Pointillist vs Image Shift
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pointillist
Transform your photos into pointillist art in seconds. Select an image from your device or camera, and the app will render it into a unique dot-patterned masterpiece. Adjust and share your creations easily.
- Photo to pointillism conversion
- Select photos from album or camera
- Zoom in/out to view artwork
- Adjust painting to taste
- Save, mail, print, and share creations
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As you may know, pointillism is a form of painting developed in the late 19th century branching from Impressionism, in which small dots are applied in patterns to form a picture. And a pointillist, who paints with pointillism, usually needs to spend months to paint the hundreds of thousands of tiny dots. But now with the Pointillist, you can "paint" your photo into a work of pointillism art just in seconds. With it, you can select a photo from the album or the camera, and the Pointillist will render the photo into pointillism for you. Zoom in/out to view your artwork and adjust the painting according to your flavor. When finished, you can save, mail, print, or share your masterpiece on Facebook and Twitter. Make your iPhone/iPad a pointillism art master!
Image Shift
Transform your photos into unique glitch art with a variety of pixel manipulation effects. Easily create chaotic distortions, wave-like patterns, and mosaic styles with adjustable settings and real-time previews.
- Random Row/Column Shift
- Pixel Sort
- Block Shuffle
- Diagonal Shift
- Mirror Effects
- Adjustable segments
- Real-time preview
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Image Shift lets you create unique glitch art and pixel manipulation effects on your photos. FEATURES Random Row/Column Shift - Randomize segments for chaotic glitch effects Row Shift - Slice your image horizontally and shift segments Column Shift - Slice vertically for a different look Alternating Row/Column Shift - Create wave-like distortion patterns Pixel Sort - Sort pixels by brightness or saturation for that classic glitch aesthetic Block Shuffle - Randomly rearrange image blocks for mosaic-style distortion Block Zoom - Zoom into grid sections for a fragmented, magnified look Diagonal Shift - Shift pixels along diagonal lines with customizable angles Mirror Effects - Vertical, horizontal, and quadrant mirroring with flip options Adjustable segments (1-200) for fine or dramatic effects Customizable shift percentage and oscillation settings Real-time preview as you adjust parameters Customize which effects appear and their order Dark mode support Save processed images directly to your photo library Perfect for creating unique social media content, album artwork, or just having fun with your photos.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Image Shift at 5.0 against Pointillist's 3.2. Image Shift also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 7 months). Pointillist's advantage is ratings volume (13 vs 2) and price ($0.99 vs $2.99). On 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
Pointillist costs $0.99 and Image Shift $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Image Shift holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pointillist has 13 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Pointillist ships an update every 7 months, Image Shift every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pointillist | Image Shift |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 3.2 (13 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 13 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 志明 丁 | Benji Friedman |
Customer experience
Pointillist
Image Shift
In-app purchases
Pointillist
No in-app purchases
Image Shift
No in-app purchases









