LensLight Visual Effects vs Add Astra
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LensLight Visual Effects
Enhance your photos with a vast array of interactive lighting effects. This app offers dynamic Bokeh, Lens Flares, Light Leaks, Spotlights, and Rainbow Effects, all rendered in real-time with a powerful Optics Engine. Achieve professional-looking results with dynamic light manipulation.
- Interactive lighting effects
- Bokeh, Lens Flares, Light Leaks
- Spotlights and Rainbow Effects
- Real-time Optics Engine rendering
- Dynamic light manipulation
- Streaks, glares, and edge bloom
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LensLight Visual Effects is the ultimate app to add beautiful lighting to your photos. You'll get a wide selection of interactive lights: - Bokeh - LensFlares - Light Leaks - Spotlights - Rainbow Effects CUSTOMER REVIEWS "I don't use light effects often, but when I do, I choose LensLight." "This app is great! There are more choices than you'd think, and it adds such a nice touch to pictures. I'm glad I got it." "Really for photo editing apps no one can touch these guys. Brilliant!" The power of LensLight is the Optics Engine for rendering the lights in real time. Many apps have simple filters with glare or grunge. LensLight effects are completely dynamic as you move them around like a real camera lens. You'll see beautiful streaks, glares, and edge bloom to add that final touch to your photos. LensLight uses the same technology as the pro Mac app, LensFlare Studio. Tag your photos with #LensLightApp for a chance to be featured!
Add Astra
Overlay accurate star positions onto your photos using image metadata and machine learning. The app intelligently identifies the sky to ensure stars are placed realistically, avoiding unwanted artifacts.
- Accurate star positioning
- Uses Yale Bright Star Catalog
- Extracts image metadata
- Machine learning sky detection
- Realistic star overlays
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Add Astra was our first app. It uses the Yale Bright Star Catalog with extracted image metadata (date, time, location, orientation, and direction) to find star positions accurate to your uploaded image. Add Astra also uses the DETRResnet50SemanticSegmentationF16 Machine Learning Model to find the sky in your image, and only overlay the stars there, so you don’t have weird white dots all over your picture!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Add Astra at Free against LensLight Visual Effects's $4.99. Add Astra also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.4) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months). LensLight Visual Effects's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ratings volume (134 vs 3). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Add Astra is free to download; LensLight Visual Effects costs $4.99 up front. Add Astra sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $10.99 per month. LensLight Visual Effects asks for nothing beyond the download.
Add Astra holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LensLight Visual Effects has 134 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of LensLight Visual Effects's written reviews are positive against 100% of Add Astra's.
LensLight Visual Effects ships an update every 2 months, Add Astra every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LensLight Visual Effects | Add Astra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (134 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 134 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #182 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 81 MB | 120 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Grote | APParent LLC |
Customer experience
LensLight Visual Effects
Add Astra
In-app purchases
LensLight Visual Effects
No in-app purchases
Add Astra
- 100 Credits a Month + No Ads$10.991 Month
- One Credit$0.29
- Five Credits$0.99
- Ten Credits$1.99
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- 50 Credits$7.49
Questions
Is LensLight Visual Effects free?
Is Add Astra free?
Which has better reviews, LensLight Visual Effects or Add Astra?
Do LensLight Visual Effects or Add Astra have ads?
Which is updated more often, LensLight Visual Effects or Add Astra?
Other comparisons
