Comparison

PhotoTiling vs Ancient Light

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

Head to head
About

PhotoTiling

This app allows you to crop photos into multiple squares and arrange them to create unique banners and grids for your social media profile. It offers flexibility in tiling, easy uploading, and the option to save your creations as a single image.

Highlights
  • Crop photos into multiple squares
  • Arrange photos into banners and grids
  • Add tags and captions
  • Upload directly to Instagram
  • Save creations as a single photo
  • Automatic photo fitting
Features
Read full description

"The well-known InstaTiling app is now PhotoTiling" ** Tile banners and photo grids on your Instagram profile ** New: The app was previously named "InstaTiling". It has been renamed to "PhotoTiling" for meeting Instagram's brand policy. PhotoTiling is an app that enables you to crop your photos into multiple squares (tiles), then arrange them on your Instagram profile page to create Banners and Photo Grids. PhotoTiling not only enables you to easily and quickly make banners, but also provides you the maximum flexibility to tile your photos into any grid pattern you want. Besides uploading to Instagram, you can also save your Banner/PhotoGrid as a single photo. ** Features : 1. Load multiple photos, crop your input photos into multiple squares, then arrange and post them on Instagram as banner or any grid pattern you want. (see Screenshot 1,2,5), 2. Add tags, captions, and comments to the cropped photos within the app, and you can copy the tags to all other cropped photos with just one button tap (see Screenshot 3). 3. The UI is optimized for you to quickly and easily make banners. The "Fit" function can automatically fit your loaded photo into the squares you have selected. 4. Upload the cropped photos to Instagram in the correct order from within the app. The app will track which cropped photos have been uploaded so that you won't forget what should be the next one to upload (see Screenshot 4,5) 5. You can also save the cropped photos to your camera roll, then upload them later in Instagram. 6. You can save the created Banner/PhotoGrid as one single photo to Camera Roll. ** Tips: 1. To make large banners (e.g. 4x3 banner), you can use two-finger tap to quickly select multiple squares. 2. You can use the "Fit" function to quickly fit your loaded photo into the squares that you have selected. 3. Use "Save Grid" function to save the created Banner/PhotoGrid as one single photo to Camera Roll. ** Note: 1. Due to the constraints of Instagram API, currently you can only upload the cropped photos one at a time during "upload". 2. The tags or comments added within the app are only effective when you use the "upload" function. If you use the "save Tiles" function and use Instagram to upload from camera roll, you can only add tags within the Instagram app. ***** Visit @Instatiling on Instagram for featured user profiles (upcoming), update info, and samples etc. Visit #InstaTilingApp to see other users' InstaTilings Visit our website : www.eyetapsoft.com

About

Ancient Light

This app transforms your iPhone into a 19th-century camera, simulating twelve authentic historic photographic processes. Apply these unique effects to new photos or import existing ones from your library.

Highlights
  • Simulates 12 historic photographic processes
  • Apply effects to new or imported photos
  • Supports ultrawide, wide, 2x, and telephoto lenses
  • Save multiple historic versions of a photo
  • ProRAW DNG output on iPhone Pro
  • Customizable effects for Daguerreotype and Tintype
Features
Read full description

