5SecondsApp vs Lightphase
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
5SecondsApp
Easily create animated GIFs from your photos and videos. Edit existing GIFs or capture new content directly within the app. Share your creations as files or links.
- Create GIFs from photos/videos
- Capture new photos/videos
- Edit existing GIFs
- Import GIFs from other sources
- Share as file or link
- No sign-up required
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Turn any photo or video into a GIF in seconds. 5SecondsApp is the fastest way to create, edit, and share animated GIFs on iPhone and iPad. Shoot something new or grab anything from your camera roll — then make it move. CREATE • Snap photos or record video right in the app, or pull from your existing library. • Use stop-motion mode to build GIFs frame by frame. • Search GIPHY or browse what's trending, and save any GIF to your library. • Your media, your GIF, your way. EDIT • Trim, reorder, adjust speed, and more. • Import GIFs from anywhere and tweak them to perfection. SHARE • Send your GIF as a file, or as a shareable link hosted instantly at 5secondsapp.com. • Browse and send your GIFs straight from the keyboard with the built-in iMessage extension — no switching apps. • Show your GIFs on a Tuneshine display on your network. No signup. No social network. No nonsense. Just open the app and make GIFs.
Lightphase
This app predicts and displays the timing of various light phases, including golden hour, civil twilight, and astronomical twilight. It helps photographers and outdoor enthusiasts plan their activities around optimal lighting conditions, offering detailed information and countdowns.
- Predicts golden hour and twilight times
- Counts down to next light phase
- Displays six distinct light phases
- Visualizes the day's light curve
- Interactive scrubbing through the day
- Watch complications and widgets
- Offline functionality
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Lightphase is a clock for natural light. It tells you which light you are standing in, the minute it changes, and how long you have left. Shooting the overlook at golden hour? Lightphase gives you the minute it starts and the minute it ends. Hiking back after sunset? It tells you when Civil Twilight runs out, the last light you can walk by without a headlamp. Waiting for a dark sky? It shows when night begins, which is often more than an hour after sunset. Every phase of light, named Lightphase divides the day by the sun's angle into the phases photographers and hikers plan around, and names each one in plain words. Daylight. The sun is high, the light is flat and the shadows are short and hard. 35° Window. Low enough for directional light, with fuller color and more contrast than golden hour. The long, workable stretch of morning and afternoon. Golden Hour. Warm, low sun from the horizon to 6 degrees up. Long shadows and raking side light. Civil Twilight. The sun has set and the sky is still bright. Enough light to walk by, or to shoot handheld. Nautical Twilight. Deep blue sky over a faint horizon. Most of what people call blue hour happens here. Astronomical Twilight. The last glow before full dark. The stars are out, and a long exposure still picks up the horizon. Night. Full dark, with no usable light from the sun. The answer comes first The top of the screen holds the answer: the light you are in, when it began and ends, and how much of it is left. Below it sit the next golden hour and the next sunrise or sunset, with the time it gets dark or the first light before it. See the whole day at once Behind the answer, the screen takes the color of the sky at the sun's height where you are, with today's light drawn as a curve across it. Drag the sun along the curve and every reading follows your finger. Find out what the light will be doing at six before you decide where to be at six. Plan the light anywhere Search any place by name and choose any date, and Lightphase reads the light there, on that place's own clock. Save the spots you return to, so a trailhead or a favorite beach is one tap away. Searching needs a connection; saved places do not. Glance without opening anything The Home Screen widget shows the sky, the light you are in and how long it lasts. The medium size adds the next golden hour. On the Lock Screen, a widget shows the phase and when it changes. On your wrist, too The watch app comes with three complications. One names the light you are in and when it changes. One counts down to a light you choose, with a ring that empties as it runs. One draws today's arc with the sun where it stands right now. Readable in direct sun A light palette for bright sun and a dark one for dusk. Every phase is spelled out in words, so you never have to tell one color from another. Times that match the almanac Sunrise and sunset are timed to the sun's upper edge meeting the horizon, and the twilights use their standard angles. Almanacs use the same definitions, so the times agree with the ones you already trust, and the app shows where every number comes from. Works where the signal does not Lightphase works out the light on your iPhone from where you are and the time of day. It keeps working in airplane mode, in a canyon, and anywhere the bars run out. Your location stays on your iPhone, where only the latest position is kept for your widgets and complications. One price, everything in it One purchase covers the iPhone app, the watch app, every widget and every complication. There is no subscription and nothing to buy inside. The sun does not charge a monthly fee, so neither do we. Every light Lightphase tracks Sunrise, sunset, golden hour, blue hour, first light, last light, civil twilight, nautical twilight, astronomical twilight and night.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: 5SecondsApp at Free against Lightphase's $4.99. 5SecondsApp also leads on ratings volume (1.4K vs 4). Lightphase's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 61%) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). 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
5SecondsApp is free to download; Lightphase costs $4.99 up front. 5SecondsApp sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Lightphase asks for nothing beyond the download.
Lightphase holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: 5SecondsApp has 1.4K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of 5SecondsApp's written reviews are positive against 100% of Lightphase's.
5SecondsApp ships an update every 2 months, Lightphase every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | 5SecondsApp | Lightphase |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.4K ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 61.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.4K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV — better | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 99 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Eric Marschner | Onyx Mueller |
Customer experience
5SecondsApp
Lightphase
In-app purchases
5SecondsApp
- Full Upgrade$1.99
- Tip$1.99
Lightphase
No in-app purchases









