Comparison

Phi Tiles vs SHADR

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

Head to head
About

Phi Tiles

Explore the beauty of geometric tilings and create infinite mathematical art. With simple touch gestures, you can build intricate patterns using various tile families and export your creations as images or videos. It's designed for anyone who loves geometry, patterns, puzzles, or visual design.

Highlights
  • Explore four tile families
  • Unlimited color palettes
  • Create animated designs
  • Automatic pattern generation
  • Intuitive touch gestures
  • Save and share designs
  • iCloud Drive support
Features
Read full description

Discover the quiet beauty of geometric tilings. From Penrose's famous aperiodic patterns to the recently discovered Spectre einstein tile, mathematics holds shapes that fit together in endlessly surprising ways. Phi Tiles lets you explore them by building patterns yourself — one tile at a time. With simple touch interactions, a few elegant shapes become an infinite canvas for mathematical art. Whether you love geometry, patterns, puzzles, or visual design, Phi Tiles turns abstract ideas into something you can see, touch, and create. FEATURES • Four tile families: Penrose, Rhombus, Mosaic, and Spectre — each with its own geometry to discover • Unlimited Colors: Pick any color you can imagine and build your own palette • Movie Studio: Bring your designs to life with breathing, spinning, blooming, and unfolding animations — export as video • Pattern Mode: Watch complexity emerge automatically • Simple Gestures: Tap, drag, rotate, and snap tiles into place • Curated Gallery: Designs across every family, ready to remix • iCloud Drive Support: Save your designs to iCloud and open them on any device • Save & Share: Keep your work or export as images and movies • Free to explore: Create up to 200 tiles per design, unlock unlimited with a one-time purchase DESIGNED FOR EXPLORATION Phi Tiles is created by Phi & Form, a design studio exploring the space between mathematics and visual art. Our apps transform mathematical concepts into interactive experiences that feel intuitive, visual, and alive. No equations required — just curiosity. Learn more at phiandform.com. *Mathematics is not only logical. It is beautiful.*

About

SHADR

Transform photos and blank canvases into unique visual art with a variety of creative styles. Refine your creations with expressive controls and discover new directions through generative randomization. Export still images or live photos and videos.

Highlights
  • Diverse and evolving collection of creative visual styles
  • Generative randomization for discovering new directions
  • Focused controls for refining composition, color, texture, and movement
  • Still image export at native resolution
  • Live Photo and video output
  • Local projects and reusable presets
Read full description

SHADR is a creative design toolkit for transforming photographs and blank canvases into distinctive visual artwork. Explore a growing collection of styles including ASCII art, dithering, CMYK halftone, pixel stretch, fluted glass, kaleidoscope, flow fields, kinetic typography, shader art, pixel scatter, surveillance graphics, and more. Each style is a focused creative tool inside one consistent editor. Import a photo or begin from a blank canvas where supported, generate new directions, shape the result with expressive controls, and move fluidly between different visual treatments. Features: - A diverse and evolving collection of creative visual styles - Generative randomization for quickly discovering new directions - Focused controls for refining composition, color, texture, and movement - Still image export at native resolution - Live Photo and video output in supported tools - Local projects and reusable presets - Subject-aware treatments in selected tools Five complete tools are available for free. SHADR Pro is a one-time purchase that unlocks every current and future tool. Tool parameters, projects, presets, and exports are not restricted.

Screenshots

Phi Tiles4 screens
SHADR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: SHADR at 5.0 against Phi Tiles's 4.0. SHADR also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Phi Tiles sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and SHADR sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SHADR holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Phi Tiles ships an update monthly, SHADR every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Phi Tiles versus SHADR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhi TilesSHADR
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFrancois Jeanneau伟滔 黄

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Phi Tiles

One-time1
  • Unlock Unlimited Tiles$1.99
1 purchases

SHADR

One-time1
  • SHADR Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Phi Tiles free?
Phi Tiles is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SHADR free?
SHADR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Phi Tiles or SHADR?
SHADR is rated higher. Phi Tiles averages 4.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while SHADR averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Phi Tiles or SHADR have ads?
Neither Phi Tiles nor SHADR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phi Tiles or SHADR?
Phi Tiles ships an update monthly, and SHADR every 2 days. Most recently, Phi Tiles was updated on October 2, 2026 and SHADR on September 23, 2026.

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