Comparison

PicFrame vs CardSync

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

Head to head
About

PicFrame

Create stunning photo and video collages with over 100 adjustable templates or design your own. Easily combine multiple images and videos, add text, filters, and stickers for social media or print. Offers full creative control and high-resolution exports.

Highlights
  • 100+ adjustable layouts
  • Custom frame design
  • Combine photos and videos
  • Text, filters, and stickers
  • Drawing and shape tools
  • Multiple aspect ratios
  • High-resolution export
Features
Read full description

Turn your photos and videos into collages and grids with PicFrame, the free photo collage maker. Create beautiful layouts, digital scrapbooks, and before-after comparisons in seconds. With over 100 adjustable templates and the ability to design your own custom frames and layouts, your photos will always look their best. Whether you're scrapbooking memories, crafting a photo book, printing layouts, or designing grid posts for Instagram and TikTok, PicFrame makes every collage simple, fun, and professional-looking. Why creators love PicFrame • 100+ fully adjustable layouts, or design your own custom frames • Combine up to 16 photos or videos in one collage • Make before-after comparisons or side-by-side photo grids • Resize, rotate, zoom, and mirror each element • Add text labels with custom fonts, colors, outlines, and tape effects • Draw directly on your design using touch or Apple Pencil • Apply filters, shadows, rounded corners, and borders • Use shapes like circles, hearts, and hexagons • Add stickers and comic-style details • Include music in video collages • Choose any aspect ratio (square, 16:9, 4:5, and more) • Advanced print layout preview for perfect results • High-resolution exports and easy sharing to social apps • Drag & drop photos on iPad for fast editing • Works on iPhone and iPad, with Dark and Light Mode Perfect for • Photo collages, video grids & digital scrapbooks • Instagram, TikTok, and Threads posts • DIY crafts & creative projects • Before/after photo comparisons • Comics, photo stories, and cards • Print layouts, grids, and picture frames Rated 9/10 in the Wired App Guide. Download PicFrame, the free photo collage editor that makes your pictures and videos stand out! Terms of use: https://activedevelopment.co.nz/terms-conditions/

About

CardSync

Features
Read full description

CardSync copies one folder to another and verifies every file it writes. Memory card, SSD or USB-C stick, iCloud Drive and the services you have installed, the iPhone itself: anything the Files app exposes works, in both directions. The source can also be an album from your photo library. The Files app can already move files. It cannot tell you whether the copy is faithful, what is still missing, or resume where it stopped. That is what CardSync does. VERIFICATION After each write, CardSync reads the file back from the drive — bypassing the system cache — and compares its SHA-256 digest. For a folder, the comparison is made against the original, itself read a second time: if the two reads differ, the card reader is at fault, and the app tells you instead of copying corrupted data. For a photo, the comparison is made against the digest computed during the export. ONLY WHAT IS MISSING Both sides are analysed before anything is written. You see what would be copied and then you decide. For a folder, three criteria to choose from: size, size and date, or full digest. For an album, an item counts as backed up when the file exists and carries its date. LARGE VOLUMES AND LONG COPIES Files are read and written in successive blocks, never loaded whole into memory: a 4 GB video uses no more memory than a photo. File size is not a limit, and neither is file count — analysing several tens of thousands of files remains a matter of seconds. For copies that take a while, what matters is resuming. Running it again after an interruption — screen left, drive unplugged, battery dead — copies only what is genuinely missing: what has already been verified is never redone. NOTHING IS EVER LOST Every file is written under a temporary name, then put in place in one move, once complete and verified. A file already present at the destination is never deleted before its replacement is ready. An interrupted copy leaves no truncated file behind, and the next sync picks up where it stopped. PHOTO LIBRARY Pick an album, a smart album, or the whole library, with a "from a date" filter. CardSync exports the original file and, if you want, the Live Photo video, the edited version, and a readable metadata sidecar (date, location, dimensions, favourite, album). Items no longer stored on the device are fetched from iCloud — an option you can turn off. MIRROR MODE WITHOUT DELETION For a folder source, if you want the destination to mirror the card, extra files are moved into a dated folder — never deleted. And if part of the source could not be read, mirror mode disables itself: a temperamental drive must never make a valid backup look like an obsolete file. WHAT YOU SEE Progress by file and by byte, real throughput, time left, a detailed log, and a history. An honest summary at the end: what was copied, verified, set aside, and what failed. WHAT DOES NOT LEAVE YOUR DEVICE No account, no tracking, no advertising, no data collected, no server of ours. Traffic happens only when you ask for it, and always between your device and your own accounts: fetching your photos from iCloud, which can be turned off, and transfers performed by an online service if you pick one of its folders as source or destination. GOOD TO KNOW iOS does not allow copying to an external volume in the background: keep CardSync on screen during the transfer. The app prevents the screen from locking, and if you leave, the sync resumes next time. For large volumes a powered USB-C hub is strongly recommended.

Screenshots

PicFrame4 screens
CardSync4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PicFrame at Free against CardSync's $2.99. PicFrame also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). CardSync's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PicFrame is free to download; CardSync costs $2.99 up front. PicFrame sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. CardSync asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PicFrame ships an update every 9 days, CardSync every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PicFrame versus CardSync: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPicFrameCardSync
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.8 (17K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings17K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperActive Development LimitedLaurent Meurisse

Bugs and requests

PicFrame

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Saved photos not matching the on-screen layout
  • Inability to delete cells in a layout
  • Inconsistent behavior when adding text

Requested features

4 requests
  • More free layout and frame options
  • Ability to edit individual frame sizes
  • Improved Instagram integration
  • Ability to save and reuse custom layouts

CardSync

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

PicFrame

Subscriptions5
  • PicFrame Create Monthly$1.491 Month
  • PicFrame Create Monthly$1.991 Month
  • PicFrame Create Yearly3 Days trial$12.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • PicFrame Create Yearly1 Year trial$12.991 Year
  • PicFrame Create Yearly3 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time5
  • Food Stickers$0.99
  • Text Stickers$0.99
  • Custom Watermarks$1.99
Show 2 more
  • Templates$2.99
  • PicFrame Create Lifetime$49.99
None

CardSync

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PicFrame free?
PicFrame is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CardSync free?
CardSync costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do PicFrame or CardSync have ads?
Neither PicFrame nor CardSync shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PicFrame or CardSync?
PicFrame ships an update every 9 days, and CardSync every 3 weeks. Most recently, PicFrame was updated on October 20, 2026 and CardSync on October 7, 2026.

Other comparisons