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" by James Cameron. CUBE is an app that combines the powerful capabilities of Metal and ARKit, allowing you to easily create fun videos and photos with real-time effects. Using CUBE, you can: - Instantly switch between effects - Apply effects to people, background or entire image - Customize effects with a range of options - Capture Full HD & High Bitrate Videos Body segmentation is only supported on iPhone XR/XS (A12) and above. LiDAR Scanning is supported on devices with LiDAR Scanner. Support for new features of iOS 16: - Enable HDR by default: HDR is enabled by default on devices running iOS 16, allowing photos and videos to have improved dynamic range. - Introduce 2K photo mode: Photos can be taken at a resolution of 2880 * 1620 for improved clarity.
Render
Create complex video compositions with layered media, effects, and keyframe animation. Import various media types, including 3D spatial photos and videos, and fine-tune visuals with advanced tools. Offers pixel-level editing and expression writing for precise control.
- Layered video, image, and audio composition
- Keyframe animation with bezier curves
- Extensive visual effects and blending modes
- Import/export 3D spatial photos and videos
- Pixel-level editing and expression writing
- Support for RAW footage and image sequences
- LUT import/export
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Render compositions with layered videos, images, audio, visuals and effects. Import and export 3D spatial photos and video. Import media (images, videos, GIFs, SVGs, image sequences and RAW footage) from Photos and Files. A sequence is defined by a folder of images, each image is a frame of a video. Visuals: shapes (rectangle, circle, capsule, star, polygon, arc, line) and solids (color, noise, gradient). Create an adjustment layer to apply effects to all underlying layers. Effects: levels (brightness, contrast, invert), color shift (hue, saturation), blur, transform, kaleidoscope, corner pin, chroma key (green screen). Effect packs: funny mirror, glitch, CRT, smoke, vignette. Mask, displace or luma blur a layer with another layer. Blending modes: add, subtract, multiply, divide, screen, lighten, darken, minimum, maximum, gamma, power and difference. Timeline features: - Snapping of layers while dragging. - Keyframe properties with bezier curves. - Motion blur with blending modes. - Pre-compose layers. - Split layers. - Time remap. Zoom in to pixel level to inspect your graphics. Write expressions for any property. Import and export LUTs in the .cube format. There are rendered previews of visuals, blending modes, effects and samples. Samples is a way to visualize what the composition will look like for a property at different values. The render engine caches all played frames, so re-playing is quicker. Caches frames are indicated by a green bar in the top of the timeline. Render out a still frame as image, render a region or the full composition as a video or image sequence. Projects are saved in Files and media is bundled in the project file. XDR display support. Create graphics in high color depth (16bit & 32bit). Export video in h264 and ProRes on supported devices. Audio is supported.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CUBE at 4.7 against Render's 2.9. CUBE also leads on review sentiment (83% vs 63%) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Render's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, 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
Both are free to download. CUBE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Render sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
CUBE holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 11 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of CUBE's written reviews are positive against 63% of Render's.
CUBE ships an update monthly, Render every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CUBE | Render |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (16 ratings) — better | 2.9 (11 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 62.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 银凯 朱 | Anton Heestand |
Customer experience
CUBE
Render
In-app purchases
CUBE
- Matrix Effect$1.99
- LiDAR Scanning Effect$1.99
- Liquid Metal Effect$1.99
Render
- Full HD$4.99
- 4K Ultra HD$9.99