Ancient Light transforms your iPhone into a camera of the nineteenth century. Take a new photograph or import a favourite from your photo library. Twelve authentic historic photographic processes - each faithfully simulated through the physics of tone, silver chemistry, grain, paper, emulsion, and light. Not filters. Processes. -- THE TWELVE PROCESSES -- Daguerreotype (1839) - The first successful photograph. A mirror-like silver surface with luminous shadow detail and seven scanned frame choices, plus No Frame. Tintype (1853) - The photograph of the working class. Robust, immediate, metallic, with regular or square format options and optional worn plate borders. Albumen (1850s) - Warm egg-white paper prints mounted as cabinet cards, with soft sepia-brown toning, aged cream stock, rounded corners, and a ruled inner border. Sepia - The warm brown tone of silver sulphide that preserved Victorian portraits through a century and a half. Cyanotype (1842) - Sir John Herschel's iron-based process. Deep Prussian blue. The print that gave photography the word "blueprint." Anthotype (1839) - Made from crushed plant pigments. Delicate, fugitive, botanical. The most poetic photographic process ever devised. Platinum (1873) - The process of fine art portraiture. Cool, shadow-rich, with a tonal range silver could never match. Autochrome (1907) - The Lumiere brothers' starch-grain colour process. Dreamy, pointillist, the first practical colour photography. Emulsion - A damaged instant-emulsion look with faded color, warm highlights, scorched edges, amber leaks, scratches, and oxidized surface wear. Bromoil (1907) - Oil-based ink on bleached gelatin. Painterly and stippled, with inky shadows and pale milky highlights. Lippmann (1891) - Gabriel Lippmann's Nobel Prize-winning interferential process. Warm amber ageing, long-exposure softness, and glass plate scratches from a century of handling. Infrared (1930s) - Light beyond the visible spectrum. Luminous white foliage, darkened skies, ethereal skin tones. The spectral world captured on heat-sensitive emulsion. -- WHAT ANCIENT LIGHT CAN DO -- * Import your own photos - apply historic processes to images from your photo library, even with camera access disabled * All four optical lenses - ultrawide (0.5x), wide (1x), 2x, and telephoto (5x) - selectable from the viewfinder * One photo, many processes - explore and save multiple historic versions of a captured or imported photo * On iPhone Pro: saves both a filtered JPEG and the original 48MP ProRAW DNG as a paired asset * Emulsion process with faded instant-film color, warmer highlights, lighter grain, and scanned edge damage * Albumen cabinet-card output with warm paper tone, aged stock texture, rounded card corners, and ruled border * Infrared process with glowing foliage, dark skies, and spectral black-and-white tonality * Tintype options - choose regular or square format, with period borders or no borders * Seven Daguerreotype frame styles plus No Frame, selectable directly from the viewfinder * Adjustments apply to the photograph while preserving Daguerreotype frame artwork * Full adjustment suite - exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, black point, saturation, vibrance, warmth, sharpness, and vignette * Auto enhancement with one tap * Precision crop tool with inset handles and rule-of-thirds grid * Landscape side-panel layout keeps the image large while all controls stay accessible * Photographer credit field - your name travels with every saved file in the IPTC metadata * Process, frame, and Tintype options stored between sessions * iPhone and iPad, all orientations * No subscription. No ads. No account required. Ancient Light is a single purchase. Everything in it is yours.

Screenshots

PhotoTiling4 screens
Ancient Light4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PhotoTiling at 3.1 against Ancient Light's 2.5. PhotoTiling also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and ratings volume (47 vs 2). Ancient Light's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, 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

PhotoTiling costs $0.99 and Ancient Light $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PhotoTiling holds the better App Store score, 3.1 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PhotoTiling has 47 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of PhotoTiling's written reviews are positive against 50% of Ancient Light's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PhotoTiling ships an update every 3 weeks, Ancient Light weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PhotoTiling versus Ancient Light: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhotoTilingAncient Light
Price$0.99$0.99
Rating3.1 (47 ratings) — better2.5 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews61.6% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings47 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS6.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEyeTap SoftGreg Anderson

Customer experience

PhotoTiling

All ratings47 ratings
Positive48.9%
Neutral8.5%
Negative42.6%
Written reviews172 reviews
Positive61.6%
Neutral8.7%
Negative29.7%

Ancient Light

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

PhotoTiling

No in-app purchases

None

Ancient Light

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PhotoTiling free?
PhotoTiling costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ancient Light free?
Ancient Light costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PhotoTiling or Ancient Light?
PhotoTiling is rated higher. PhotoTiling averages 3.1 out of 5 from 47 ratings, while Ancient Light averages 2.5 from 2 ratings.
Do PhotoTiling or Ancient Light have ads?
Neither PhotoTiling nor Ancient Light shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PhotoTiling or Ancient Light?
PhotoTiling ships an update every 3 weeks, and Ancient Light weekly. Most recently, PhotoTiling was updated on October 29, 2026 and Ancient Light on October 28, 2026.

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