Comparison

Soft Box Color vs iSoftBox

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

Head to head
About

Soft Box Color

Enhance your photography with a portable lighting studio on your iPad. Choose from various color filters to set the perfect mood for your shots. This app is designed to complement your existing camera, not replace it.

Highlights
  • Portable lighting studio
  • Range of color filters
  • Set mood for photos
  • Enhance photography
  • Screen brightness adjustment
Features
Read full description

Transform your iPad into a portable lighting studio with Soft Box - the ultimate photo shoot companion. With a range of color filters to choose from, easily set the mood and enhance your photos. Just remember to adjust your screen brightness before using the app. Perfect for photographers on the go, use Soft Box to showcase your portfolio and elevate your photography game. Note: This app does not take photos, use your iPhone or professional camera for capturing images ** This app does NOT take pictures. Use your iPhone or a professional camera to take the photos.

About

iSoftBox

This creative lighting tool allows photographers to illuminate subjects and add accent colors using their mobile devices. Explore dramatic effects with multiple devices or image stacking for enhanced still photography.

Highlights
  • Key light illumination
  • Accent light for colors
  • Multiple device synchronization
  • Image stacking for dramatic effects
  • Creative lighting control
Features
Read full description

iSoftBox turns your iPhone or iPad into a clean, controllable light source for photography. Use the display you already have to illuminate small subjects, digitize film, create calibration frames, or paint with light. A Clean, Full-Screen Light The selected color fills the entire display without permanent controls, toolbars, or status indicators contaminating the light. Choose HSB to shape hue, saturation, and brightness, or switch to CCT to fine-tune white light through temperature, tint, and intensity. A temporary visual readout appears only while you make an adjustment. Made for Real Photography • Product and Macro Lighting — Use one device as a key, fill, rim, or accent light for small subjects. Combine multiple devices when your setup needs more coverage or separation. • Film Digitizing — Place a negative carrier over a neutral white screen to create a practical backlight for camera scanning. • Astrophotography Flat Frames — Rest the device over an upward-facing telescope aperture and use its uniform screen to capture flat-field calibration frames. • Light Painting — Move a colored screen through a long exposure to create broad, expressive trails that are difficult to achieve with a point light. Controls That Stay Out of the Shot Each color mode has its own gesture assignments. Customize which one- and two-finger swipes adjust each property and choose the drag direction that increases its value. Double-tap to open precise controls for the active mode. When your setup is ready, lock gestures to prevent accidental changes while positioning a subject, film carrier, or other equipment. Choose a Brightness Curve that suits how you want adjustments to respond. Enable Preserve Settings when you want iSoftBox to restore your Color Mode or Color Adjustments the next time it opens. Built-in Color Accuracy guidance identifies display settings that can affect color consistency. iSoftBox keeps the display awake while the light is active. When the app leaves the foreground, it restores your original system brightness. Accessible and Private All gesture-driven adjustments are also available through standard controls for VoiceOver and Switch Control users. iSoftBox requires no account and includes no analytics or tracking identifiers. Your preferences remain on your device. Whether you are building a careful tabletop setup or experimenting outdoors after dark, iSoftBox gives you a simple photographic light that is always close at hand.

Screenshots

iSoftBox4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: iSoftBox at 100% against Soft Box Color's 46%. iSoftBox also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 30 months). Soft Box Color's advantage is ratings volume (133 vs 8) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iSoftBox holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Soft Box Color has 133 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Soft Box Color's written reviews are positive against 100% of iSoftBox's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Soft Box Color ships an update every 30 months, iSoftBox every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Soft Box Color versus iSoftBox: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoft Box ColoriSoftBox
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (133 ratings)4.6 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings133 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 30 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn RoudaHaoyuan Xia

Customer experience

Soft Box Color

All ratings133 ratings
Positive80.5%
Neutral6.0%
Negative13.5%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive46.2%
Neutral7.7%
Negative46.2%

iSoftBox

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Soft Box Color

No in-app purchases

None

iSoftBox

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Soft Box Color free?
Soft Box Color is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is iSoftBox free?
iSoftBox is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Soft Box Color or iSoftBox?
iSoftBox is rated higher. Soft Box Color averages 4.3 out of 5 from 133 ratings, while iSoftBox averages 4.6 from 8 ratings.
Do Soft Box Color or iSoftBox have ads?
Soft Box Color shows ads; iSoftBox does not.
Which is updated more often, Soft Box Color or iSoftBox?
Soft Box Color ships an update every 30 months, and iSoftBox every 5 weeks. Most recently, Soft Box Color was updated on October 15, 2026 and iSoftBox on October 12, 2026.

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