Comparison

Panoply vs Retro Frame Editor

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

Head to head
About

Panoply

Create multimedia projects like business cards, presentations, and music videos with interactive elements. This app allows you to combine text, images, audio, and video, and share your creations in various formats. It also offers tools for capturing panoramic views and managing media resources efficiently.

Highlights
  • Create multimedia projects (cards, presentations, videos)
  • Composite text, images, audio, and video
  • Interactive 'On Touch Do' directives
  • Searchable composite library
  • Share creations via email or Bluetooth
  • Panoramic photo capture assistance
  • Portfolio creation and management
Features
Read full description

Panoply is an E-Multimedia Composer and an interactive Player. Panoply is the iPhone version of Panoploid for the iPad. Create your business card, greeting card, next panoramic photo, ipod playlist, party invitation with directions, travel book with audio/video, executive multimedia presentation, art sketches, music video album with cover art: all on the iPhone. Device Requirements: This application runs only on iPhone 5 or higher. Similar to E-book, in addition to text and image, you can composite maps and graphics and add 'On Touch Do'(OnDo) directives on composites to play audio, video, show another image or display a web page. Such composites are collectively, in general, referred to as 'Composite(s)' below. Composite library can be searched on: location by address, latitude/longitude, or a caption. Share the composite image via e-mail or Bluetooth in multimedia rich proprietary format, or as a PDF, or image. Panoply also helps you capture panoramic views by automatically positioning, sizing and orienting individual photos(max 5) approximately. Composites can be edited on the spot while capturing or any other time later. A set of composites s can be collected in a 'Portfolio' and saved. Panoply manages all of your media resources optimally without duplicating them if possible. Panoply does not force a workflow or a method. Any moment during capture or creation or modification is the same as any other and all operations are available all the time. Panoply stores content in a device independent format. This currently means that whenever a composite is edited, modified, and stored back, the changes are applied on the original to maximize the resolution of the result. Looking ahead, it means that should we release Panoply on devices with higher resolution, your current content can be presented on the device with the device native resolution. Panoply uses database technology to store the contents. Therefore it is fast, responsive and, searchable. Panoply is built 100% on native iPhone technologies: there are no other third party software or software ported over from other platforms. In Panoply, what a gesture means is determined by context(graphics, maps, etc.,)as well as settings. This prevents us from having to invent arbitrary distinct gesture for each operation. But it also means that one needs to be aware of the context and settings that might affect a gesture. For example, in graphics workspace, you can create a rectangle, an ellipse, a filled rectangle or, a filled ellipse all with two touches. What gets created depends on the settings. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you at least cursorily go through the 4 pages of info before starting in order to be more productive as well as for a better experience at: http://www.ipanoramii.com For questions/comments e-mail: info.protolys@gmail.com. Quick Reference: Deletion: In Composite workspace, pressing trash button lets you either delete an individual item or all of them depending on mode. Gestures Zoom is available in all tabs when appropriate. Rotate: Keep one touch fixed and move the second touch around. Frame: Move two touches a distance apart horizontally or vertically on the composite in edit mode in the Composite tab. Drag with single touch Graphical gestures Line: Two simultaneous touches for the two end points of the line, in open, non-smooth mode. Rectangle: Same as for a line in closed mode. Circle and ellipses: the touches for the rectangle which will inscribe it in closed mode. Filled figures: Same as for closed figure with 'Filled' setting ON. Track mode: Tracks the touches and create a series of geometries. On a Composite in the Library: Right swipe: Sends(via e-mail or bluetooth). Left swipe : Moves it to the Composite tab. Single touch on an item in Library will toggle between the composite and its image super imposed on the world map.. Pressing the target corner again displays an 'X' pressing X, deletes it.

About

Retro Frame Editor

Features
Read full description

An app that turns your photos into framed retro-style pictures. Easily customize with simple taps—switch frame layouts, apply retro filters, toggle the date display on or off, adjust frame colors, and more. Save high‑resolution images directly to your device and share to social media or email with a single tap. ● Features 【Easy to Use】 ・Change frame layouts with one tap ・Instant real‑time preview 【Filters & Date Display】 ・Apply a variety of filters (Mono, Bloom, Pixellate, Comic, etc.) with one tap ・Toggle the date display on or off 【Frame Color Selection】 ・Choose between Simple and Gradient modes ・In Simple mode, pick any custom color via the color picker 【Save & Share】 ・Save photos in high resolution ・Share to social media or email with one tap 【No Sign‑up Required】 ・Ready to use immediately after installation ・No account or registration needed

Screenshots

Panoply4 screens
Retro Frame Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Panoply at none against Retro Frame Editor's shown. Panoply also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 7 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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

Both are free to download. Panoply sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Retro Frame Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Panoply ships an update every 2 weeks, Retro Frame Editor every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Panoply versus Retro Frame Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPanoplyRetro Frame Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperProtolys Inc.MITSUKO MARGOT KUBOTA ONO

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Panoply

One-time6
  • Audio Recording$0.99
  • Graphics Bundle$0.99
  • Add iTunes Music to Play on Touch$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Maps in composite$0.99
  • Complete bundle.$3.99
  • Complete bundle with automatic future new in-app purchases for free$3.99
1 purchases

Retro Frame Editor

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$4.99

Questions

Is Panoply free?
Panoply is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Retro Frame Editor free?
Retro Frame Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Panoply or Retro Frame Editor have ads?
Retro Frame Editor shows ads; Panoply does not.
Which is updated more often, Panoply or Retro Frame Editor?
Panoply ships an update every 2 weeks, and Retro Frame Editor every 7 months. Most recently, Panoply was updated on October 1, 2026 and Retro Frame Editor on October 10, 2026.

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