Comparison

Rarevision VHS vs MainframePunch

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

Head to head
About

Rarevision VHS

Create authentic retro videos with a vintage VHS camcorder look. Add custom titles, glitch effects, and change the on-screen date to make your footage appear from the past. Perfect for throwback content and creative projects.

Highlights
  • Authentic VHS video simulation
  • Custom animated titles
  • On-screen date manipulation
  • Glitch effects
  • Fake zoom feature
  • Retro audio simulation
  • Import and edit existing videos
Features
Read full description

Used by Kendall Jenner, Snoop Dogg, BTS, Ariana Grande, Khloe Kardashian, Wiz Khalifa, Victoria Beckham, Die Antwoord and featured on SNL (S41E01) and in countless TV shows and music videos! Covered by WIRED, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Mechanics, The Independent, Macworld, TMZ, TechCrunch, Mashable and many others! App of the Day for Friday, Dec 22, 2017 It's 1984, and you've got a VHS camcorder! It'll look that way when you record and send old, messed up-looking retro videos to friends. They'll swear you built a time machine: "OMG, how'd you shoot that?" With Rarevision VHS, you'll make videos that look and sound like real retro video tapes pulled out of storage after 30 years. You can change the on-screen date to trick your friends, create custom animated titles, glitch up the picture by shaking your device and use the fake zoom to emphasize those truly embarrassing moments! "That's freakin' amazing!" -Everyone Here's Why You Need It: • Four words: Best. Throwback. Videos. Ever. • Create VHS-style retro videos of your kids that look like the ones from your childhood • The only VHS cam app you should ever consider to capture your 80s and 90s-themed parties • Shoot your own "found footage" movie and become a big Hollywood director like those other guys • Make your kids' incredibly boring school plays actually rad • Impress the new girl by using our app to convince her you built a time machine • Pretend like you lived through the rad 1980s using our app! What Rarevision VHS Can Do: • Realism: the ORIGINAL and BEST VHS cam app for simulating the glitches of old videotape recordings • Import videos and give them the VHS look • Make your own signature look using the old-school picture adjustment menu • Create your own animated titles for the ultimate in on-screen awesomeness • Change the on-screen date so people think you're way younger (or older) than you really are • Glitch the picture during recording using your finger or by shaking your device • Fake zoom feature dramatically enhances the cheese factor • Don't think we forgot to make things sound retro terrible. We didn't. • Up to 60p recording for a more accurate VHS video look (depends on device capability) • Widescreen recording option (but would you REALLY want to use it?) Follow Rarevision: http://instagram.com/rarevision http://x.com/rarevision http://facebook.com/rarevisionvhs Rarevision is a US-based company. Copyright © 2015-2025 Rarevision LLC. All rights reserved.

About

MainframePunch

Transform your text into animated, retro punch-card videos with authentic hole patterns and sounds. Add custom captions, preview your creations, and share them instantly. All processing is done on your device for maximum privacy.

Highlights
  • Authentic 80-column punch card creation
  • Live preview and video recording
  • Customizable bottom caption
  • Synchronized punch audio
  • Automatic text flow across multiple cards
  • Adjustable animation speed and card scale
  • On-device processing for privacy
Features
Read full description

MID-CENTURY MODERN MESSAGING Before emojis, before texting, before the screen — there was the punch card. MainframePunch turns whatever you type into an authentic keypunch card, punched column by column, with the clack of a real Hollerith machine. Send one to a friend and they hear the punches too. PUNCH CARDS RIGHT INSIDE MESSAGES — FREE Tap the MainframePunch icon in any conversation and punch a card without leaving the chat: Realistic Custom Card — classic manila stock, your words in real Hollerith code Mid-Century Color Card — the same encoding in period-correct pastels Ready-made cards — SEND COFFEE / ON MY WAY / SYNTAX ERROR / ABEND / CALL ME and more Every iMessage single card animates as it punches and carries genuine keypunch audio, so your recipient watches and hears the machine work. All of it is free. No account, no limits, no catch. THE OPERATOR'S CONSOLE Open the app for the full machine: Type or paste your message and watch the beam sweep across the card Stack up to seven cards into a single deck Export a Full Reel — a shareable video with synced punch audio Send along a Hollerith decoder card so anyone can read the holes (for education or to drive your friends crazy!) Adjust punch speed from deliberate to production line CORRECT DOWN TO THE HOLE Every character is encoded per ANSI X3.26 Hollerith — the same zone and digit punches an IBM 029 would have made in 1964. The sound is sampled from an actual keypunch machine, not a synthesized click. OPERATOR ACCESS Everything is unlimited for your first fourteen days. After that, punching cards in iMessage stay free, and an Operator subscription keeps the reel exporter running: Monthly — $2.99, with a 3-day free trial Annual — $19.99, with a 7-day free trial Already bought MainframePunch? Thank you. Your purchase carries over — you keep everything, permanently, at no charge. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://mainframepunch.com/privacypolicy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Rarevision VHS4 screens
MainframePunch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: MainframePunch at Free against Rarevision VHS's $5.99. Rarevision VHS's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 12 months) and chart position (#6 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

MainframePunch is free to download; Rarevision VHS costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rarevision VHS ships an update every 5 weeks, MainframePunch every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Rarevision VHS versus MainframePunch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRarevision VHSMainframePunch
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (6.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.4% of reviews
Number of ratings6.7K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 12 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#6 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRarevisionThomas Gillan

Bugs and requests

Rarevision VHS

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when trying to import certain videos
  • Landscape mode issues on newer iPhones
  • Recorded videos sometimes have audio/video sync issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more VHS-style glitches and interference effects
  • Allow changing time in addition to date
  • Implement a video editing timeline/workspace
  • Option to save videos directly to the app
  • Ability to import photos and apply VHS filter

MainframePunch

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Rarevision VHS

No in-app purchases

None

MainframePunch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Rarevision VHS free?
Rarevision VHS costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is MainframePunch free?
MainframePunch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Rarevision VHS or MainframePunch have ads?
Neither Rarevision VHS nor MainframePunch shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Rarevision VHS or MainframePunch?
Rarevision VHS ships an update every 5 weeks, and MainframePunch every 12 months. Most recently, Rarevision VHS was updated on September 24, 2026 and MainframePunch on September 23, 2026.

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