Olympus Magazine vs PLAY OPC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Olympus Magazine
This is a free interactive digital magazine for photographers, offering news, interviews, project ideas, and kit competitions. It features interactive galleries, professional tips, and behind-the-scenes content, all delivered directly to your screen.
- Interactive digital magazine
- Photography news and interviews
- Photo project ideas
- Reader photo galleries
- Professional tips and tricks
- Kit competitions
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Looking for a totally FREE interactive magazine that’s written by photographers, for photographers? Olympus Magazine is packed with news, inspiring interviews, photo project ideas, kit competitions and much more. Download Olympus Magazine FREE and every issue of this fantastic mag will be sent straight to your screen. Designed for digital: if you want more than just a page-turner, you’ll love our interactive magazine where each page has been created to offer you more. From galleries of reader photographs to tips and tricks from professional Olympus-users, and behind-the-scenes peeks at fashion photographer Damian McGillicuddy shoots, we’ve got it all. With our magazine it's not just the app that's FREE – every issue and all the interactive content is completely FREE, so what are you waiting for? OLYMPUS MAGAZINE IS BEST VIEWED ON A TABLET. Desktop users can also enjoy the content by visiting www.olympusmag.co.uk Troubleshooting: We work really hard to keep Oly Mag in tip top condition, but if you’re having any issues, or just want to say hi, please contact us at hello@olympusmag.co.uk so we can help, where we always welcome feedback.
PLAY OPC
Control your Olympus camera remotely to take photos and record videos. Adjust settings, apply effects, and manage your media directly from your device.
- Remote camera control
- Real-time preview
- Photo and video recording
- Camera setting adjustments
- Image effects and color tuning
- Media management and sharing
- Auto bracketing and interval timer
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This application can operate Open Platform Camera (OLYMPUS AIR A01) of Olympus. OLYMPUS AIR A01 is necessary to use this application. (It is OLYMPUS AIR A01 if this description says a camera.) Features * Switching on the camera via Bluetooth * Displaying real-time preview image by the camera * Taking a picture with using the camera * Recording a video with using the camera * Displaying various states of the camera * Exchanging a camera setting with the pasteboard * Preserving a favorite camera setting to the device * Sharing favorite camera settings * Changing a shooting mode * Coordinating some exposure parameters * Shooting supports auto bracketing mode * Shooting supports interval timer mode * Changing the color taste of the image * Adding special effects to an image * Locking auto focus and auto exposure * Changing an angle of view using optical zoom and digital zoom (The optical zooming requires a motor zoom lens) * Magnifying real-time preview image by the camera * Changing a quality of picture to store at the camera * Changing sound volume * Registering the current geolocation as the photography place * Viewing and sharing a picture or a video which stored in the camera * Browsing a photo's information * Converting a photo's information to parameters of camera setting * Protecting or unprotecting pictures and videos which stored in the camera * Deleting pictures and videos which stored in the camera * Setting the current time at the camera automatically * Formatting a Micro SD card * Changing Wi-Fi channel of the camera * Switching off the camera Known Issue * If the device cannot connect the camera via Wi-Fi automatically, it is necessary to connect the camera by manual operation. * The operation of the camera is not stable and may not work at the place where Wi-Fi is crowded. Other Information * The OLYMPUS AIR A01 was discontinued by the manufacturer on 2018-03-31 and is currently only available on the used market. * If you are interested in handling the OLYMPUS AIR A01, please check the published instruction manual. (http://sapp.olympus-imaging.com/manual/man_a01_us_enu.pdf) * If you are interested in the details of camera functions and setting values, please check the published SDK document. (https://dl-support.olympus-imaging.com/opc/en/) * This application is Open Source. If you want to know what the application does inside, you are able to find almost source codes in GitHub. (https://github.com/ura14h/PlayOPC)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PLAY OPC at 75% against Olympus Magazine's 19%. PLAY OPC also leads on rating (3.2 vs 2.4). Olympus Magazine's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PLAY OPC holds the better App Store score, 3.2 against 2.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 19% of Olympus Magazine's written reviews are positive against 75% of PLAY OPC's.
Olympus Magazine ships an update every 3 months, PLAY OPC every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Olympus Magazine | PLAY OPC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.4 (12 ratings) | 3.2 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 19.1% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bright Publishing Ltd | Hiroki Ishiura |
Customer experience
Olympus Magazine
PLAY OPC
Bugs and requests
Olympus Magazine
Reported bugs
42 issues- App is totally unresponsive
- Does not pull up anything
- Shows a black splash screen with a pulsating white circle
- App refuses to work since iOS updated
- App doesn't open after downloading
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- Ridiculously slow to open issues
- App keeps rebooting iPhone
- Magazine doesn't work on iPad Air
- Download takes ages and doesn't happen in background
- App consistently crashes on iPhone 6
- Click on link to their website and it doesn’t exist
- Content has now disappeared
- Black screen
- App continually crashes midway through an article
- Update does NOT give you the Magazine
- Updated app...and nothing happens. Screen goes white and displays nothing
- Unable to even find April's edition after the latest update
- April 2016 downloads and then opens to... Nothing, well actually a white screen
- Unzip failed error on the April issue
- No way to remove previously-downloaded issues
- No way to return to the magazine after clicking an external link
- April magazine appears to have stuck towards the end of the white bar
- Very slow to download, open or go through the pages
- Last update definitely broke the app
- App appears in a very small landscape box on the screen. Barely readable and zooming in causes it to properly glitch and not respond to taps or swipes
- April magazine pops up an error message after download "Cannot unzip)"
- After recent upgrade unable to open April edition. Any attempt results in white screen and only recourse is to power down
- Latest update deletes all my previous downloads without warning or asking me
- Lost magazines for Jan to May 2014 after update
- With the improved app you can no longer delete copies of individual magazines
- App has recently been upgraded and it has become more unresponsive to swipes and gestures than it used to be
- Difficult to find how to activate certain parts of the interface because they are hidden and have no instructions
- Application downloaded 5GB of data over 2 devices in a matter of hours
- Won't open
- Poor formatting, small pictures and even smaller text make it virtually unusable
- Not sure it has installed correctly. Won't reveal Feb issue
- Only works in landscape. Photos are way too small to enjoy and some of the articles text is hard to read
- In portrait the pictures don't appear, the article scroll buttons are in the same place as the page turning area, and worst of all you can't get to the right hand side pages at all
- No zoom at all
- Tap links for "more detail" and you are always told URL doesn't exist
- Readers photos did not appear in the larger area when you tapped icon
- Starts at edition 4!
Requested features
15 requests- Remove this app from the store
- Support for Olympus regardless of ownership
- Allow reading while download continues
- Nikon's newsletter/magazine for easier use
- Portrait mode option
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- Ability to read on desktop/iMac
- Collapsible index on the left
- Onscreen help
- Fix app to not crash midway through articles
- Allow deletion of previously downloaded issues
- Fix external link return functionality
- Fix landscape display issues
- Fix unzip errors
- Fix issues after iOS updates
- Make app usable again
PLAY OPC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Olympus Magazine
No in-app purchases
PLAY OPC
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Olympus Magazine free?
Is PLAY OPC free?
Which has better reviews, Olympus Magazine or PLAY OPC?
Do Olympus Magazine or PLAY OPC have ads?
Which is updated more often, Olympus Magazine or PLAY OPC?
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