Comparison

PIXEL86 vs Trichromy

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

Head to head
About

PIXEL86

Transform photos and videos with vintage pixel art aesthetics. Apply true black-and-white dithering, custom color palettes, and unique dithering styles to create retro media. Supports video editing and sharing your creations.

Highlights
  • True B/W dithering
  • Video editing support
  • Customizable color palettes
  • Three dithering styles (Natural, Pattern, Flat)
  • Vintage-inspired aesthetics
  • Social media sharing
Read full description

PIXEL86 — Retro Dithering for Photos & Videos Make your media look like it came from a cooler, glitchier timeline. Bring back the charm of vintage tech with PIXEL86, the ultimate tool to transform your photos and videos into pixel-perfect black-and-white or limited-palette art. Inspired by early computer graphics, old-school printers, and classic GIFs — this is retro done right. True B/W Dithering No grays. Just black or white pixels smartly arranged to simulate shadows and depth — exactly how early screens did it. Now Supports Video Editing Apply your favorite dithering style to video clips. Make every frame look like a piece of pixel-art history. Color Palettes, Reimagined Choose from curated vintage-inspired palettes Hit random for a fresh surprise every time Or build your own custom palette for a personalized look Three Dithering Styles Natural — Smooth, classic error diffusion. Clean and expressive. Pattern — Retro dot-matrix vibes. Adjustable matrix for custom textures. Flat — Not technically dithering, but perfect for dramatic, posterized effects in both stills and motion. Share Your Style Use #pixel86 on social and tag @pixel86app on Instagram — we love featuring the coolest creations from the community.

About

Trichromy

Explore trichromatic photography with this unique camera app. Capture stunning color images by layering three monochromatic exposures, offering a distinctive visual style. Experiment with different timings and capture orders for psychedelic or subtle effects.

Highlights
  • Trichromatic photography capture
  • Layering of 3 monochromatic images
  • Adjustable delay between exposures
  • Individual colored shutter controls
  • Straightforward user interface
  • Historical photographic process exploration
Read full description

Discover and capture the ethereal beauty of trichromatic photography with this one of a kind camera app. Trichromy is the process of creating color images by combining 3 monochromatic images: typically red, blue, green. Because the exposures are taken at separate times, they layer in ways that range from subtle shimmers to utterly psychedelic. This app features a beautiful, straightforward interface that lets you experiment with trichromatic photography on your phone, no fancy equipment or complicated workflow required!  Use the main shutter to capture three successive exposures with a delay, which you can change with the slider. Or use the individual colored shutters to capture channels in any order and timing you want. This method of producing color images goes back to the 19th century and was one of the earliest. Notably, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky used the trichromic process to document large swaths of early 20th century Russia. Lear more about the history of this little known photographic process on our website, trichromy.net !

Screenshots

PIXEL864 screens
Trichromy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Trichromy at none against PIXEL86's shown. Trichromy also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). PIXEL86's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 80%) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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. PIXEL86 sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Trichromy sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Trichromy holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PIXEL86 has 42 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of PIXEL86's written reviews are positive against 80% of Trichromy's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PIXEL86 ships an update every 5 days, Trichromy every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PIXEL86 versus Trichromy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPIXEL86Trichromy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (42 ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better80.0% of reviews
Number of ratings42 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size87 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPeter TretyakovHéliographe, Inc

Customer experience

PIXEL86

All ratings31 ratings
Positive90.3%
Neutral3.2%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Trichromy

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PIXEL86

One-time2
  • License Discount$9.99
  • Perpetual License$19.99
4 purchases

Trichromy

One-time4
  • Small Tip$4.99
  • Full Unlock$4.99
  • Medium Tip$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Large Tip$19.99

Questions

Is PIXEL86 free?
PIXEL86 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Trichromy free?
Trichromy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PIXEL86 or Trichromy?
Trichromy is rated higher. PIXEL86 averages 4.6 out of 5 from 42 ratings, while Trichromy averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do PIXEL86 or Trichromy have ads?
PIXEL86 shows ads; Trichromy does not.
Which is updated more often, PIXEL86 or Trichromy?
PIXEL86 ships an update every 5 days, and Trichromy every 3 weeks. Most recently, PIXEL86 was updated on October 27, 2026 and Trichromy on October 5, 2026.

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