Altered States vs strix!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Altered States
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Altered States turns your iPhone camera into a real-time visual effects engine. Stack up to 30 effects across 6 independent layers, let music drive your visuals, and capture the result as full-resolution video. โ EFFECTS โ Over 30 GPU-powered effects in five categories: WARP: Ultrawarp, Shockwave, Wave, Vortex, Kaleidoscope, Cascade, Fisheye, Curl Drift, Mirror Warp GLITCH: Pixel Sort, Streak, Self-Glitch, JPEG Artefact, Chromatic Aberration, Feedback Loop, Radial Blur, CRT, Bloom COLOR: LSD, Neon, Thermal, Solarise, Curves, GORE, MAYHEM, LUST, Dither, Contour Lines FX: Datamosh, Halftone, ASCII Art, Blob Tracking, Pixelate, Numeric Art GEN: Plasma, Tunnel, Lattice, Pattern โ MULTI-LAYER โ Stack up to 6 independent source layers - live camera, imported photos, or looping videos - each with its own effect chain, blend mode, and opacity. Rearrange layers by dragging, or hide any layer instantly. โ AUDIO REACTIVE โ Connect the camera to your music. Bass, mid, highs, and beat transients each drive your effect parameters in real time. Map any parameter to any frequency band. Tweak sensitivity and depth on the fly. โ RECORD โ Record full-resolution video directly from the live canvas. Mic audio is captured alongside the visual effects and merged automatically. Save to your photo library with one tap. โ PRESETS โ Save your favourite effect stacks as presets with a thumbnail snapshot. Recall them instantly from the Presets panel. โ TOOLS โ - Shake to generate a random 3-5 effect combination instantly - Per-effect parameter curves editor - Canvas transform: pan, pinch, rotate each layer freely - 8 mirror modes: vertical, horizontal, triple, quad, diagonal - Cortex Gate: luminance-based per-layer masking - Undo history with a visual timeline Altered States is built for performers, creators, and anyone who wants their camera to do something it was never supposed to do. By subscribing, you agree to Apple's Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
strix!
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strix turns a photo into a stream of colour. Drag across the image and the pixels behind your subject stretch out and melt away, while the subject itself stays sharp. It finds the subject on its own. No masking, no lasso, no cutting it out by hand. HOW IT WORKS 1. Pick a photo โ recent shots appear right inside the app, or take a new one 2. Drag across it. The direction you drag is the direction the pixels flow 3. Share it, or save it to your photos Drag in a straight line, or switch to curve and draw the path yourself. Pull the effect out from both sides at once. Press and hold the eye to check the original at any time. TUNE IT Seven sliders, if you want them: strength, wave, wave cycles, jitter, fade, chromatic aberration, and start offset. Or ignore all of it and just drag. YOUR PHOTOS STAY YOURS strix has no account, no server, and no analytics. Every pixel is processed on your iPhone's GPU, and subject detection runs on device too. Your photos are never uploaded anywhere. We could not look at them if we wanted to. STRIX PRO strix is free, and shows a full-screen ad when you export your image. strix Pro removes those ads for a single payment. It is not a subscription โ buy it once and restore it any time with the same Apple Account.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: strix! at none against Altered States's 2. Altered States's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Altered States sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. strix! asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Altered States | strix! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | โ |
| Ads | No โ better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad โ better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.2 | 17.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kwong Wa Chu | Jahyeon Ko |
In-app purchases
Altered States
- Altered States Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Altered States Pro Annual$39.991 Year
strix!
No in-app purchases









