Comparison

Lightscope vs Cinetone

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

Head to head
About

Lightscope

Features
Read full description

Shot in Apple Log and tired of flat, washed-out previews? Lightscope plays Apple Log (1 & 2) footage back the way it was meant to look — in real Rec.2100 HLG — and lets you grade it right on your iPhone or iPad. PLAY IT RIGHT • True HDR playback of Apple Log 1 & 2 clips (Rec.2100 HLG) • Technical LUTs generated from DaVinci Resolve for accurate log-to-display transforms • One-tap HDR / SDR display modes GRADE ON-DEVICE • Color wheels (lift · gamma · gain), exposure in the scene-referred log domain • Tone curves with a live curve editor • Color warper and skin-tone secondaries • Film & cinema looks, plus your own .cube LUTs • Broadcast scopes: waveform and vectorscope, on the image while you grade • Non-destructive: every clip remembers its grade automatically • Shareable grade presets EXPORT • 10-bit HEVC in Rec.2100 HLG (true HDR) or Rec.709 (SDR master) • Saved straight back to your Photos library TRY EVERYTHING FREE FOR 14 DAYS Every feature is unlocked for two weeks — no account, no sign-up. After the trial, your library stays free to browse, and a single one-time purchase of Lightscope Pro keeps true HLG playback, the full grading suite and export forever. No subscription. Family Sharing supported. Everything happens on your device. No uploads, no tracking. Requires iOS 17 or later. Apple Log recording requires iPhone 15 Pro or later (or footage from Final Cut Camera / Blackmagic Cam).

About

Cinetone

Apply cinematic color grades to your videos and export them or create reusable 3D LUTs. Explore original looks, fine-tune adjustments, and import your own LUTs for a personalized workflow. All processing happens locally on your device.

Highlights
  • 20+ original cinematic looks
  • Adjustable color parameters
  • Import custom .cube LUTs
  • Export graded video (MP4/HEVC)
  • Export 33/65-point .cube LUTs
  • Siri and Shortcuts integration
  • On-device scene analysis
Features
Read full description

Edit the video. Shape the color. Cinetone is an iPhone video editor and cinematic color studio. Arrange multiple clips, refine each shot, build a soundtrack, add captions, and export a finished video—or create a color-only LUT for another editing workflow. EDIT ON A MULTI-CLIP TIMELINE Trim, split, move, and reorder clips. Reframe, rotate, or flip footage. See waveforms, trim added audio clips, adjust their volume individually, and keep original sound separate from added music. Editing is nondestructive: Cinetone works with its own local copies, leaving source files untouched. ADD CAPTIONS Create and edit captions for individual source clips, set their text and timing, and control whether they appear. Captions stay attached to their original clip as you trim, split, or reorder the timeline. Add them manually or generate them from speech in a selected original clip when the device, language, and Apple speech model support it. Model downloads may be required; transcription runs on device. Review captions before export. Enabled captions are burned into the video, never included in a LUT. MAKE THE COLOR YOURS Start with 20 original cinematic looks, including Golden Hour, Soft Portrait, Teal Shadow, and Rich Mono, plus three open community looks. Compare your grade with neutral Rec.709 and adjust exposure, warmth, tint, contrast, saturation, intensity, and fade. Import your own .cube LUTs from Files after choosing the matching input profile; imported LUTs output SDR Rec.709. HANDLE LOG AND HDR SOURCES Import supported Rec.709, Apple Log, Apple Log 2, and color-tagged HLG or PQ footage. HLG and PQ are converted to SDR Rec.709 for preview and video export. Cinetone does not export HDR video. EXPORT FOR YOUR NEXT STEP Export an H.264 MP4 or HEVC MP4 when supported, with SDR Rec.709 color and supported mono or stereo audio. Choose up to 1080p or 4K and up to 30 fps or the source frame cadence. Smaller sources are never upscaled. Export a 33-point or 65-point .cube LUT to carry color into a compatible workflow. Save videos to Photos with add-only access, share them, or save them in Files. SUGGESTIONS WITH YOU IN CONTROL Explore 20 looks and get on-device scene suggestions with a deterministic fallback. Where available, optional Apple Private Cloud Compute requires explicit opt-in on iOS 27 or later. Only disclosed scene metrics and look-catalog text are sent; your video, frames, and audio stay on device. Suggestions never apply a look or change your export automatically. USE SHORTCUTS, NO ACCOUNT Use Siri and Shortcuts to apply or recommend looks, explore cinematic looks, and export graded video. Find looks and imported presets with iOS Spotlight. No Cinetone account is required. Requires iOS 26 or later. iPhone only.

Screenshots

Lightscope4 screens
Cinetone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cinetone at none against Lightscope's 1. Lightscope's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. Lightscope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Cinetone asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lightscope ships an update every 5 days, Cinetone every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Lightscope versus Cinetone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightscopeCinetone
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJian ZhouAndrii Cheberiako

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lightscope

One-time1
  • Lightscope Pro$9.99
None

Cinetone

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lightscope free?
Lightscope is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cinetone free?
Cinetone is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Lightscope or Cinetone have ads?
Neither Lightscope nor Cinetone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lightscope or Cinetone?
Lightscope ships an update every 5 days, and Cinetone every 3 days. Most recently, Lightscope was updated on October 31, 2026 and Cinetone on October 31, 2026.

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