Comparison

Smolcam vs xelka

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

Head to head
About

Smolcam

This app offers a customizable retro camera experience with a variety of color palettes and dithering options. It provides a simple, distraction-free interface for capturing and saving photos instantly to your library.

Highlights
  • Customizable retro aesthetic
  • Multiple color palettes (3-bit to 24-bit)
  • Bayer ordered dithering option
  • Zoom support for all device cameras
  • Instant save to photo library
  • Distraction-free interface
Read full description

Smolcam transforms your iPhone into a small, lightweight camera with a customizable retro aesthetic. Features: - Completely free: no ads or in-app purchases - Choose from 8 colors (3-bit) to 16 million (24-bit) color palettes - Enable Bayer ordered dithering, or blue noise dithering for increased detail at low bit depths - Supports zooming through all the cameras your phone has - Instant save to photo library - Simple distraction-free interface that runs smoothly on any device and won't kill your battery

About

xelka

Read full description

Turn any photo into gorgeous, hand-crafted pixel art. xelka is a pixel-art camera built on a real quantization + dithering engine — not a cheap overlay filter. Point it at the world for a live pixel viewfinder, or import any photo and watch it snap into a limited retro palette. • 11 iconic styles — retro handheld greens, vibrant fantasy-console palettes, home-computer 16-color, CRT phosphor, 1-bit ink, Sweetie 16, Modern Clean and more • Real-time pixel-art camera preview (front & back) • Record pixel-art video and export animated GIFs • Fine-tune contrast, saturation, brightness and pixel size • Ordered & Floyd–Steinberg dithering for authentic texture • One-tap share to any app; save to your library • Fully on-device — no account, no ads, no tracking Unlock xelka Pro once to remove the watermark and open every style plus video & GIF export. One-time purchase, no subscription.

Screenshots

Smolcam3 screens
xelka4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Smolcam at none against xelka's 1. Smolcam also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). xelka's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months). On price, 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. xelka sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Smolcam asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Smolcam ships an update every 8 months, xelka every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Smolcam versus xelka: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmolcamxelka
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJasper MorgalJaemin Kim

In-app purchases

None

Smolcam

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

xelka

One-time1
  • xelka Pro$0.99

Questions

Is Smolcam free?
Smolcam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is xelka free?
xelka is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Smolcam or xelka have ads?
Neither Smolcam nor xelka shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Smolcam or xelka?
Smolcam ships an update every 8 months, and xelka every 2 months. Most recently, Smolcam was updated on November 9, 2026 and xelka on November 5, 2026.

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