Comparison

Snappy vs Photos Search

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

Head to head
About

Snappy

This camera app automatically captures photos based on sound, motion, brightness, or specific objects appearing in the frame. Set custom triggers and thresholds to capture moments hands-free, perfect for when you're busy or want to be in the shot.

Highlights
  • Automatic capture by sound, motion, brightness, or object detection
  • Customizable trigger thresholds
  • Continuous and standby trigger modes
  • Max shot count and interval settings
  • Front and back camera support
  • Grid, inclinometer, and aspect ratio options
Features
Read full description

A camera that shoots without you pressing the shutter. Sound, movement, brightness, heading, what's in frame — Snappy watches the sensors and releases the shutter the moment the condition you set is met. Use it with the phone on a tripod or a table, from a distance, when your hands are busy, or when you want to be in the picture yourself. The shutter button still works, of course. It's an ordinary camera too. ■ Eight trigger conditions • Shake — shoots when you shake the phone • Sound — shoots when it hears a loud noise • Motion — shoots when something moves in frame, with a threshold you can set by performing the movement once • Brightness — shoots when it gets brighter • Distance — shoots when something comes closer than the distance you set, using LiDAR or TrueDepth • Compass — shoots when the phone faces a heading you choose • Object — shoots when something you picked appears in frame, from 77 kinds including people, cats, dogs, birds, animals and cars • Gesture — shoots on a peace sign held up to the camera, or on both arms raised, which reads from right across a room Most conditions can be flipped to shoot when the value *falls* instead. When it goes quiet, when it gets dark, when the movement stops — the reverse works too. ■ Set the threshold with your finger The indicator just above the preview shows what the sensor is feeling right now. Drag the white line and the threshold moves with it, while you watch the frame. No need to open Settings. ■ Two trigger modes • Continuous — keeps shooting for as long as the condition stays met • Standby — shoots once, then waits until the condition is no longer met before it will shoot again Choose Standby when the situation holds steady — someone standing still, a room that stays bright — so you don't end up with a hundred of the same photo. ■ Features • Shot count (1–10; 11–100 or unlimited with Pro) • Interval Time between shots, from 0.0 to 99.9 seconds • Delay Time before the shot, from 0.0 to 99.9 seconds, with a countdown ring around the shutter button • A sound when the condition is met, so you know it noticed even from behind the camera • Automatic capture lock — the sensors keep watching, but nothing is taken • Grid (thirds / center) • Inclinometer showing side-to-side and front-to-back tilt at once, turning with the way you hold the device • Aspect ratio (default / square) • Saved size (1/4; Full and 1/2 with Pro) • Save to Photos, or with Pro to a folder on this device or in iCloud Drive • Add location • Capture review • Disable Auto-Lock, so a long session isn't cut short by the screen turning off • Front and back camera Photos are saved to the iOS Photos library — or, with Pro, to a dated folder on this device or in iCloud Drive — with what triggered the shot written into the file's EXIF. ■ Some ways to use it • Leave it by the door or in the garden and catch whoever — or whatever — turns up • Clap your hands to take the shot from across the room • Raise both arms from across the room and be in the photo yourself • Catch fireworks and lightning on brightness • Put it beside a path and shoot whatever comes within a metre • Shake the phone to shoot • Shoot when the phone faces a particular direction Open the Quick Guide from Description in Settings. It includes recipes like these. This app shows ads. The Pro in-app purchase removes them, and unlocks the Full and 1/2 sizes, saving to this device or iCloud Drive, and shot counts of 11 or more and unlimited. Without Pro, photos are saved at 1/4 size to the Photos library, and Shot Count is 1 to 10.

About

Photos Search

This app uses text recognition to find words within your photos. It allows you to extract, copy, and organize text from images, including links and phone numbers. The app also integrates with Maps and offers a macOS version.

Highlights
  • Search text in photos
  • Extract and copy text
  • Detect links and phone numbers
  • Create albums from search results
  • Integrates with Maps
  • Share and Editing Extensions
  • macOS version included
Features
Read full description

Photos Search can search for text in your photos library. It uses Text Recognition software to find text in a photo. Spotlight is supported, so you can search directly from the Home Screen. You can scan a selected time period (7 days, 30 days, 6 months etc.) or scan all your photos. Once a photo has been processed, you will not have to scan it again, so after a while you will have processed your complete photos library and it will be ready to be searched instantaneously. Photos Search can extract the text from any photo and will allow you to copy the text. It will also detect links, phone numbers, calendar events etc. You can create an album in Photos with your search results, so that you can also work with your found photos in the Photos app. Photos Search integrates with Maps to show you the physical location where the photo has been taken. You can also use Photos Search to scan an individual photo, a photo of a paper document or a screen shot. Photos Search includes a Share Extension. With this extension you can extract text from any image or photo in any app through the extension feature of iOS. Photos Search also includes a Photos Editing Extension. With this extension you can extract text from any photo in Photos through the extension feature of Photos. Just Edit a photo in Photos and call on the Photos Search extension to extract all the text from the photo. You will also get the macOS version of this app with this purchase. The app is also available separately only for iOS under the name Photos Search Text and that version has a lower iOS price. Most languages are supported : English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian. New languages that are supported : Thai, Vietnamese and Arabic.

Screenshots

Snappy4 screens
Photos Search4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Photos Search at 100% against Snappy's 46%. Photos Search also leads on ads (none vs shown) and chart position (#194 vs unranked). Snappy's advantage is price (Free vs $17.99). On update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Snappy is free to download; Photos Search costs $17.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Snappy ships an update every 3 weeks, Photos Search every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Snappy versus Photos Search: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSnappyPhotos Search
PriceFree — better$17.99
Rating—4.2 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews45.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—5 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#194 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMasayuki AkamatsuAlco Blom

Customer experience

Snappy

Written reviews24 reviews
Positive45.8%
Neutral12.5%
Negative41.7%

Photos Search

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Snappy

No in-app purchases

None

Photos Search

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Snappy free?
Snappy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Photos Search free?
Photos Search costs $17.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Snappy or Photos Search have ads?
Snappy shows ads; Photos Search does not.
Which is updated more often, Snappy or Photos Search?
Snappy ships an update every 3 weeks, and Photos Search every 2 weeks. Most recently, Snappy was updated on October 10, 2026 and Photos Search on October 5, 2026.

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