Comparison

ProPhoto vs ASCII Camera

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

Head to head
About

ProPhoto

This publication offers in-depth coverage of professional photography and digital imaging. It features equipment reviews, exhibition news, photographer spotlights, and business advice for imaging professionals. Back issues and future editions are available for purchase.

Highlights
  • Equipment evaluations
  • Exhibition details
  • Photographer profiles
  • Advanced techniques
  • Business practices
  • Product guides
Features
Read full description

Working photographers can't afford to be without ProPhoto magazine - Australia's only tabloid exclusively dedicated to professional photography and digital imaging technologies. ProPhoto is committed to providing readers with the latest developments in imaging technologies, and plays an important role in the education process by providing balanced, independent and informed editorial on related topics. Regular content in ProPhoto includes equipment evaluations, exhibition details, photographer profiles, portfolios, book reviews, advanced techniques, business practices, product guides - in short, a comprehensive and necessary information pack for today's professional photographer. *Back issues and future issues are available for purchase within the App. Future issues are also available through the following auto-renewing subscription: • 1 Year (12 Issues) at AU$29.99 The subscription will include the current issue if you do not already own it, and subsequently published future issues. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. This subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period, your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. The cost of the renewal will match the initial subscription price. You may turn off auto-renewing subscriptions by going to your user’s Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during your active subscription period. Privacy Policy: http://www.nextmedia.com.au/next-media-privacy-statement.html Terms of Use: http://www.nextmedia.com.au/next-media-terms-and-conditions.html

About

ASCII Camera

Transform your camera feed into unique ASCII art in real-time. Capture and save photos or videos in this retro text-based style, with various character sets and color themes to choose from.

Highlights
  • Live ASCII art conversion
  • Record ASCII videos
  • Capture ASCII photos
  • Multiple character sets and themes
  • Live settings with instant preview
  • Print your art directly
Features
Read full description

Your camera. Reimagined as ASCII art. ASCII Camcorder transforms your live camera feed into real-time text art; and records it. Point it at anything: the result is something no filter can produce. THE HEADLINE FEATURES COLOUR MODE Not monochrome. Every character is rendered in the true colour sampled from that exact spot in the frame. The result looks like nothing else on the App Store. LIVE ASCII VIDEO Hit record. Walk around. Every frame of footage is rendered in ASCII as you shoot; motion, depth, light; all translated into characters. Export as a standard video file and share it anywhere. INSTANT PHOTO CAPTURE Freeze any moment as an ASCII image. Print it. Frame it. It's art that also happens to be text. GPU-ACCELERATED RENDERING Built on Metal. The conversion is smooth and immediate; no lag, no dropped frames; even with the largest character sets and finest zoom levels. CHARACTER SETS Nine distinct sets give you complete creative control: • Standard: the classic, clean ASCII look • Dense: maximum detail, 70+ characters from space to @ • Simple: stripped back, graphic, bold • Blocks: Unicode block elements for a pixelated edge • Braille: 256-dot-pattern characters, uniquely textured output • International: a world first: Greek, Hebrew, Katakana, and Ukrainian Cyrillic characters interleaved and sorted by visual density, so every brightness level draws from all four writing systems simultaneously. The result is genuinely unlike any other ASCII art. • Katakana: full halfwidth katakana, sorted by ink density • Hebrew: 28 characters, perfectly density-ranked • Greek: classical alphabet, sorted for accurate brightness mapping • Ukrainian: Cyrillic alphabet, density-ranked for accurate tone reproduction COLOUR THEMES Classic green terminal glow. Amber CRT warmth. Cool electric blue. Clean white. Custom or full per-character colour mode. Colour is a creative choice, not an afterthought. FULL CREATIVE CONTROL • Adjust font size, zoom, contrast, and brightness live; changes are instant • Switch character sets and colour on the fly while recording • Front and rear camera with real-time switching SHARE EVERYWHERE • Export ASCII videos as standard .mov files (H.264, audio included) • Share ASCII photos to any app (.JPG or .PNG) • Export as RTF; paste formatted ASCII art into any document, email, or notes app with your chosen font and colour preserved • Export as TXT; paste into any app that accepts text • Print directly from the app; makes remarkable wall art CLEAN AND PRIVATE No ads. No subscriptions. No account required. Camera access only. Nothing leaves your device unless you share it yourself. All processing happens on-device. Optimised for iPhone and iPad. Requires iOS 15 or later.

Screenshots

ProPhoto2 screens
ASCII Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ASCII Camera at 5.0 against ProPhoto's 4.5. ASCII Camera also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 11) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months). ProPhoto's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, ads 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. ProPhoto sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. ASCII Camera asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ASCII Camera holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ProPhoto ships an update every 6 months, ASCII Camera fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ProPhoto versus ASCII Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterProPhotoASCII Camera
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZinio ProAlastair Bor

Customer experience

ProPhoto

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ASCII Camera

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

11 purchases

ProPhoto

Subscriptions1
  • 1 Year$19.991 Year
One-time10
  • 248$2.99
  • V69 #7 of ProPhoto$3.99
  • June 2013 of ProPhoto$3.99
Show 7 more
  • May 2013 of ProPhoto$3.99
  • April 2013 of ProPhoto$3.99
  • V70 #8 of ProPhoto$3.99
  • V70 #7 of ProPhoto$3.99
  • V70 #4 of ProPhoto$3.99
  • V71 #3$3.99
  • V73 Issue 5$3.99
None

ASCII Camera

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ProPhoto free?
ProPhoto is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ASCII Camera free?
ASCII Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ProPhoto or ASCII Camera?
ASCII Camera is rated higher. ProPhoto averages 4.5 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while ASCII Camera averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do ProPhoto or ASCII Camera have ads?
Neither ProPhoto nor ASCII Camera shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ProPhoto or ASCII Camera?
ProPhoto ships an update every 6 months, and ASCII Camera fortnightly. Most recently, ProPhoto was updated on October 14, 2026 and ASCII Camera on October 4, 2026.

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