Comparison

Meta vs Image Inspector

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

Head to head
About

Meta

Features
Read full description

Elevate your photography with MetaPhoto. MetaPhoto is the ultimate utility for photographers who want to go beyond the surface. Whether you're a professional looking to analyze your exposure triangle or an enthusiast curious about your lens performance, MetaPhoto provides the deep technical insights you need. Key Features: Deep Metadata Inspection: View exhaustive EXIF, TIFF, and GPS data including ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, lens model, and more. AI-Powered Insights: Get instant, on-device assessments of your photo's technical settings. Learn how ISO and aperture choices affected your shot. Privacy-First: Your photos never leave your device. All analysis and metadata extraction happen locally. Professional Exports: Export metadata in JSON, CSV, XMP Sidecar, or Plain Text for professional workflows. Recipe Overlays: Share your photos with their technical "recipe" (settings) elegantly overlaid. Contact Sheets: Generate professional PDF-style contact sheets for groups of photos. Native Experience: Native support for App Shortcuts, SwiftData, and the latest Apple technologies. Perfect for film photographers wanting to log digital stats, or digital pros optimizing their workflow. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ https://jamsoftinc.com/privacy-policy-apple

About

Image Inspector

Features
Read full description

Every photo carries a second layer: where it was taken, which iPhone took it, when it was really edited, and sometimes a thumbnail of what it looked like before you touched it. Image Inspector reads that layer and puts it in plain language. Open a photo. A few seconds later you have a full report. WHAT IT FINDS • Hidden location. Coordinates, altitude, compass heading and speed, decoded from the file and flagged before you post. • The Story. Your photo retold as a narrative: the device, how you were holding it, the angle of the sun, whether it was golden hour. Worked out offline from the metadata alone. • Tamper Check. The file cross-examined against itself. Capture, digitized and modify clocks that disagree. A camera clock that drifts from GPS satellite time. Recorded dimensions that do not match the real pixels. The embedded preview that still shows the pre-edit image. • Provenance. Reads C2PA Content Credentials, IPTC markers, and the fingerprints that generators such as Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and Firefly leave behind. Declarations only: an unmarked file is reported as unproven, never as real. • Apple maker notes. The private fields other viewers show as an opaque blob: Live Photo identifiers, burst UUIDs, device uptime, grip and tilt, HDR type, colour temperature. Every field listed, none invented. • Readable text, faces, people and pets, QR codes and links, semantic labels and an attention map. • Privacy Audit. Emails, phone numbers, links, card numbers, IBANs, identity documents, embedded author names and camera serial numbers, gathered into one verdict. WHO IT IS FOR Anyone about to post a photo. Marketplace sellers. Photographers who want their own data back. Developers checking a dataset. Anyone curious what a machine sees. HOW IT WORKS Metadata, the story, tamper checks, provenance, faces, text, codes and labels all run on your device using Apple's Vision framework. The Content Safety check is the exception: that image is sent to our server, classified, and deleted. No account. No photo library permission, the picker is enough. Nothing is saved: close a report and it is gone. Share the X-Ray card, or export the whole report as JSON or plain text. It works from the share sheet too.

Screenshots

Meta4 screens
Image Inspector4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Image Inspector at Free against Meta's $0.99. Image Inspector also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 6 days vs monthly). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Image Inspector is free to download; Meta costs $0.99 up front. Meta sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Image Inspector asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meta ships an update monthly, Image Inspector every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences Ā· 2 level
Meta versus Image Inspector: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMetaImage Inspector
Price$0.99Free — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS26.218.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJAMSoft IncBigBalli Consulting llc

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Meta

Subscriptions2
  • MetaPhoto Pro$2.991 Month
  • MetaPhoto Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • MetaPhoto Pro (Lifetime)$49.99
None

Image Inspector

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Meta free?
Meta costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Image Inspector free?
Image Inspector is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Meta or Image Inspector have ads?
Neither Meta nor Image Inspector shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meta or Image Inspector?
Meta ships an update monthly, and Image Inspector every 6 days. Most recently, Meta was updated on October 14, 2026 and Image Inspector on October 10, 2026.

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