Comparison

Microprism vs Tonalier

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

Head to head
About

Microprism

Features
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Your photos, honest. Microprism captures pure, unfiltered RAW: the scene as your lens actually saw it, with the heavy computational processing turned all the way down. No smoothing, no watercolor skies, no invisible "fixes." Just your shot. THE LOOK OF EARLY PHONE PHOTOS, DONE RIGHT Remember when phone pictures had character, with warm tones, real grain, a little glow and a soft vignette? Microprism brings back that early-smartphone, filtered-feed feeling with retro looks you apply on your terms: • Warm, faded color and moody high-contrast fades • True black & white, from crunchy and neutral to soft and cool • Cinematic and classic emulsion grades with real grain, bloom and halation Every look is drawn by hand, not borrowed. The retro looks soften detail on purpose, the way early phone photos did. The cinematic looks keep every pixel. A COACH THAT CATCHES IT BEFORE YOU SHOOT Turn on the coach and it watches the frame with you: closed eyes, a backlit face, a tilted horizon, a cut-off hand, a cluttered background, a shaky grip, even a smudged lens. It tells you what you can do right now (move, reframe, wipe the lens, wait for the light), and after the shot it can offer a quick note on what worked. It never edits your photo for you, and it only speaks up when you ask. SHOOT MORE, OVERTHINK LESS Not sure what to point at? Microprism sends you gentle creative prompts, little photo challenges like "shoot in black & white" or "find something green," to get you out and shooting. Tap one and the camera opens ready in a matching look. A REAL CAMERA UNDER THE HOOD • Full manual control over focus, exposure, ISO, shutter and zoom, plus aperture on iPhone 18 Pro • RAW capture, with optional Apple ProRAW • Full manual control over focus, exposure, ISO, shutter and zoom • Tap a face to lock focus and exposure on it • Live histogram, focus peaking and zebra stripes • Software long exposure for light trails and silky water • Video that records with your chosen look applied, live • Works with Camera Control, Shortcuts, widgets and Control Center STUDIO: YOUR SHOT, REDEVELOPED Come back to any RAW shot, or import one from Photos, and give it a new look anytime. Crop freely or to a classic ratio, straighten and fine-tune, or turn it into a screen-print halftone or a two-ink riso duotone on textured paper. Your original is never touched. Save to Photos or export to iCloud Drive when you're done. FREE TO START, YOURS TO UNLOCK Download free and start shooting: honest RAW capture, a set of sample looks, and the exposure coach are on the house. One simple, one-time unlock, never a subscription, opens the full look catalog, Studio, video, long exposure, and the full coach. YOURS, AND ONLY YOURS Microprism runs entirely on your device, coach included. No account, no sign-up, no tracking, nothing is collected. Your photos never leave your phone unless you choose to share them. Shoot honest. Finish with feeling.

About

Tonalier

Edit photos with unique AI-powered styles and granular control. Offers a comprehensive suite of editing tools, including RAW support and advanced masking, all processed on your device without watermarks or sign-ups.

Highlights
  • AI-powered editing styles
  • RAW file support
  • Advanced masking tools
  • Non-destructive editing
  • On-device processing
  • Watermark-free exports
  • Searchable photo library
Features
Read full description

Edit your photos like a pro, with no watermark. Tonalier’s built-in editors read each photo, its light, its colors and what’s in it, and edit it in their own style. You stay in charge: see every step, turn any of them off, and finish the edit yourself. Every editing tool is included. No sign-up, and your photos stay on your device. EDITORS WHO EACH SEE IT THEIR OWN WAY • Lupe, pastel and airy: bright, soft light with a touch of pink. • Roxie, film: warm, soft and a little faded, with real grain. • Margo, golden: warm afternoon light, honey and earth tones, quiet blues. • Dario, cinematic: deeper tones, cool shadows and warm highlights. • Nilo, street at dusk: deep tones, quiet color and warm lights left glowing. • Esme, people: bright, soft light and gently warm skin. • Elio, clean: clean whites, true color and crisp detail. Fixes what is off and leaves the rest alone. Each one leaves alone what is already right. “What Roxie Did” lists each step of the edit. The Effect slider sets how much of it you keep. 25 LOOKS, MADE BY HAND A Look gives a photo a mood; a character fits the edit to the photo. Looks come in six series: Portrait, Film, Cinema, Bright, Moody and Mono, each with an Amount slider. Tap a Look to see it on your own photo. Save an edit you like as a Look of your own. A REAL RAW EDITOR, EVERY EDITING TOOL INCLUDED • Light, color, tone curve, HSL, color grading, skin tone, detail, lens corrections, grain and vignette • Masks to edit just one part: subject, background, people, brush, linear and radial gradients, luminance and color ranges; add, subtract and intersect them • Heal: tap a spot or paint over a small blemish and it is filled from the photo around it • Crop with common ratios in one list, a straighten dial and perspective correction • Histogram and clipping warning • Opens RAW files (DNG, CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF, RW2 and more) as well as JPEG, HEIC, PNG and TIFF • Non-destructive, with unlimited history A LIBRARY YOU CAN SEARCH Edits save themselves, and every photo opens the way you left it. Type what you remember: what’s in the photo, a color, a date, a camera setting. Smart collections gather edited, unedited and RAW photos for you. Rate, pick and reject. Make variants to try a second edit. Paste an edit onto another photo, all of it or only the parts you choose. READY TO SHARE Export opens on Social and fits the photo to the format you pick: portrait, square, story or landscape. Fit keeps the whole photo on a white, black or blurred background; Fill fills the frame. Choose Custom for format, quality, color space, size, metadata and a copyright line. Select several photos to share them as a set: one format, with fit, fill and border for each. From Photos, tap Share to send a photo straight in. YOUR PHOTOS STAY WITH YOU Your photos are processed on your device and are not uploaded. No sign-up: open it and edit. Your originals stay as they are, and exporting always creates a new file. TONALIER PRO, WHEN YOU WANT MORE Without Pro you keep every editing tool, one Look in every series and one Look of your own, with no watermark, and you paste settings and export one photo at a time. Tonalier Pro, on iPhone and iPad, adds every Look and every character, as many Looks of your own as you like, export presets, and tools for several photos at once: start them with a Look, paste settings, match exposure and export as a set. You can preview Pro Looks and characters on your own photos before you subscribe, and new subscribers start with 7 days free. Tonalier Pro is an auto-renewing subscription, available yearly or monthly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://tonalier.com/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://tonalier.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Microprism4 screens
Tonalier4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tonalier at every 3 days against Microprism's every 3 weeks. Tonalier also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Microprism sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Tonalier sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Microprism ships an update every 3 weeks, Tonalier every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Microprism versus Tonalier: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicroprismTonalier
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRyan McGeeEralp Yucel

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Microprism

One-time1
  • Unlock Microprism$9.99
2 purchases

Tonalier

Subscriptions2
  • Tonalier Pro Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Tonalier Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Microprism free?
Microprism is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tonalier free?
Tonalier is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Microprism or Tonalier have ads?
Neither Microprism nor Tonalier shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Microprism or Tonalier?
Microprism ships an update every 3 weeks, and Tonalier every 3 days. Most recently, Microprism was updated on November 6, 2026 and Tonalier on October 31, 2026.

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