PIXEL86 vs bitwave
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- True B/W dithering
- Video editing support
- Customizable color palettes
- Three dithering styles (Natural, Pattern, Flat)
- Vintage-inspired aesthetics
- Social media sharing
Read full descriptionHide 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.
bitwave
Transform photos and videos into retro-inspired pixel art with a variety of filters and effects. Create unique avatars, social media content, or game-inspired visuals with a creator-friendly interface.
- Real-time pixel art camera filters
- Pixelate photos and videos instantly
- Multiple pixel styles and resolutions
- Custom color palettes and retro effects
- Live camera preview
- Save and share directly to social media
Read full descriptionHide full description
Description Transform your photos and videos into pixel art with Bitwave Pixel Cam. Create retro-inspired images and videos using carefully crafted pixel filters designed for creators, gamers, artists, and anyone who loves nostalgic aesthetics. Whether you're making pixel avatars, social media content, game-inspired portraits, or unique retro videos, MUT8 Pixel Cam lets you instantly convert ordinary footage into vibrant pixel art. Features • Real-time pixel art camera filters • Pixelate photos and videos instantly • Multiple pixel styles and resolutions • Custom color palettes and retro effects • Live camera preview • Fast image and video processing • Save and share directly to social media • Simple, creator-friendly interface Perfect For • Pixel art enthusiasts • Retro gaming fans • Content creators • Profile pictures and avatars • Social media posts and reels • Creative photography projects Why MUT8 Pixel Cam? Most pixel filters simply reduce image quality. Bitwave Pixel Cam is designed to create authentic pixel-art aesthetics with carefully tuned color reduction, pixel scaling, and retro-inspired visual styles. Create unique pixel art in seconds and bring a nostalgic 8-bit look to your photos and videos. Download Bitwave Pixel Cam and start creating today.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: bitwave at none against PIXEL86's 2. bitwave also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). PIXEL86's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 weeks) and ratings volume (42 vs 1). On price, monetization model, device support 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
Both are free to download. PIXEL86 sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. bitwave asks for nothing beyond the download.
bitwave 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 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
PIXEL86 ships an update every 5 days, bitwave every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PIXEL86 | bitwave |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (42 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 42 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 87 MB | 32 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Peter Tretyakov | Demian Nezhdanov |
In-app purchases
PIXEL86
- License Discount$9.99
- Perpetual License$19.99
bitwave
No in-app purchases








