YOKI Camera vs Grade Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
YOKI Camera
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YOKI Camera is an effector camera that applies the concept of guitar effects to photography. Guitar effects are not devices for making sound clean or correct. They distort, delay, and modulate sound, changing it mid-performance to create expression and structure itself. YOKI Camera translates this idea into photography. Light is treated as an input signal and processed through effectors at the moment of capture, producing the photograph in real time. 【A camera for “playing” photographs】 YOKI Camera is not designed for those who want automatic, polished images or effortless memory-keeping. Instead, it is a camera for those who want to receive light as a signal and enjoy unpredictable, chance-driven changes as they happen. Photography here is not a task aimed at a finished result, but an improvisational act of engaging with light itself. YOKI Camera was born from this way of thinking. 【A camera with a different goal from filters and post-processing】 Most camera apps and editing tools focus on refining the appearance of images after they are captured. That is not where YOKI Camera’s interest lies. What matters is experiencing how the signal of light changes immediately after the shutter is pressed. The act of witnessing transformation, rather than polishing a result, becomes the photographic experience. 【A shooting experience that treats light as an input signal】 YOKI Camera receives light as a signal and alters its behavior through effectors. Effectors do not produce the same result every time. Their response changes according to the intensity and fluctuation of light. As a result, even with the same setup, each shot reveals a slightly different expression. 【Enjoying change that includes chance】 While settings and configurations can shape tendencies, results can never be fully fixed. What happens in that moment is captured as a one-time expression. Rather than reproducibility, YOKI Camera values receiving the reaction that emerges in the instant it occurs. 【Receiving visual stimuli before meaning】 Photos created with YOKI Camera are not meant to explain or describe their subjects. Instead, they emphasize visual stimuli that exist before meaning—form, brightness, fluctuation, and rhythm. 【Exploring composition by rearranging effectors】 Multiple effectors are placed on a board, reordered, and adjusted while shooting. Which effectors are used, and in what order, dramatically changes how light responds. Change the configuration, try again, and shoot once more. This repetition itself becomes the photographic experience. 【Effectors available from the start】 YOKI Camera comes with essential effectors ready to use immediately after installation. These form the foundation for experiencing light as a signal. – EQ (Equalizer) Adjusts brightness and tonal balance, shaping which bands of the signal are emphasized. It forms the base of the overall structure and influences how subsequent effectors respond. – Distortion Distorts the signal of light, breaking contours and tonal gradations to create rough, tense expressions. Its response changes with the intensity of incoming light, making chance especially noticeable. – Reverb Creates afterimages and overlaps of light, adding spatial depth and lingering resonance. It captures not only the subject, but the sense of light remaining in the space. These effectors can be used individually or in combination. Even with this basic setup alone, you can explore manipulating light, changing structure, and observing how it reacts. 【About the Effector Store】 If you wish to expand your expressive range, you can add new effectors through the store. Only what you choose is added—there is no need to purchase anything you do not need.
Grade Studio
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Professional color grading for every photo — the ones you shoot and the ones you already have. NEW: AI LOOKS An AI editor that runs entirely on your iPhone. It grades your photo in 14 styles — golden hour, teal & orange, Portra, Fuji Chrome, nordic cool, B&W and more — and picks its top 3 for that exact shot. Not a filter pasted on top: sky, skin and shadows are each handled on their own, adapted to your photo. MATCH ANY PHOTO Love the colors in a picture? Pick it as a reference and Grade Studio brings those colors to your photo — sky to sky, skin to skin. GRADE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE Import any photo and move the color pad. It measures your image and moves it toward the look you choose, so a warm shot barely shifts and a cold one travels the whole way. Fine-tune with Intensity and Dehaze, compare before and after with a split view, and layer the pad on top of an AI look. SHARE THE LOOK, NOT THE PHOTO Every look becomes a short code. Send it to a friend and it lands on their photo, adapted to it. SHOOT THE LOOK, SKIP THE EDITING Prefer to get it right in camera? Pick one of 56 hand-built film and cinema grades, see it live in the viewfinder, and capture the photo already graded at full resolution. • Signature grades — Editorial, Cinematic, Bleach Bypass, Noir, Nordic, Amber, Kinfolk, Monaco and more • Film emulations — warm consumer stocks, fine-grain portrait looks, punchy slide film, rich black & white • Cinema grades — teal & orange, midnight, golden hour, log-inspired flat profiles • Digital profiles — Crystal, Vivid, Graphite, Natural Each look is a real color pipeline — tone curves, split toning, channel mixing, grain — not an overlay. BUILT LIKE A CAMERA • Ultra-wide, wide and telephoto lenses • Front and rear capture, flash and composition grid • HDR capture for wider dynamic range • Save Original: keep an untouched copy next to the graded shot • Instant-print style frame • Set a default look so the app opens ready to shoot PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything — the AI editor included — runs on your device. Your photos are never uploaded, and there is no account to create. FREE TO START Grading, AI Looks, look codes and the camera with a set of free grades — all free, no limits on use. GRADE STUDIO PRO Save your graded photos, unlock the full catalogue of 56 grades, remove the watermark and get the instant-print frame. Monthly or annual subscription — annual saves the most, and a free trial is available on eligible plans. Have an offer code? Redeem it in Settings. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRqlr4Uit78Xe5Gv6X_6PSxrHPH8C9hmlHXxsZWGRyuAfDixL4ybQRTNlYoU3iBwSBkkrb_f_EfJbtO/pub Privacy Policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQaAbgbo1QkH3j1XQyA_uU-2hC4z9ULLQZz-MqtSpPL-bR3s7952Y5KB9yqu-Tq3qhCsRweRZsLi2VI/pub
Screenshots
Verdict
YOKI Camera and Grade Studio are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. YOKI Camera sells 8 one-off in-app purchases and Grade Studio sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
YOKI Camera ships an update every 2 months, Grade Studio monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | YOKI Camera | Grade Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | YOSHIKI KOJIMA | Liviu Iorga |
In-app purchases
YOKI Camera
- Bit Crusher$0.49
- Phaser$0.49
- Chorus$0.49
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- Fuzz$0.49
- Vibrato$0.49
- Delay$0.49
- Noise Gate$0.49
- Full Pack$1.99
Grade Studio
- Grade Studio Pro$2.991 Month
- Grade Studio Pro$19.991 Year









