Comparison

ShadowCat Album vs Watermelon Backup

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

Head to head
About

ShadowCat Album

Manage your photo library locally without uploading to the cloud. Organize with albums and tags, automatically sort new photos, and create collages. Offers cleanup tools and a trash feature for easy recovery.

Highlights
  • Organize with albums and tags
  • Auto-organize new photos
  • Home screen widgets
  • Photo cleanup tools
  • Collage creation
  • Trash for recovery
Features
Read full description

ShadowCat Album is a local photo management app built to keep your library clean and easy to browse. No account required. We do **not** upload your photos to our own servers—you stay in control. 1) Photo Organizing (Core) - Organize with albums and tags, mark favorites - Faster browsing with a cleaner structure 2) Auto-organize After Taking Photos - Automatically organize new photos into selected albums/tags - Great for staying tidy with minimal effort 3) Home Screen Widgets - Multiple widget sizes to showcase your photos - Multiple sources supported (Random/Tag/Fixed; Album source is Pro-only) More Features - Cleanup: quickly find items to clean (videos, Live Photos, screenshots, large files, etc.) - Trash: restore mistakes anytime; items are removed from Apple Photos only after you confirm in Trash - Collage tools: long stitch, wide stitch, grid crop - Photo diary & stats: memories and trends at a glance Free Limits (Current Version) - Photo organizing: 30 starter items + 20/day - Auto-organize duration: 10 minutes starter + 5 minutes/day Pro (Optional: subscription / lifetime) - Unlock higher limits (up to unlimited), longer auto-organize duration (up to unlimited), faster widget refresh, album source for widgets, and more - Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled; manage/cancel in Apple ID Subscriptions Terms: https://shadowcats.netlify.app/terms Privacy: https://shadowcats.netlify.app/privacy Contact: 3d.slipbox@gmail.com

About

Watermelon Backup

Securely back up your iPhone photo library to your own storage, not a third-party cloud. Organize and manage your photos by month, with options to back up, download, or sync. It intelligently avoids unnecessary transfers and can access iCloud Photos when needed.

Highlights
  • Backup iPhone photos to personal storage
  • Supports NAS, SFTP, S3, WebDAV, SMB
  • Organize backups by month
  • Intelligent transfer to avoid duplicates
  • Pause and resume backup tasks
  • Restore photos and videos from backup
Features
Read full description

Back up your iPhone photo library to computers on the same local network, external drives, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, S3, OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Drop Mode also sends photos, videos, and files directly. Nothing passes through Watermelon Backup’s servers. • BACK UP TO A COMPUTER OR EXTERNAL DRIVES Back up directly to a computer on the same local network without installing a desktop app. Open link.watermelonbackup.com in Chrome or Edge, choose a backup folder, then scan the QR code with Watermelon Backup. Keep both devices on the same local network. You can also back up directly to external drives connected to your iPhone. • DROP PHOTOS, VIDEOS, AND FILES Drop Mode sends selected items directly to a computer or storage destination’s Inbox without backup records. Choose original or edited versions, Live Photo MOV videos, or location removal; Photos stays unchanged. It does not deduplicate, so sending an item again keeps another copy. Free users can send up to 3 items at a time; Pro has no per-send limit. • NETWORK AND CLOUD DESTINATIONS Connect to a NAS or server using SMB, WebDAV, or SFTP, or use S3-compatible storage. For OneDrive, sign in with a personal Microsoft account; work or school accounts and SharePoint are not supported. OneDrive backups stay in the app folder. Dropbox backups are stored in Dropbox/Apps/Watermelon, and Watermelon cannot access your other Dropbox files. For Google Drive, provide your own OAuth client ID. Watermelon uses its own folder in My Drive and only requests access to files created by this OAuth app. • BROWSE AND MANAGE MEDIA The built-in media browser covers your full library and selected albums. In the full-library browser, switch among Local, All, and Remote to explore your on-device library, a connected backup, or a combined view. See whether each item is on your device, in the backup, or both. Browse photos, videos, and Live Photos with full-screen previews, then select one or more items to upload, restore, share, or delete from the device or backup. • BACKGROUND AUTO-BACKUP — PRO With Pro, automatically upload the current and previous calendar months to saved SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, S3, OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive destinations while your iPhone is charging and online. Configure a minimum interval and Wi-Fi/cellular use for each destination; iOS decides the actual timing. Backup to Computer sessions and external drives are not supported in the background. • PICTURE-IN-PICTURE PROGRESS — PRO View live transfer status and logs in a floating Picture-in-Picture window for Upload, Download, or Complete tasks while the app is in the background. Pro offers monthly and yearly subscriptions or lifetime access. Lifetime owners keep Pro. • BACK UP, DOWNLOAD, OR COMPLETE BY MONTH The Home screen places your iPhone library and backup destination side by side, organized by month. Choose one or more months to back up, download, or complete. Complete first backs up local items missing from the destination, then restores remote-only items to Photos; it does not synchronize deletions. Existing content is recognized to avoid unnecessary transfers, and active tasks can be paused and resumed. • PRESERVE ORIGINALS AND RESTORE Photo and video resources are transferred without recompression. Backups of edited media include the edited version, the unedited original, and adjustment data. Live Photos are stored as a still image and paired video, then rebuilt when restored to Photos. Optional iCloud Photos access can fetch iCloud-only originals when needed; when disabled, only on-device resources are processed. • BUILT-IN TOOL The Duplicates tool finds content-identical items in your local photo library so you can review what to keep before removing selected copies. • OPEN AND REVIEWABLE The source code is open for review, and credentials for saved destinations are stored in the iOS Keychain. --------------- End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ShadowCat Album4 screens
Watermelon Backup4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Watermelon Backup at every 2 days against ShadowCat Album's every 11 days. Watermelon Backup also leads on ratings volume (13 vs 4). ShadowCat Album's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, review sentiment, 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. ShadowCat Album sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Watermelon Backup 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

ShadowCat Album holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 13 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of ShadowCat Album's written reviews are positive against 97% of Watermelon Backup's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShadowCat Album ships an update every 11 days, Watermelon Backup every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ShadowCat Album versus Watermelon Backup: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShadowCat AlbumWatermelon Backup
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (4 ratings) — better4.5 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better96.7% of reviews
Number of ratings413 — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer斌 胡ZIZICICI LIMITED

Customer experience

ShadowCat Album

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Watermelon Backup

All ratings13 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive96.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.3%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ShadowCat Album

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$0.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription$3.991 Year
One-time1
  • lifetime$9.99
1 purchases

Watermelon Backup

One-time1
  • Watermelon Pro$9.99

Questions

Is ShadowCat Album free?
ShadowCat Album is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Watermelon Backup free?
Watermelon Backup is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ShadowCat Album or Watermelon Backup?
ShadowCat Album is rated higher. ShadowCat Album averages 4.8 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Watermelon Backup averages 4.5 from 13 ratings.
Do ShadowCat Album or Watermelon Backup have ads?
Neither ShadowCat Album nor Watermelon Backup shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ShadowCat Album or Watermelon Backup?
ShadowCat Album ships an update every 11 days, and Watermelon Backup every 2 days. Most recently, ShadowCat Album was updated on October 23, 2026 and Watermelon Backup on October 25, 2026.

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