Comparison

Altered States vs Glitchforge

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

Head to head
About

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/

About

Glitchforge

Features
Read full description

Glitchforge is a video glitch studio that runs on your iPhone. Load a clip, stack effects, and watch your videos get messed up. Most glitch apps just paint effects on top of the picture. We edit the compressed video itself, in its own domain: the motion vectors, coefficients, and quantizers inside the H.264, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 streams. Datamosh: motion comes unstuck from the picture, so one shot melts into the next and frames bleed together. Scrambled coefficients: blocks tear and smear. Warped blocks + posterization: the compression math is the effect. VHS + analog: tracking noise, color bleed, worn tape Pixel sort: pixels dragged into long streaks of color. Load a clip. Build a chain and reorder it if you need to. Tune each effect's settings and watch the picture change in unexpected ways. Scrub to any frame and save it, or export the whole clip. There is no account and no server. Your footage is processed on the phone and stays there. It works with no connection, anywhere you are ready to make art.

Screenshots

Altered States4 screens
Glitchforge4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Glitchforge at none against Altered States's 2. On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Altered States sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Glitchforge asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Altered States ships an update every 5 days, Glitchforge every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Altered States versus Glitchforge: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAltered StatesGlitchforge
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 days โ€” betterEvery 8 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.217.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size31 MB150 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKwong Wa ChuGreen Rose Systems, LLC

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Altered States

Subscriptions2
  • Altered States Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Altered States Pro Annual$39.991 Year
None

Glitchforge

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Altered States free?
Altered States is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Glitchforge free?
Glitchforge is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Altered States or Glitchforge have ads?
Neither Altered States nor Glitchforge shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Altered States or Glitchforge?
Altered States ships an update every 5 days, and Glitchforge every 8 days. Most recently, Altered States was updated on November 5, 2026 and Glitchforge on November 10, 2026.

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