Comparison

ClockFire vs Digital Frame Lite

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

Head to head
About

ClockFire

Transform your device into a dynamic digital photo frame with realistic fire, smoke, or plasma clock effects. Customize transitions, zoom, and photo display order for a personalized viewing experience. Add atmospheric touches like snow or rain for an enhanced mood.

Highlights
  • Realistic fire, smoke, or plasma clock effects
  • 20 transition effects
  • Customizable transition duration and type
  • Zoom effect on photos
  • Random or ordered photo display
  • Optional snow or rain overlays
Features
Read full description

Turn your iPad, iPhone, Mac, or Apple TV into a living digital photo frame, with the time written in real fire. A beautiful desk, bedside, and night clock over your favorite photos, with cinematic transitions, Live Scenes, and atmospheres. ClockFire first lit up screens in 2010. ClockFire 2 is a complete rebirth: rebuilt from scratch with Metal and rendered in real time on iPad, iPhone, Mac, and Apple TV. YOUR PHOTOS, BEAUTIFULLY FRAMED • Show albums, Favorites, and On This Day memories from your photo library, or import your own photos • Start right away with more than 40 stunning sample photos • Smart framing keeps faces and subjects in view • Slow, cinematic Ken Burns pan and zoom • Two portrait photos side by side on landscape screens • Discreet captions with the date and place A CLOCK MADE OF FIRE • Real-time flames, embers, and heat haze • More effects to match your mood: Smoke, Plasma, Neon, Ice, Molten Gold, Liquid Glass, Aurora, Hologram, and Minimal • Several clock styles, from 7-segment to rounded, thin, and serif • Your favorite colors, plus the date • Local weather, with temperature and conditions • Time and date formats that follow your region settings CINEMATIC TRANSITIONS • The 20 ClockFire classics, reimagined in 3D: flips, page turn, tiles, waves, ripple, twirl… • Spectacular new ones: burning paper, page curl, glass shatter, cube, dust, ink, water drop… LIVE SCENES Animated paintings rendered in real time between your photos: a cozy fireplace, northern lights, an ocean sunset, a misty forest with fireflies, an underwater lagoon, a koi pond, a black hole, a nebula, a spiral galaxy, a lava lamp, synthwave, and more. CHRISTMAS AND HALLOWEEN Three big Christmas scenes that come alive all December: • Santa’s Run: the elves’ village at the North Pole, a magic box to open on each day of Advent and, on the night of the 24th, the sleigh following midnight around the Earth, all the way to your home • Christmas Village: skaters on the frozen lake, a steam train and bells at midnight • Christmas Hamlet: a fairy tale in the woods, twinkling fir trees and a bonfire And for Halloween: fog, storms and ghosts. Try each big scene in full for an hour. YOUR MUSIC Tens of thousands of radio stations from around the world, your own songs or your Apple Music playlists, in place of the scenes’ sounds. The song playing shows under the clock. ATMOSPHERES Snow, rain, rain on glass, fireflies, cherry blossoms, autumn leaves, embers, shooting stars, mist, bubbles, and light rays. Choose Seasons to follow the time of year, or Live Weather to bring the sky outside onto your frame: when it rains outside, it rains on your photos. MADE FOR DAY AND NIGHT • Night mode dims the frame, keeps only the clock, or turns the screen off on a schedule • HDR glow on XDR displays • Keeps the screen awake, like a screensaver for your desk, nightstand, or kitchen • Tap for controls, swipe for the next or previous photo, drag and pinch the clock, double-tap for settings • Menus and keyboard shortcuts on Mac, full remote support on Apple TV FREE, WITH AN OPTIONAL ONE-TIME UPGRADE ClockFire is free to download and includes unlimited photos, the Fire and Minimal clocks, 10 transitions, 2 Live Scenes, snow and rain, and night mode. ClockFire Pro is a one-time purchase, with no subscription. It unlocks every clock effect and color, all transitions, all Live Scenes, all atmospheres, local weather on the clock, your music files and Internet Radio. Not sure yet? Preview any Pro feature live for 30 seconds. Weather data provided by Apple Weather.

About

Digital Frame Lite

Features
Read full description

Do you want to recycle an old iPad as a Digital Photo Frame? Digital Frame Lite gives a new life to your old iPad or iPhone. A very easy to use app to show randomly all the photos in an album from your Photo Library. Simply select the shared album from the list and slideshow will start. The only thing you must configure are the presentation time of each photo and the start and end times of the presentation. To exit the slideshow, do a swipe (up or down) gesture. To load next or previous photo, do a swipe (left or right) gesture. In the main window you can select the album to show. You must have at least one album created fo that. This free version is limited to 50 photos and not allow to change presentation time and don't have auto off feature.

Screenshots

ClockFire4 screens
Digital Frame Lite2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Digital Frame Lite at every 4 weeks against ClockFire's every 3 months. Digital Frame Lite also leads on iOS requirement (12 vs 26.0). On price, 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

Both are free to download. ClockFire sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Digital Frame Lite sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ClockFire ships an update every 3 months, Digital Frame Lite every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
ClockFire versus Digital Frame Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterClockFireDigital Frame Lite
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.012 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB13 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperEric DegrangeTheCoolBytes

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ClockFire

One-time1
  • ClockFire Pro$2.99
1 purchases

Digital Frame Lite

One-time1
  • Unlock Pro$2.99

Questions

Is ClockFire free?
ClockFire is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Digital Frame Lite free?
Digital Frame Lite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ClockFire or Digital Frame Lite have ads?
Neither ClockFire nor Digital Frame Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ClockFire or Digital Frame Lite?
ClockFire ships an update every 3 months, and Digital Frame Lite every 4 weeks. Most recently, ClockFire was updated on November 1, 2026 and Digital Frame Lite on November 7, 2026.

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