Comparison

bitwave vs Liquid Lens

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

Head to head
About

bitwave

Features
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Description Transform your photos and videos into pixel art with Bitwave Pixel Cam. Create retro-inspired images and videos using carefully crafted pixel filters designed for creators, gamers, artists, and anyone who loves nostalgic aesthetics. Whether you're making pixel avatars, social media content, game-inspired portraits, or unique retro videos, MUT8 Pixel Cam lets you instantly convert ordinary footage into vibrant pixel art. Features • Real-time pixel art camera filters • Pixelate photos and videos instantly • Multiple pixel styles and resolutions • Custom color palettes and retro effects • Live camera preview • Fast image and video processing • Save and share directly to social media • Simple, creator-friendly interface Perfect For • Pixel art enthusiasts • Retro gaming fans • Content creators • Profile pictures and avatars • Social media posts and reels • Creative photography projects Why MUT8 Pixel Cam? Most pixel filters simply reduce image quality. Bitwave Pixel Cam is designed to create authentic pixel-art aesthetics with carefully tuned color reduction, pixel scaling, and retro-inspired visual styles. Create unique pixel art in seconds and bring a nostalgic 8-bit look to your photos and videos. Download Bitwave Pixel Cam and start creating today.

About

Liquid Lens

Transform your phone's camera into a live effects studio. Apply real-time distortions, color grades, and glitches directly in the viewfinder. Edit existing photos with the same powerful tools.

Highlights
  • Real-time camera effects
  • Distortion and color grading
  • Stackable effects
  • Adjustable effect intensity
  • Edit existing photos
  • Exposure control
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Liquid Lens is a camera built around one idea: layer effects live, save the look, shoot it again in one tap. Most camera apps make you pick a single filter. Liquid Lens lets you stack chromatic aberration, film grain, warped glass, and a hand-tuned gradient map all at once — and watch it composite in real time on your screen before you ever press the shutter. When you land on a combination you love, save it as a named preset and it's one tap away forever. No rebuilding your look shot by shot. EVERYTHING RUNS ON YOUR DEVICE Every effect is a custom Metal shader running locally through your GPU. Nothing is uploaded, nothing routes through a server — your photos and video never leave your phone. That also means zero lag between moving a slider and seeing the result on screen. LAYER YOUR EFFECTS, LIVE Combine any number of effects at once and see the composited result in the viewfinder in real time — not a preview render, not a "processing" screen. What you see is what gets captured, at full 48MP resolution. SAVE YOUR LOOK AS A ONE-TAP PRESET Dial in a stack of effects exactly how you want it, then save it and name it. Every slider value, every palette choice, and your warp level are stored together. Tap a saved Look and your entire stack snaps back instantly — no more re-dragging six sliders to match a look you had yesterday. EDIT PHOTOS FROM YOUR LIBRARY, TOO Effects aren't just for new shots. Pull any photo from your camera roll into the same live editor — same sliders, same presets, same Metal pipeline — and apply your layered look to photos you already have. 20+ EFFECTS TO STACK Color grading: Chromatic Aberration — edge-weighted RGB split Halation — warm highlight bloom Hyper — saturation that pushes color while crushing shadows Pink & Glow — a two-part beauty grade (faded-film color shift + dreamy highlight bloom) Blacks — shadow crush Oil Slick — drifting thin-film iridescence on highlights Solar — Sabattier tone-inversion on highlights Gradient Maps — 10 cinematic color-grade palettes (Sunset, Vapor, Ocean, Neon, Aurora, Ice, Acid, Rose, Noir, Matcha) Texture & distortion: Grain — animated film grain Sharpen Zoom Blur — radial motion blur from center Mesh — live 3D wireframe displacement Chrome — liquid-metal relief effect Polar — polar coordinate warp Trails — light trail smearing Ripple — animated water rings Fractal — reeded shower-glass refraction Marble — flowing ink/marble domain warp Warp — 4-level reverse-fisheye distortion, tap to cycle BUILT FOR ACTUALLY TAKING PHOTOS Full-resolution capture Photo and video capture, front and back camera Drag-to-adjust exposure control (-2 to +2 EV), right on the live preview Three aspect ratios: 4:5, 5:7 and 9:16 Flash for back camera, simulated screen-flash for front camera selfies Built-in gallery for everything you shoot in-app ONE PRICE, NOTHING ELSE TO BUY $2.99, once. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads, no account required.

Screenshots

bitwave4 screens
Liquid Lens4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: bitwave at Free against Liquid Lens's $2.99. bitwave also leads on iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.5). Liquid Lens's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 5 weeks) and chart position (#178 vs unranked). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

bitwave is free to download; Liquid Lens costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

bitwave ships an update every 5 weeks, Liquid Lens daily. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
bitwave versus Liquid Lens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterbitwaveLiquid Lens
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating—5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
Best chart rank—#178 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.6 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDemian NezhdanovSydney Bryn

In-app purchases

None

bitwave

No in-app purchases

None

Liquid Lens

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is bitwave free?
bitwave is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Liquid Lens free?
Liquid Lens costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do bitwave or Liquid Lens have ads?
Neither bitwave nor Liquid Lens shows ads.
Which is updated more often, bitwave or Liquid Lens?
bitwave ships an update every 5 weeks, and Liquid Lens daily. Most recently, bitwave was updated on October 13, 2026 and Liquid Lens on October 1, 2026.

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