Comparison

Blur Shine vs Phocus

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

Head to head
About

Blur Shine

Enhance your photos with realistic depth of field effects, mimicking professional camera bokeh. Easily highlight specific areas of your image by blurring the rest, drawing viewer attention to your subject. Save, share, or email your creations.

Highlights
  • Add realistic bokeh effects
  • Adjust blur amount
  • Finger painting for focus areas
  • Zoom and erase tools
  • Import from camera or album
  • Adjust painting circle size
  • Social media sharing
Features
Read full description

Let your photos blur shine by adding depth of field to your image. The only app that creates realistic blurs with unsharp circles called Bokeh as if taken with a professional camera. Create impressive images by blur shining your photos. The blur shine effect will draw the viewer's attention to the sharp regions in the image. Creating blur shine images is quick and easy. Take a photo with your camera and apply the blur filter on the image. Use your finger to mask the image regions that should stay in focus. Share your blur shine images on Facebook, Twitter and other social nets. Send an email with the image attached to it or save it in your photo album. Features: + Adjust blur amount + Easy finger painting + Paint, zoom and erase + Take pictures from your camera or photo album + Adjust the size of the painting circle + Share your paints on social nets + Undo function for paint corrections There are no limits on what you can blur shine. Blur shine your car, friends, kids, your dog or your holiday pictures.

About

Phocus

This advanced camera app offers DSLR-like portrait effects with live bokeh previews and extensive editing tools. It allows users to adjust focus, depth, and apply various lens styles to photos, even those not taken in portrait mode. Features include manual controls, RAW capture, and AI-powered suggestions.

Highlights
  • Live bokeh preview with 8 lens characters
  • AI depth editing for any photo
  • Manual camera controls (ISO, shutter, white balance)
  • RAW and ProRAW capture
  • 3D Relight and Scene Preview
  • Portrait video blur
  • Depth map and matte export
Features
Read full description

Featured by Apple in “Powered by Apple Intelligence” and “Great Apps Updated for iOS 27” around the world, and in “Best New Apps and Updates” in the US and Canada. Phocus is a portrait camera and depth editor for iPhone, iPad, and iPhone Duo. See each lens's bokeh live before you shoot, or bring any photo from your library, even one taken without Portrait mode, and reshape its focus and depth with tools that understand distance, not just outlines. SHOOT - Eight lens characters, from clean and modern to swirly vintage and black and white, each with its own bokeh rendered live in the viewfinder - The blur you see is the blur you get, in the photo and the editor - Live AI depth for real-time blur even where the camera can't measure depth on its own - Live aperture and focus control - Manual ISO, shutter speed, white balance, exposure, and focus - Histogram, zebra, focus peaking, level, and timer - RAW and ProRAW capture - Import your own .cube LUTs, or choose from Daily, Film Looks, Vintage, Signature, and Mono - Lens and color look suggestions with Apple Intelligence, generated on device - Siri, Shortcuts, Lock Screen, and Control Center to open the camera you need EDIT - Change aperture, focus, blur falloff, and bokeh shape after the shot - Edit any photo in your library: AI depth adds realistic blur even to photos taken without Portrait mode - Edit the depth map directly: every color is a distance, so you can pick a depth and brush it over any area - Select a subject with a tap on iOS 27, then refine it with Brush, Erase, and Hardness - Masks in Portrait, Depth, and Select modes - Curves, adjustments, tone, and film grain - 3D Relight and 3D Scene Preview for depth-aware lighting - Copy a photo's look onto other photos, with undo and redo for every change - Save as Portrait keeps the depth with your photo - Export depth maps and portrait mattes - Portrait video blur - Built-in tutorials and Mask Help MADE FOR EVERY SCREEN Phocus adapts to iPhone, iPad, and iPhone Duo. Open your Duo for more room to shoot and edit, or partially fold it with the preview and controls on either side of the fold. "Looking for an app that not only adds the Portrait mode effect to your photos but does a bit more? Then Phocus is the one you're looking for." — iMore "The app is a fine example of technical and artistic craftsmanship." — iGeeksBlog PHOCUS PRO Unlock every lens, look, and tool with Phocus Pro. Subscriptions are billed weekly, monthly or annually at the rate selected depending on the subscription plan. Terms of use: https://rayinformatics.com/terms Privacy policy: https://rayinformatics.com/privacy Contact: https://rayinformatics.com/contact

Screenshots

Blur Shine4 screens
Phocus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Blur Shine at none against Phocus's 7. Blur Shine also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). Phocus's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (6.8K vs 5). On price 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. Phocus sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Blur Shine asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Blur Shine holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Phocus has 6.8K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 36% of Blur Shine's written reviews are positive against 50% of Phocus's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Blur Shine ships an update every 2 months, Phocus every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Blur Shine versus Phocus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlur ShinePhocus
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.6 (6.8K ratings)
Positive reviews35.8% of reviews49.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings56.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 11 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB322 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlexander Dr. RiegerRAY INFORMATICS YAZILIM TEKNOLOJI MEDYA DANISMANLIK VE EGITIM TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI

Customer experience

Blur Shine

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews53 reviews
Positive35.8%
Neutral1.9%
Negative62.3%

Phocus

All ratings6,839 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral4.8%
Negative6.4%
Written reviews501 reviews
Positive49.5%
Neutral5.2%
Negative45.3%

Bugs and requests

Blur Shine

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Phocus

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Can't save pictures
  • Photos don't download
  • Unable to save picture
  • Camera crashes when clicking portrait
  • App dies if you don't upgrade

Requested features

4 requests
  • Change bokeh shapes/effects
  • Add manual brush to control bokeh
  • Make it a photo extension in Photos app
  • Add more shadows and directional lighting

In-app purchases

None

Blur Shine

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Phocus

Subscriptions4
  • Phocus AI Weekly2 variants$3.997 Days
  • Phocus AI Monthly2 variants$7.991 Month
  • Phocus AI Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Phocus AI Yearly$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Phocus AI Unlimited Access$49.99

Questions

Is Blur Shine free?
Blur Shine is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Phocus free?
Phocus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Blur Shine or Phocus?
Blur Shine is rated higher. Blur Shine averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Phocus averages 4.6 from 6.8K ratings.
Do Blur Shine or Phocus have ads?
Blur Shine shows ads; Phocus does not.
Which is updated more often, Blur Shine or Phocus?
Blur Shine ships an update every 2 months, and Phocus every 11 days. Most recently, Blur Shine was updated on November 6, 2026 and Phocus on November 9, 2026.

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