Comparison

AfterHours Film Camera vs Samatic

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

Head to head
About

AfterHours Film Camera

Features
Read full description

Nineteen cameras from another era. Shoot like the real thing did. Not filters. Cameras. What you see in the viewfinder is what you keep โ€” the flicker of a camcorder tape, the wait for a Polaroid to develop, the grain of Super-8 film. THE AFTERHOURS SHELF Camcorders, disposables, digicams, and instant film. Night-vision green from an '80s Handycam. Y2K digicam with a nineteen-effect dial. Polaroids you watch develop. Super-8 with real cue marks. THE FILM COLLECTION Ten Afterhours-original film stocks and eight film cameras. Fine grain B&W, warm negative, tungsten night, saturated slide. On Pro iPhones, stocks develop from Apple ProRAW for cleaner highlights and richer shadows. AFTERHOURS PASS unlocks everything. $49.99 lifetime, one-time. Or $19.99/year. No account. No cloud. No ads. Everything stays on your phone. โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€” AFTERHOURS is an independent app, not affiliated with Sony, Polaroid, Kodak, or any other camera maker. NIGHTSHOT, Handycam, Hi8, Polaroid, Super 8, and Kodachrome are trademarks of their respective owners. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.bricksandcanvas.design/products/afterhours/privacy

About

Samatic

Read full description

A slide projector, for the photographs already on your phone. Samatic is two halves of one machine. Your iPhone is the clicker โ€” the corded remote, with the switch, the counter, the focus and the tray of slides. Your Apple TV is the projector and the screen. Load an album. Slide the switch across to LAMP. Press FOR, and the first picture comes up on the television. HOW IT WORKS 1. Open Samatic on the Apple TV and leave it showing. 2. The phone finds the television by itself. The cord at the bottom of the clicker shows when the two are joined. 3. Tap the label slot near the top of the machine and choose an album. That album is your tray of slides. 4. Push the switch across to LAMP โ€” push it with your thumb, it doesn't answer a tap. 5. FOR for the next picture. REV to go back one. 6. Hold FOCUS to send the picture soft, and the other end to bring it sharp, the way a real lens does. 7. Press AUTO and the pictures change by themselves. The timer decides how long each one stays up. 8. Switch back to OFF when the show is over. THE MACHINE The lamp takes a moment to come up to temperature. The fan runs while it's warm. The tray clunks as it turns. You can switch the sound and the vibration off if you'd rather it ran quietly. There's a service record inside the leaflet, counting the shows you've given, the slides you've projected and the hours on the lamp. Nothing here can be broken and no photograph can be lost, so press whatever you like and see what it does. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS STAY YOURS There is no account. There is no sign-in. There is no Samatic server, because there is no Samatic company โ€” just one person who wanted this to exist. Your photographs go from your phone to your own television, directly, over your own Wi-Fi. They are never uploaded anywhere. Nothing is collected, nothing is tracked, nothing is sold, and there is no analytics, no advertising and no crash reporting of any kind. FREE, AND ALL OF IT No subscription. No in-app purchases. WHAT YOU NEED An iPhone and an Apple TV on the same Wi-Fi network. Samatic is an original design, made in homage to the rotary-tray slide projectors of the 1960s and 70s. It is not made by, endorsed by, or associated with Eastman Kodak Company, and no manufacturer's trademark or letterform is reproduced.

Screenshots

AfterHours Film Camera4 screens
Samatic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Samatic at none against AfterHours Film Camera's 10. Samatic also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly). AfterHours Film Camera's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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. AfterHours Film Camera sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. Samatic asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AfterHours Film Camera ships an update weekly, Samatic every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
AfterHours Film Camera versus Samatic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAfterHours Film CameraSamatic
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Apple TV โ€” better
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size108 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMARION PETER SERENSOMAXWELL PHOENIX COMMER

In-app purchases

10 purchases

AfterHours Film Camera

Subscriptions1
  • AFTERHOURS PASS โ€” Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time9
  • CZ-30 Camera$3.99
  • HDV-2000 Camera$3.99
  • POLAROID-90 Camera$4.99
Show 6 more
  • FLUX-1 Camera$4.99
  • SUPER-8 Camera$4.99
  • STILL 02 Camera$4.99
  • FADE-200 Camera$4.99
  • VERDE 50 Camera$4.99
  • AFTERHOURS PASS โ€” Lifetime$49.99
None

Samatic

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is AfterHours Film Camera free?
AfterHours Film Camera is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Samatic free?
Samatic is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do AfterHours Film Camera or Samatic have ads?
Neither AfterHours Film Camera nor Samatic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AfterHours Film Camera or Samatic?
AfterHours Film Camera ships an update weekly, and Samatic every 3 days. Most recently, AfterHours Film Camera was updated on November 6, 2026 and Samatic on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons