ClockFire vs Paged Photo Frame
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Paged Photo Frame
Transform your device into a dynamic photo frame. Display photos and videos from your albums, with customizable slideshow timings and loop options. Ideal for showcases and exhibitions, with remote content control via iCloud.
- Display photos and videos
- Select specific albums (including iCloud)
- Customizable slideshow timing
- Loop slideshow option
- Scheduled start/stop times
- Remote content control via iCloud
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Convert your iPhone, iPod or iPad in a photo frame to display photos and videos. With Paged Photo Frame you can configure: - the album you want to display (could be an iCloud album) - if you want the slideshow to loop - the time each photo is shown (videos are always shown full length) - when do you want the slideshow to stop: when the device is unplugged or at a specified time - when do you want the slideshow to start again: when the device is plugged or at a specified time Paged Photo Frame is ideal for exhibitions and shops showcases. You can even display an iCloud album and control the content remotely. An interstitial add is shown for a period doubling the time set for photo show at the beginning of each slideshow loop. You can prevent any ad to be shown by purchasing the upgrade option from the app configuration screen. When the slideshow stops a black screen is shown. You can always go back to the settings page with a long click.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: ClockFire at 33% against Paged Photo Frame's 0%. ClockFire also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Paged Photo Frame's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (8.0 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
Both are free to download. ClockFire sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Paged Photo Frame sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ClockFire ships an update every 3 months, Paged Photo Frame monthly. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | ClockFire | Paged Photo Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Eric Degrange | Ara Tecnologia SL |
Customer experience
ClockFire
Paged Photo Frame
In-app purchases
ClockFire
- ClockFire Pro$2.99
Paged Photo Frame
- Ad free version$0.99








