Comparison

Microscope vs ACDSee Pro

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

Head to head
About

Microscope

Transform your iPhone into a high-magnification microscope. Explore the intricate details of everyday objects like skin, eyes, and hair with impressive digital zoom. Amaze others by revealing hidden cellular structures and fine particles.

Highlights
  • High-magnification digital zoom
  • Magnify skin and reveal cell structure
  • View inner eye details
  • Examine hair particles
  • Impress friends with detailed views
Features
Read full description

Turn your iPhone into a powerful electron microscope! Amaze your friends and trick them into believing that your iPhone also acts as a microscope and is capable of magnifying objects by thousands of times. Point the iPhone camera at your hands, and show your friends how the digital zoom magnifies your skin, revealing the cell structure with the precision and detail offered only by an expensive microscope! Aim the iPhone camera at your eye, and cause amazement when your screen will begin showing the inner parts of your eye, amongst blood vessels and various other filaments and cell. Finally, point the iPhone to your hair, and dazzle your friends as the tiniest particles your hair is made of begin to reveal themselves on the iPhone's screen!

About

ACDSee Pro

This app combines a professional-grade camera with a powerful, nondestructive photo editor. Capture stunning images with advanced manual controls and perfect them with selective adjustments and effects. Create collages from your memories with over 100 layouts.

Highlights
  • RAW, TIFF, PNG support
  • Manual camera controls
  • Nondestructive photo editing
  • Selective adjustments (gradients, brushing)
  • Collage maker with 100+ layouts
  • Real-time effects and adjustments
  • HDR and Flash Fusion
Features
Read full description

Capture, perfect, and share your photos with ACDSee Pro for iPhone. ACDSee Pro combines a professional-grade camera and photo editor with all the tools you need to produce stunning photographs. Camera Harness the full power of your device's camera with specialized shooting modes, lossless RAW, TIFF and PNG support, manual controls for exposure/focus/white balance, real-time effects and adjustments, HDR & flash fusion, separate exposure and focus points, dual-axis level indicator, and more. Edit Perfect your photos with a powerful, nondestructive photo editor with RAW processing. Use gradients and brushing to selectively apply adjustments and special effects, including shadows & highlights, contrast, dehaze, white balance, saturation, vibrance, sharpness, split toning, and noise removal, and our one-of-a-kind Light EQ, Tone EQ, and Color EQ. Collage Convenient collage maker for sharing your memories. Quickly combine multiple photos into a single image for easy sharing. Choose from over 100 layouts. — CAMERA FEATURES RAW Support Shoot RAW on capable devices and write captured photos in DNG format. Lossless TIFF/PNG Write captured photos in lossless TIFF or PNG format, or choose one of three JPEG quality settings. Manual Controls Precisely control exposure, focus and white balance, including a custom white balance preset. Real-time overexposure and underexposure visualization. Shutter Priority Mode Set the shutter speed and ACDSee Camera Pro automatically chooses the ISO for proper exposure. Selfie Mode Look your best with skin smoothing and lightening, plus a front-facing torch/flash for low-light situations. Real-time Effect Filters Choose from 24 effects, including high-quality black & white, Orton, film grain, halftone, and various color tone filters. Real-time Adjustments See brightness, contrast, vibrance, sharpness, clarity, skin tune and vignette adjustments in real time and add additional noise reduction during capture. Exposure Bracketing Capture three exposures at once at different exposure levels. HDR Fusion Combine three shots taken at different exposures to create a single high-dynamic-range image, with manual override of composition parameters. Flash Fusion Combine a naturally-illuminated capture with a flash-illuminated capture. Video Mode Capture those special moments with video and apply filters and adjustments in real-time. Flash Modes Choose from six flash modes: Off, On, Auto, Torch, Torch & flash, and Flash Fusion. All modes work with either the rear-facing or the front-facing camera. Focus and Exposure Touch to select focus and exposure point. For more precise control, independently select focus and exposure points. Lockable AF, AE and AWB Independently lock focus, exposure, and white balance. Cropping modes Crop before you shoot to square, 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9 aspect ratios. Independent settings for front and rear cameras, still photo and video modes. Level Indicator Compose your shots with precise alignment using a dual-axis level indicator. — EDITOR FEATURES Image adjustments, including: - Shadows & Highlights - Light EQ - Exposure - Dehaze - Contrast - Tone EQ - Fill Light - White Balance - Saturation & Vibrance - Color EQ - Split Toning - Sharpness - Clarity - Softness - Denoise - Skin Tune Effects Apply a variety of creative effects to your photos, including film, light leaks, halftone, and more. Use gradients and brushes to mask adjustments. Focus Bring your subject into focus. Simulate a shallow depth of field by blurring the background. Vignette Adds a vignette effect around the edges of your photo. Geometry Crop, rotate, straighten, and mirror your photo. Filter Splash Creatively splash on effects such as selective coloring to draw attention to your subject. ACDSee is a trademark of ACD Systems International Inc. and may be registered in Canada, the United States, the European Union, Japan, or certain other jurisdictions.

