Comparison

DotMatrix Studio vs Time Flow Sketch

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

Head to head
About

DotMatrix Studio

Features
Read full description

Your photos, run through a monitoring terminal. DotMatrix Studio turns anything you shoot or import into a 1-bit artifact β€” the dot-matrix look of VFD displays, old newsprint and station monitors. There is no preset carousel to scroll past: you dial the look in yourself and watch it render live. SHOOT IN 1-BIT A live dithered viewfinder shows you the look before the shutter, not after. Toggle between DOTMATRIX and NORMAL if you would rather frame with the plain camera first, adjust pixel size and palette on the rail, and flip between front and back cameras. THREE FILM STOCKS NEWSPRINT β€” Floyd–Steinberg error diffusion, the fine scattered grain of a printed photograph. MATRIX β€” Bayer 8x8 ordered dithering, the regular weave of a hardware display. HALFTONE β€” real circular dots on a grid, with an adjustable cell size. All three are written by hand for this app and tuned by eye, not borrowed from a library. FOUR PALETTES OXBLOOD, PAPER, PHOSPHOR and AMBER. Each is a two-colour stock with its own accent, from warm terminal red to green phosphor glow. THE DIALS Virtual resolution, 80 to 480 pixels wide, is the chunkiness itself: drop it and the image breaks into big honest dots, raise it and the detail creeps back. Contrast runs -50 to +50. Halftone cell size is adjustable. Scanlines darken every third row. Press and hold the preview to peek at the original underneath. TELEMETRY FRAMES Five frames β€” ACQUIRED, STATION, SPECIMEN, REC, or none β€” stamp your artifact with instrument chrome: dates, dither codes, resolution readouts, and a caption of your own. Frame text is drawn at full export resolution, so it is never a pixel-doubled smear. WALLPAPERS Render your artifact at your device's exact pixel size as a lock and home pair, then set it from the Photos app. A LIBRARY THAT STAYS EDITABLE Saved artifacts are parametric: the source photo and every setting are stored together, so reopening one restores the whole editing session. Change your mind about a palette a month later and nothing is lost. EXPORT PNG at 2048px on the long edge. Save to Photos, share anywhere, save as a wallpaper, or keep it in the library. Saving and sharing record the artifact automatically, so an exported image is never a dead end. COMPLETELY OFFLINE There is no network permission in this app at all. No account, no sign-in, no analytics, no ads, no location. Your photos never leave your device, because there is nowhere for them to go.

About

Time Flow Sketch

Features
Read full description

A sketching app for reshaping the way time flows inside a video. You draw the shape of that flow as a black-and-white gradient over the clip you loaded. The brightness you paint becomes a moment in the clip, or a playback speed, so different parts of the image start running on their own time. Only where your finger traced runs ahead. Another part plays backwards. One area stays frozen while everything around it keeps moving. You can even draw time that twists β€” forward and backward unfolding at once. Take the single, even flow of time in a video, pull it apart, and put it back together. Reflections shifting on water, drifting clouds, the movement of familiar things and creatures: there may be something new waiting in the everyday scenery you thought you knew. β–  Main features [Making a map] β€’ Draw β€” trace with a finger to draw the flow of time. Five brush tones, a bleed brush, and a smudge tool β€’ Gradients and presets β€” start from a regular pattern β€’ From motion β€” build the shape of time automatically from the movement in the clip β€’ Cut & slide β€” split the map along a line and slide the pieces to make time slip [How the map is applied] β€’ Apply mode β€” Vertical / Horizontal slit works band by band, Surface works pixel by pixel β€’ Time map β€” brightness sets which moment of the clip is shown; black is the start, white is the end β€’ Rate map β€” brightness sets the playback speed, from reverse to fast forward β€’ Space map β€” brightness sets where on screen the picture is taken from [Checking what you made] β€’ 3D plot β€” see the shape of time as a solid β€’ Time graph β€” see time, rate and space as line charts [Sound and export] β€’ Sound β€” the audio goes through the same time processing as the picture β€’ Export β€” save the result to your photo library as a video All video processing happens on your device, and nothing you make is sent anywhere.

Screenshots

DotMatrix Studio4 screens
Time Flow Sketch4 screens

Verdict

The call

DotMatrix Studio and Time Flow Sketch are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters β€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them β€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
DotMatrix Studio versus Time Flow Sketch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDotMatrix StudioTime Flow Sketch
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyβ€”Daily
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 β€” better16.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size24 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn DarkwaRyu Furusawa

In-app purchases

None

DotMatrix Studio

No in-app purchases

None

Time Flow Sketch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DotMatrix Studio free?
DotMatrix Studio is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Time Flow Sketch free?
Time Flow Sketch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do DotMatrix Studio or Time Flow Sketch have ads?
Neither DotMatrix Studio nor Time Flow Sketch shows ads.

Other comparisons