Comparison

Simply HDR vs Spiral Painter

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

Head to head
About

Simply HDR

Transform ordinary photos into vibrant HDR images with exceptional light and detail. This app offers a powerful HDR engine, presets, and adjustable controls to create stunning, artistic, or realistic HDR effects easily.

Highlights
  • Powerful HDR engine
  • Adjustable controls for HDR, color, vignette, and grain
  • HDR presets for one-click results
  • Save custom presets for consistent workflow
  • Six HDR styles (Realistic, B&W, Contrasted, etc.)
  • Library of artistic color gradients
Features
Read full description

Turn your photo in a vibrant HDR with unparalleled ranges of light and detail --- Top Selling App in All Countries --- Simply HDR is a powerful HDR tool that instantly creates stunning and mesmerizing imagery from otherwise bland subjects or compositions. Have you ever looked at a well-executed HDR photo with a dramatic sky and wish you could take a shot like that? Now you can! With Simply HDR this stunning art form is now accessible to everyone. Simply HDR comes with a powerful HDR engine, an easy-to-use interface, options to choose HDR presets for quick one-click results and the ability to experiment with the controls to evolve your own photographic style. Once you’ve found the settings that work best for you ‘save preset’ for future projects. This cool features allows you to maintain a consistent HDR workflow. With six HDR Styles and a library of artistic content you can create both realistic HDR photos or stylized ones—the result will be outstanding work that is captivating, mesmerizing, revealing and beautifully detailed. HDR STYLES • High Dynamic Range (HDR) • Black and White HDR • Contrasted HDR • Shadows and Lights • Contrasted Light FEATURES Fully adjustable control on all aspects of the process: HDR, Color Gradients, Vignette, and Grain. INCLUDES A library of HDArt Color Gradients UNIVERSAL FEATURES All JixiPix Apps come with: Superior Customer Service, Support for High-Resolution Images & Output, Undo, Randomize Button, Quick Presets and the ability to create Custom Presets, Cropping with the ability to specify aspect ratio, Quick Preview, Email, Print, and the ability to post directly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. We also have an online art gallery and invite our user’s to display their artistic creations on it: http://www.flickr.com/groups/jixipixcreations/ *************** “JixiPix turns any photo into a masterpiece. All that is required of you is the appreciation — we’ll take care of the rest!” JixiPix.com “Creative Tools for Creative People” Photography | Artistic | Graphic Apps ***If you are missing presets then please uninstall and re-install the app

About

Spiral Painter

Create unique spiral art with a specialized brush tool. This app allows for intricate curve designs on your photos and drawings, with features like layers, custom brushes, and gradient support. Achieve impressive results quickly and easily.

Highlights
  • Spiral brush tool
  • Multiple layers
  • Customised brushes
  • Gradient support
  • Transparency support
  • Multiple undo/redo
Features
Read full description

The process of painting has never been so easy and exciting. Now, besides the usual brush you can use a spiral brush. With it you can draw such paintings, which are not reproducible by any other doodle or sketch programs! Take a look at the pictures posted above. Each of them were done in less than 2 minutes. Combining the different settings of the spiral brush with its unique features you will be able to draw millions of fancy curves that decorate you drawings and photographs. You'll be amazed with your achieved results! APP's FEATURES: - Multiple drawings; - Multiple layers; - Customised brushes; - Customised gradients for spirals and a background layer; - 3D Touch & touch force support on iPhone 6s & iPhone 6s Plus; - Transparency support; - Multiple undo / redo; etc... More help and details on the Spiral Painter App's page. If you like this App, please, rate it on the AppStore!

Screenshots

Simply HDR4 screens
Spiral Painter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Simply HDR at 4.8 against Spiral Painter's 3.8. Simply HDR also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 13). On review sentiment, ads, monetization model 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

Simply HDR costs $2.99 and Spiral Painter $3.99 up front. Spiral Painter sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Simply HDR asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simply HDR holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simply HDR has 1.5K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Simply HDR's written reviews are positive against 78% of Spiral Painter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simply HDR ships an update every 2 months, Spiral Painter every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Simply HDR versus Spiral Painter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimply HDRSpiral Painter
Price$2.99 — better$3.99
Rating4.8 (1.5K ratings) — better3.8 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews81.2% of reviews — better78.3% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better13
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.014.0
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJixiPix, LLCAnatoly Weinstein

Customer experience

Simply HDR

All ratings1,464 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral1.8%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews762 reviews
Positive81.2%
Neutral4.1%
Negative14.7%

Spiral Painter

All ratings13 ratings
Positive69.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative30.8%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral8.7%
Negative13.0%

Bugs and requests

Simply HDR

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on iOS 15 update
  • Buttons/controls not working properly
  • Compatibility issues with newer devices
  • Slow save times
  • Screen controls get corrupted

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to merge multiple exposures
  • More filters and editing options
  • Improved performance and stability
  • Rotate image before saving
  • Higher export resolution

Spiral Painter

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Simply HDR

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Spiral Painter

One-time3
  • From 3 to 5 layers$1.99
  • From 5 to 8 layers$2.99
  • From 3 to 8 layers$3.99

Questions

Is Simply HDR free?
Simply HDR costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Spiral Painter free?
Spiral Painter costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Simply HDR or Spiral Painter?
Simply HDR is rated higher. Simply HDR averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while Spiral Painter averages 3.8 from 13 ratings.
Do Simply HDR or Spiral Painter have ads?
Neither Simply HDR nor Spiral Painter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simply HDR or Spiral Painter?
Simply HDR ships an update every 2 months, and Spiral Painter every 6 months. Most recently, Simply HDR was updated on October 26, 2026 and Spiral Painter on October 23, 2026.

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