LensFlare Optical Effects vs Magic Lighting
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LensFlare Optical Effects
Enhance your photos with a wide array of realistic optical effects. Add professional touches like anamorphic flares, sun rays, and sci-fi light effects with just a few taps. Transform your images into stunning works of art.
- Over 70 optical effects
- Anamorphic flares
- Natural sunlight effects
- Sci-fi flares
- Moveable and interactive flares
- Fully controllable light effects
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Featured in Wired Magazine “...you don't know what you're missing until you try this app.” - Wired Magazine “...best iPhone app for adding realistic looking flares and optical effects.” - LifeInLofi.com User Reviews: "Incredibly powerful app. Very easy to use. Just a few taps and tweaks and your photos will pop with professional touches. Buy it." "Absolutely stunning. Thanks devs for sharing this with the community. Get it ASAP!!!" -------------------------------- Bring your photos to life with LensFlare. LensFlare is a must have app for any photographer or designer looking for the best in optical effects. With over 70 effects, you can choose from Holywood style anamorphic flares, sci-fi effects, sun rays, and more. Each flare has unique properties and is moveable and interactive. These aren't overlays but fully controllable light effects. Lens Types: - Anamorphic Flares - Natural Sunlight - Sci-fi Flares LensFlare will bring your photos to life turning them into works of art to share with friends and family. Tag your photos with #LensFlareApp for a chance to be featured!
Magic Lighting
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■ Beautifully decorate your photos with the lighting effects of "Spotlight" of various shapes and colors. ■ Mixed decoration with multiple lights ■ More than 100 types of spotlight shapes are available. [Features of the app] ◎ Practical: Focus effect with various lighting ◎ Amusement: Confirm lighting effects in real time ◎ High resolution: Save the edited photo at the original resolution ◎ Unique: Only this app can create elaborate lighting decorations [Source] - Camera shooting: photo - Camera Roll: Photos - Image paste: Copy and paste web images - File sharing: Can be sent from AirDrop, SNS, other apps [Real-time editing tool] - Lighting shape: more than 100 types - Lighting switch ON/OFF - Rotation angle: Slider control adjustment (0 to 360 degrees) - Lighting intensity: Slider control adjustment - Background Darkness: Slider control adjustment - RGB Mixing Ratio: Slider control adjustment - Color settings: Slider control adjustment (RGB values) [Touch operation] - Swipe: Move lighting - Pinch in/Pinch out: change lighting size [Output] - Save to Camera Roll: Photo - Photo sharing: AirDrop, LINE, Facebook, Dropbox, Instagram,...
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: LensFlare Optical Effects at every 2 months against Magic Lighting's every 20 months. Magic Lighting's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $4.99) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 18.0). 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
LensFlare Optical Effects costs $4.99 and Magic Lighting $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
LensFlare Optical Effects ships an update every 2 months, Magic Lighting every 20 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LensFlare Optical Effects | Magic Lighting |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (670 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 80.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 670 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 20 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | James Grote | Masanori Katsuta |
Bugs and requests
LensFlare Optical Effects
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes on startup
- Unable to load or edit photos
- Flares not positioning correctly
- Incompatible with newer iOS versions
Requested features
6 requests- Add more lens flare options
- Improve layer and masking capabilities
- Enable rotation and resizing of effects
- Optimize for larger image sizes
- Integrate with video editing
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- Provide AR functionality
Magic Lighting
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LensFlare Optical Effects
No in-app purchases
Magic Lighting
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LensFlare Optical Effects free?
Is Magic Lighting free?
Do LensFlare Optical Effects or Magic Lighting have ads?
Which is updated more often, LensFlare Optical Effects or Magic Lighting?
Other comparisons