Screenshots

Microscope4 screens
ACDSee Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ACDSee Pro at 76% against Microscope's 4%. ACDSee Pro also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.0) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 10 months). Microscope's advantage is price (Free vs $5.99) and iOS requirement (3.1 vs 15.6). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Microscope is free to download; ACDSee Pro costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ACDSee Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ACDSee Pro has 1.1K ratings behind it against 223, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 4% of Microscope's written reviews are positive against 76% of ACDSee Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Microscope ships an update every 10 months, ACDSee Pro every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Microscope versus ACDSee Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicroscopeACDSee Pro
PriceFree — better$5.99
Rating2.0 (223 ratings)4.8 (1.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews4.3% of reviews75.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2231.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS3.1 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB78 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLogSat LLCACD Systems International Inc.

Customer experience

Microscope

All ratings223 ratings
Positive23.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative73.1%
Written reviews116 reviews
Positive4.3%
Neutral4.3%
Negative91.4%

ACDSee Pro

All ratings1,130 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.7%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews227 reviews
Positive75.8%
Neutral9.7%
Negative14.5%

User reviews

Microscope

From 223 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 😄 Fun prank app to trick friends
  • ✨ Crisp and beautifully magnified images
  • 📱 Doesn't crash
  • 🎯 Realistic camera integration at start

Room to improve

  • 😞 Displays same pre-loaded images regardless of input
  • 🚫 Misleading as fake microscope
  • 💾 Wastes storage and data
  • 🎬 Only shows pre-recorded videos
  • 😤 Repetitive content after first use

ACDSee Pro

From 1.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Powerful editing tools
  • ⭐ Great for photographers
  • 🎨 Excellent photo enhancement
  • 💻 Familiar desktop-like experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔋 Battery draining
  • 🚫 Lack of selective editing tools
  • 📁 Issues with file management and saving
  • 🔍 Missing key features like lens correction

Bugs and requests

Microscope

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Information screen goes black and unresponsive
  • Cannot return to main screen from info screen
  • Camera recognition fails for non-hand/eye/hair objects
  • App shows same image even with camera covered
  • Works only once then requires app restart
Show 1 more
  • Selection screen doesn't function as intended

Requested features

7 requests
  • Show actual magnified images of scanned objects
  • Real microscope functionality
  • Ability to take multiple different pictures
  • Clearer description that app is a prank/gag
  • Update for iPod Touch with camera compatibility
Show 2 more
  • Remove pre-loaded limitation
  • Working information/selection screen

ACDSee Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when using certain filters
  • Inability to export photos in desired format
  • Syncing issues with photos from other devices
  • Inconsistent behavior after iOS updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add lens distortion correction
  • Implement non-destructive editing
  • Allow saving of original and edited versions
  • Improve collage and layout tools
  • Add support for more file formats

In-app purchases

None

Microscope

No in-app purchases

None

ACDSee Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Microscope free?
Microscope is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ACDSee Pro free?
ACDSee Pro costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Microscope or ACDSee Pro?
ACDSee Pro is rated higher. Microscope averages 2.0 out of 5 from 223 ratings, while ACDSee Pro averages 4.8 from 1.1K ratings.
Do Microscope or ACDSee Pro have ads?
Neither Microscope nor ACDSee Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Microscope or ACDSee Pro?
Microscope ships an update every 10 months, and ACDSee Pro every 2 months. Most recently, Microscope was updated on October 23, 2026 and ACDSee Pro on November 1, 2026.

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