Comparison

Tape Eater Video Effects vs Time Flow Sketch

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

Head to head
About

Tape Eater Video Effects

Transform your videos with intentional glitch and broken-tape effects. Easily warp footage from your camera or gallery to achieve a damaged VHS or corrupted file aesthetic. Save your creations as silent clips or still images directly on your device.

Highlights
  • Apply glitch and broken-tape video effects
  • Warp video from camera or gallery
  • Push, smear, and scramble picture
  • Save silent clips or stills
  • Deep live controls and presets
  • Includes Silt mode thermal/smear effect
Features
Read full description

Tape Eater turns ordinary videos into glitchy, broken-tape looks — on purpose. This is a video effects app, not a music player: it warps video. What it does • Open your camera or a video from Photos • Push, smear, and scramble the picture until it looks like damaged VHS or a crashing file • Save a silent clip or a still — everything stays on your device Why it’s different • Built for melting video as the main toy, not a tiny filter buried in an editor • Deep live controls if you want to dig in — or tap presets and go • Includes Silt mode: a second thermal / smear look in the same app • No account. No cloud. No ads. You don’t need to know video jargon. Open a clip, mess it up, save it.

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 — 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. ■ Main features [Making a map] • Draw — trace with a finger to draw the flow of time. Five brush tones, a bleed brush, and a smudge tool • Gradients and presets — start from a regular pattern • From motion — build the shape of time automatically from the movement in the clip • Cut & slide — split the map along a line and slide the pieces to make time slip [How the map is applied] • Apply mode — Vertical / Horizontal slit works band by band, Surface works pixel by pixel • Time map — brightness sets which moment of the clip is shown; black is the start, white is the end • Rate map — brightness sets the playback speed, from reverse to fast forward • Space map — brightness sets where on screen the picture is taken from [Checking what you made] • 3D plot — see the shape of time as a solid • Time graph — see time, rate and space as line charts [Live camera] • Time-shape the camera image as you film — it keeps the last few seconds, so the map you draw can show the past or freeze parts of the picture • Tap “Stop & capture” to turn it into a clip you can edit and export [Sound and export] • Sound — the audio goes through the same time processing as the picture • Export — 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

Tape Eater Video Effects4 screens
Time Flow Sketch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Time Flow Sketch at daily against Tape Eater Video Effects's every 4 weeks. Time Flow Sketch also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tape Eater Video Effects ships an update every 4 weeks, Time Flow Sketch daily. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Tape Eater Video Effects versus Time Flow Sketch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTape Eater Video EffectsTime Flow Sketch
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developertodd cunninghamRyu Furusawa

In-app purchases

None

Tape Eater Video Effects

No in-app purchases

None

Time Flow Sketch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tape Eater Video Effects free?
Tape Eater Video Effects 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 Tape Eater Video Effects or Time Flow Sketch have ads?
Neither Tape Eater Video Effects nor Time Flow Sketch shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tape Eater Video Effects or Time Flow Sketch?
Tape Eater Video Effects ships an update every 4 weeks, and Time Flow Sketch daily. Most recently, Tape Eater Video Effects was updated on October 24, 2026 and Time Flow Sketch on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons