Paint With Light vs TimeLapsed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Paint With Light
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Do you have a camera? Do you want to do something different? Do you want to do something fun? Then light painting is the thing for you! Light painting is a photographic technique of moving a light source (your phone) while taking a long-exposure photograph (with a separate camera). You can either illuminate a subject or space, or point the light in the app at the camera in order to "draw". And you can do all of this with your phone and your camera! Use your iPhone to paint beautiful images with light! Expand your creative vision! PLEASE NOTE - In order to be able to light paint you will need... - your iPhone - a SEPARATE camera with the possibility of long exposure time - a dark room - a tripod or a stable surface to put your camera onto Have fun! PURCHASING TERMS Lifelong: $4.99 Paint With Light is available as a one-time purchase. Prices are for US customers and are subject to change without notice. Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence.
TimeLapsed
Capture stunning time-lapse videos and explore creative photography techniques like light painting. Offers manual and auto camera controls for precise adjustments or effortless creation. Save and share your artistic creations directly from your device.
- Manual and auto camera controls
- Real-time image adjustments
- Light painting mode
- Tilt-shift photography effects
- Export individual frames
- Save and share creations
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Time. Under your control. Turn passing clouds, a city after dark, aircraft and traffic into motion you can shape. TimeLapsed brings a professional timelapse camera, programmable capture and a powerful frame-blending engine to iPhone and iPad. Start with a profile. Go deeper when the shot demands it. SEE THE TRAILS BUILD Create star trails, rolling trails and comet tails in the live camera preview. Tune trail length, blending, glow and color while you shoot. Use Horizon Mask to keep sky trails off the foreground and Anchor Lock to help correct mounted-camera bumps. CONTROL EVERY DETAIL Set shutter, ISO, focus, white balance, interval and zoom. Keep recording time, exposure and device status visible in the HUD. Save camera profiles and use position recall to guide your framing back to a saved reference. Updated for iOS 27, with aperture controls on supported iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max lenses and Camera Control integration on supported iPhones. PROGRAM HOW THE SHOT EVOLVES Build camera automations with timed changes and smooth ramps for exposure, interval, color and trail effects. Rehearse your timeline before recording. Scheduled capture requires the camera to stay open in the foreground. CAPTURE NOW. BLEND LATER. Save an effects-free companion movie alongside your processed capture. Open a video in the editor, preview and tune a new blend, then render star trails or comet effects with the same engine. Import still-image sequences from other cameras through Photos or Files and turn them into timelapses. MAKE EVERY TAKE COUNT Pause and resume video recording, flip or mirror the camera, split clips and build a trip into a film. Edit speed, framing, color, titles and audio. Shoot and edit widescreen 16:9 as well as portrait video. Mark Moments to keep the right part of a recording, and save still frames from videos. CREATE IN REAL LIFE Place a framed, translucent reference image over the live camera view while you draw on real paper. Record the artwork taking shape. Explore tilt shift, simulated night vision and simulated thermal effects. KNOW WHERE. KNOW WHEN. Plan with the Sun, Moon and stars in Sky Planner. Find Dark Hours, explore light-pollution maps and Bortle panels, and get directions toward darker skies. Check weather radar and forecast-based rain alerts during your shoot. Air Traffic Watch adds aircraft data and predicted paths using your own flight-provider keys. BUILD YOUR CAMERA SETUP Preview and control capture from Apple Watch or another TimeLapsed device. Remote control also supports compatible Canon cameras. Connect supported external displays, USB-C microphones, Power Delivery hubs and external storage for a mounted recording setup. YOUR TIME. YOUR PROGRESS. Review capture history with exposure, white balance, weather, battery, CPU, memory and thermal-state statistics. Keep personal records or join the optional leaderboard. Discover and share videos, images, camera profiles and automations in the Community. Add music from the integrated catalog. Analyze Scene offers optional AI camera recommendations for you to review and apply. START FREE. GO FURTHER WITH PRO. The core camera, built-in profiles and watermarked 1080p exports are free. Advanced workflows, clean exports and additional planning tools require Pro. Watch preview and record controls are free; advanced Watch controls require Pro. Existing full-version owners keep lifetime Pro through Restore Purchases. Features depend on compatible hardware, accessories and service availability. Aircraft providers may charge for your own keys. Production Display has a separate license. Companion video is effects-free video, not sensor RAW. Thermal and night-vision effects are simulated. EULA / Terms of Service: https://shutterspeedapps.com/timelapsed/tos?language=en Privacy Policy: https://shutterspeedapps.com/timelapsed/privacy?language=en AI Usage Policy: https://shutterspeedapps.com/timelapsed/aiusage?language=en
Screenshots
Verdict
Paint With Light and TimeLapsed are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Paint With Light sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and TimeLapsed sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Paint With Light ships an update fortnightly, TimeLapsed every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Paint With Light | TimeLapsed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 182 MB | 169 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Peter Grutter | Shutter Speed Apps, LLC |
In-app purchases
Paint With Light
- Full Unlock$4.99
TimeLapsed
- TimeLapsed Pro$7.991 Month
- TimeLapsed Pro$19.993 Months
- TimeLapsed Pro$49.991 Year
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- Production Display$399.001 Year
- 5 Scene Analyses$1.99
- 20 Scene Analyses$5.99
- TimeLapsed Pro Lifetime$49.99
Questions
Is Paint With Light free?
Is TimeLapsed free?
Do Paint With Light or TimeLapsed have ads?
Which is updated more often, Paint With Light or TimeLapsed?
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